It was a classic Waters playbook in both 13-lap Superbike races as he charged to the front early after a phenomenal start from seventh on the grid.

Once he hit the lead, the Ducati rider applied the heat with brutal efficiency, leaving his rivals with plenty of head scratching ahead of round three at Queensland Raceway in May.

From the third row of the grid, he led from start to finish before backing off in the final stages to win by just under 1.5 seconds as he brought up his 39th career Superbike victory.

Waters now has a 27-point championship lead over Yamaha’s Mike Jones, while fellow Yamaha rider Anthony West, who finished sixth for the round, remains in third place in the championship, 14-points behind Jones.

Jones was second overall with a 2-2 scorecard, as well as a bonus point for pole position, ahead of a resurgent Cru Halliday who finished in third overall for the round, his first podium with the Stop and Seal Racing team.

“That was a really, really good day,” said Waters, who now has 20 overall round wins in the premier class to his name.

“I can’t wait to watch those starts on replay when I get home. I’ve even had some world speedway mates messaging me about the starts and what they can learn from me,

“Once again, a huge thanks to my team for providing such a great motorcycle, as well as all the sponsors who help to make it happen.”

Rounding out the top five were Superbike rookies, Jonathan Nahlous in fourth place and Jack Favelle in fifth.

In the Supersport class, Stop and Seal teammates Jack Mahaffy and Archie McDonald shared the wins, with Mahaffy winning a tyre choice gamble in the opening race, selecting wet tyres in varied conditions to beat home a fast-finishing Will Nassif and Marcus Hamod on slicks.

McDonald hit back for victory by the plainest of margins in race two, beating Mahaffy by a mere 0.039sec which was an all-out drag race to the line.

Mahaffy took the overall round win with 45 points on the board, with McDonald second, making it another Michelin 1-2 for the overall round.

Mahaffy now takes command of the championship with 110 points to his name, one point ahead of McDonald.

Jesus Torres Cabrera (Port Bike Racing) rounded out the podium ahead of the Kawasaki BCperformance’s Olly Simpson and Hayden Nelson.

Round three of the mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship heads to Queensland Raceway on the first weekend of May.