JAMES Ellison is hoping for a change of luck as he targets a first British Superbike championship this season.

The 34-year-old, from Kendal, will line up in the first race of the 2015 campaign at Donington Park this weekend convinced that he now has everything he needs to end that elusive wait for a first title.

In five full campaigns in the championship he has finished second and fourth, and was well placed for an assault on the title in 2014 when he suffered a broken leg at Brands Hatch.

He was second in the championship when the crash happened and missed three race weekends, before returning to end the season on a high with podium places at Silverstone and back at Brands Hatch in the final round.

"Things were going well last season before I had the crash, we were second in the championship but one moment of bad luck ruined the season for us," he said.

"After that it was a fight to get back, I wanted to get back on track before the end of the season and take some confidence forward into the winter, it would have been very difficult had I not raced again last season.

"But as it was we ended the season on a real high which was great for us going into the winter, I felt really good after that.

"The ambition is to win the title, it always is. Last year we were in contention until the crash, in 2013 we had a few mechanical problems.

"It's always just out of reach for us but things have gone well this winter and we just need a change of luck really.

Ellison pledged his future to Kawasaki at the end of the season and is pleased with the way pre-season testing has gone.

"We've got a different engine builder now, we were 10 brake horsepower down last season, which makes a big difference on those bikes," said the former MotoGP rider.

"That has already made a big improvement for us. We did seven days testing in Spain and I was 1.3 seconds quicker than last year, and then in the testing at Donington I was over a second quicker, so it is all positive stuff going into the new season."

Ellison admits he was still feeling pain from his crash at the back end of last season, but while he is still struggling to run he insists he is back to full fitness when riding the bike after spending the winter in Texas, the home of his wife Sarah, with their one-year-old son Ryder.

"I had a good winter in Texas, I got out on the motocross bike quite a bit," he said,

"We always spend two or three months in Texas on the off-season, as we spend most of the season back over here, so it's a compromise really.

"The Lake District is gorgeous but with the weather most of the motocross tracks are closed in the winter and it can be hard to get out on the bikes in the cold.

"We've got our little boy as well now so it was great to be doing things with him and taking him out during the day."