Brookes Podium at Thruxton but Frustration at Stoppages

Josh Brookes took a second placed podium and a fourth place away from today’s second round of the British Superbike Championship at Thruxton. Unfortunately pace cars and red flags littered the two races, inhibiting the Tyco Suzuki rider’s race strategy; leaving both he and his team a little frustrated at the outcome.

Brookes opted for the harder SC2 rear Pirelli tyre in both outings, looking to gain a distinct advantage in the latter stages. But with incidents bringing the pace car out in both race one and for an extended period in race two – before the aforementioned red flag – the Aussie didn’t quite take the points he felt he should have from the two outings.

Josh Brookes:

“I don’t want to complain but I am frustrated at the outcome as the red flag in race two especially, really destroyed our strategy with the SC2 tyre. We opted for the harder tyre in both races but with so many incidents I didn’t get the chance to really make it pay in race one, and race two pretty much ended after seven or eight laps behind a pace car. It could have been worse and we could have ended up in the fence like a lot of other guys, so we will just re-group now and look forward to Oulton. We know we can make the shootout okay, it’s just a matter of stopping Shakey winning so many races.”

Philip Neill – Team Manager:

“In the circumstances it was a solid enough day for all three riders today. In saying that I have to be honest and say, that we leave the second round a bit frustrated and disappointed after so many incidents and red flags, which didn’t help our strategy. We had what we believed to be a really good strategy for today, as Thruxton is such a strong circuit usually for Josh, and the boys had done an excellent job setting the bike up for a race duration. 

“The goal was to come strong at the end of both races. Granted, Josh was super strong at the end of the first race but just left the door open on the last lap for Shakey, which cost him dearly. We were very confident for race two and the strategy was not to move to the front until the final few laps, which we were not able to do because of the stoppage. That’s how it goes sometimes, but as I say, we are a little frustrated on a day when we felt at least one win and possibly two was there for the taking. 

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