Several British Championship riders were also using the round as a pre-season launch pad and a strong field produced a series of fast lap times.

Both races followed a similar pattern with Faulkner getting away with the rest of the front row, but taking a couple of laps to get to the front.

Once at the head of the pack he pulled away and made good use of his pit board to control the race, winning both by more than two seconds.

Faulkner told the Mercury: "The weekend couldn't have gone any better. We just turned up to test the new bike and even though I hadn't ridden since October my times were quicker than last year - the lay=off must have done me good.

"I've never won the first round of a major championship so this is my best ever start to a year and bodes well for the season ahead."

The team will be able to fully gauge their progress when they join rival teams to take part in the official BSB pre-season test at Snetterton this weekend. For further information on following or sponsoring the team visit nsfracing.co.uk.