Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes is set to return to the 600cc class as he will ride a specially-built World Supersport-spec R6 at this year’s Vauxhall North West 200 on top of his Superbike entry.

Brookes, who made his debut at the nine-mile triangle last year, started his career on 600s and acquitted himself extremely well with Australian titles and World Supersport wins, and went on to take third place in the world series in 2008.

“The fans in the UK probably only associate me with the Superbike class as that’s where they are used to seeing me race, but I’ve a lot of history in the Supersport class. I’ve won a couple of Australian titles and two races in World Supersport, and although I’ve never ridden the R6 before,my team boss Shaun Muir has a decent testing schedule planned before the North West,” said Brookes.

“The racing at the North West is always pretty exciting and the Supersport class produces really close racing. There are usually five or six riders on the mix, hopefully I’ll be one of those this year on the Milwaukee Yamaha.”