SWINDON’s Fraser Rogers failed to break into the top 10 of a testing session for the first time all pre-season during the fourth and final National Superstock test day last weekend.

Rogers and his Aprilia IN Competition teammate Ben Luxton hit the tarmac at Donington Park in the pair’s last chance to gain valuable practice laps and give feedback on their machinery.

However, despite a strong first three rounds of pre-season testing, Rogers was edged into 11th place at Donington as the top end of the field bunched up with a series of high 1:07 and low 1:08 lap times.

The Swindon racer recorded a best time of 1:08:766 across all three sessions while teammate Luxton - who rode 73 laps over the course of the day - could only manage a 1:09:918 - though he did knock almost a second off his best in each session.

Reacting to his rider’s final-day efforts, team owner and manager Ian Newton said: “Both riders have worked extremely well on the Aprilia RSV4 - it’s a beast of a machine.

“They have both made good headway and have settled into the team extremely well. We like to keep things light and not get too serious, making our riders feel at ease and the most comfortable they can be at all times.

“This final test at Donington was just to push the boundaries a little to see where the limits are on certain elements just so that we know how far we can push on a race weekend.

“Thank you to all of the team that I have around me who do an incredible job, are always there when you need them, and know exactly what to do and when to do it.

“We’ve got a well oiled machine in the way the team runs and it works really well for us and we have all learnt to communicate with each other well which just makes everything so much easier.

“I’d also like to say a massive thank you to Aprilia UK for all their hard work and to all our sponsors and their continued support.”

Rogers’ Aprilia IN Competition team will now move on to round one of the Bennetts British Superbikes National Superstock Championship season which starts on Friday, June 25 at Oulton Park.