Fifth place in a Bennetts British Superbike Championship race may be an awfully long way off what is expected of Josh Brookes but that result in the final race of the weekend at Brands Hatch may just be what finally kick starts the reigning champion’s season.

The Australian ace has been a shadow of his former self at the early rounds as he’s battled a lack of grip – primarily at the mid-point and exit of the corner – which has subsequently prevented him getting the feel he needs from the VisionTrack Ducati Panigale V4RR.

Grip wasn’t the main issue at Brands but ninth place in Saturday’s opener was an inauspicious start as he again ran mid-pack for much of the race.

“At Oulton and Knockhill, my issues centred around grip, or a lack of it, but it was less of an issue at Brands. However, for much of the weekend, I still didn’t have a bike that felt like I know it should,” he said.

“We continued to make a variety of changes to limit what’s been affecting our performance but I felt it was time to go back to the SC0 tyre rather than run the softer SCX which has felt like the right thing to do.”

Conditions on Sunday didn’t truly give Brookes the opportunity to fully test the SC0 tyre and when he ran off track at Westfield in the opener, and ultimately finished 18th, it looked like he could be set for one of his worst ever days in BSB.

However, he opted for full wets in the final race of the day and although it was ultimately stopped on the 12th lap, he led for ten of them and was then the most competitive he’s been all season in the final seven-lap dash. Indeed, a 1’25.9 was the third fastest lap of the race and more than half a second quicker than he’d gone all weekend.

“Sunday didn’t start well at all but ended a lot more positively and we can definitely take away a few good things from the second race. I’ve led plenty of laps before so know what that feeling’s like and although fifth obviously isn’t where I want to be finishing, given where we’ve been at, it’s a start.

“The bike clearly works well in the wet but in the seven lap dash, I was able to lap comfortably quicker than I had done all weekend so we definitely found something in the dry. The SCX tyre is still making the front feel bad but something changed and I was able to lap in the 1’25s bracket which was more satisfying.”

“The bike felt a lot better and although it was only seven laps, if it hadn’t have felt like that, I’d have dropped back and not run with the front pack all race. I don’t want to get ahead of myself though so I’m taking it day by day at the moment but it’s nice to end the weekend on a positive note.”