For the first time since the second round of the 2023 British Superbike season, Josh Brookes returned to the top step of the podium.
The opening race of the weekend at Round Ten of the 2025 British Superbike season saw drama from start to finish for the Championship contenders.
However, with the ever-changing conditions, riders who were not in the title fight were able to take gambles on tyre choices. One rider who benefited from a tyre gamble with the two-time British Superbike Champion, Josh Brookes.
The Australian decided to start the race on intermediate tyres, which was not the choice the majority of the grid made. However, as the track quickly dried out, it became clear Brookes and Leon Haslam had made the correct choice.
Haslam had cleared off at the front in the early laps, but Brookes was able to claw back the gap to the 2018 British Superbike Champion, and on the last lap snatched victory away from his fellow BSB veteran in Race One.
"It is not a conventional way to win a race, but I don't care..."
"We looked at the weather that had come through, and it was a small shower that had not really saturated the track," Brookes told British Superbike after Race One.
"The water that was down was not going to last. So, even though it was declared a wet race, I did not have a Championship to defend, so I could take a bit of a risk.
"I felt strongly that the intermediate tyre would be the correct choice. When the tyre warmers came off, I looked over my shoulder, and Leon [Haslam] was the only person I could see in a short distance who had the same tyre choice as me.
"I immediately thought that it was going to be between Leon and me. We set off, and I was in battles with people in the opening few laps, then I was thinking to myself that I only needed to worry about Leon, not the people on wets. I knew the change was going to come in our favour.
"Then all of a sudden, Leon came past me, and I felt he was more confident in the damp conditions, so I tried to use him as a gauge. Then, as the track started to dry out, I could feel my tyre getting hotter in the dry areas of the track. It looked like Leon could not pull away as much in those conditions. I started to catch him up, but it started to sprinkle with rain again, then he gapped me again.
"It was becoming clear that the damp conditions favoured his bike. But fortunately, the rain went away, and across the last few laps, the track was drying, the tyres were hot, and I felt I had a package that was working better on those tyres.
"Our pace was so evenly matched that I did not think a regular pass was enough to make Leon accept second. So, I thought I needed to make a pass in an unconventional place to catch him off guard, then gain a couple of tenths, so he would not immediately attack back.
"In the last sector, I took a lot of risks to make sure he could not attack back. I was fighting hard to get this result; it is not a conventional way to win a race, but I don't care. I did not know if I was ever going to get another one of these from my recent results. So, it is nice to be back up here either way."
