Brookes third after opening round at Brands Hatch

A slightly frustrated Josh Brookes holds third place in the British Superbike Championship standings after the opening round of the season at Brands Hatch. The Tyco Suzuki rider took third place in the opening encounter, after having led in the early laps, and followed it up with a lonely fifth place in race two.

Josh Brookes:

“I’m fairly happy with the weekend and I don’t want to use not having track time as an excuse, as no one really has coming into this round. We worked through with a new set-up on suspension and it wasn’t perfect straight away, but by the time we got to race day we were in a good range and the tyre lasted pretty well for us in both races. My GSX-R1000 Superbike was running clean and crisp and I don’t think we could have got much more out of it. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to secure the results we wanted this weekend, but we will move onto the next round at Thruxton and see how it goes – it’s a long season ahead.”

Philip Neill – Team Manager:

“As Josh says, we didn’t quite get the results we wanted from the weekend but there are a lot of positives to be taken away from the first round; not least no broken bikes, which is of paramount importance on back-to-back weekends. We will need to have a look at certain areas that we must improve on, but all in all we are third in the championship after round one, so we will not complain.

British Superbike Championship, Brands Hatch, race one result:

1. Shane Byrne (Kawasaki)

2. Alex Lowes (Honda) +1.376s

3. Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki) +6.207s

4. Jon Kirkham (BMW) +9.009s

5. Tommy Bridewell (Honda) +9.326s

6. Keith Farmer (Kawasaki) +13.351s

British Superbike Championship, Brands Hatch, race two result:

1. James Ellison (Yamaha)

2. Alex Lowes (Honda) +1.997s

3. Shane Byrne (Kawasaki) +5.904s

4. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) +11.507s

5. Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki) +15.974s

6. Jon Kirkham (BMW) +21.280s

British Superbike Championship standings after Brands Hatch:

1. Shane Byrne (Kawasaki) 41

2. Alex Lowes (Honda) 40

3. Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki) 27

4. James Ellison (Yamaha) 25

5. Jon Kirkham (BMW) 23

6. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 21

7. Chris Walker (Kawasaki) 17

8. Keith Farmer (Kawasaki) 16

9. PJ Jacobsen (Tyco Suzuki) 11

10. Tommy Bridewell (Honda) 11

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