Easton adapting to ePayMe R1 Yamaha at Cartagena

“Steady away.”

That’s how canny Scot Stuart Easton described his two days of testing on the ePayMe R1 Yamaha at Cartagena.

“Although I raced the bike in Macau last year coming here after a few months off it still feels new again. It is typical of me to be steady in the first part of a test. Hopefully I’ll find my feet and start gelling more with the bike.”

It is only to be expected that Easton would take some time to make the adjustment to the Yamaha after spending almost all of his five year BSB career on Kawasakis.

“The new bike is a great package, I just need to adapt to the different package.” he said with a smile.

Everything is new IN 2016 for the 32 year old following his shift from PBM Kawasaki to Tommy Hill’s Yamaha squad during the winter.

“It’s a new team, a new teammate and a new bike.” Easton reflected.

“The bike is the main thing but the team is massively important too. Hopper is very easy to get on with and we are talking about the bike. Tommy has done a great job to pull everything together and to have a brand new team here and working amazingly well is a great credit to him.”

In spite of all this Easton admits he hasn’t quite found the enthusiasm for the new Yamaha that his American teammate has.

 “John is good at jumping on a bike and adapting quickly, like he did with the Ducati. It just takes me longer to adapt to a new riding style.”
The bike lends itself to mid corner performance more than entry. The Kawasaki was strong on the brakes and not so good in the middle of the corner. After all those years on a Kawasaki it will just take some time to adapt.” 

“I’ve no complaints about the Yamaha, its just different.” the Hawick rider says.

“Your lap times are your gauge really and I am a long way off where I was last year at the moment, but then so is everyone else.”