Kawasaki Superbike Racing Team’s Broc Parkes caused a stir as a wildcard rider in the MCE Superbike Championship at the Kent circuit of Brands Hatch this weekend which saw him lead the race for over half distance before it was business as usual with Leon Camier again showing them whose boss.
Talking about his race he said: “It was awesome especially for us being a new team and having a completely new bike at the start of the season.  I’ve not been in Superbike for six years and I’ve had a couple of top tens in the World Championship so far this season.  The British Championship is very tough and I was a little nervous about coming here, also as it is in Paul’s [Bird, Team Manager] back yard as such, we wanted to be strong.”
Parkes finished second overall, but in no way was that settling.  After leading into the first corner and pulling a gap there looked to be no stopping the Australian rider, but it was not to be.  When asked about Camier he said: “Leon is good, very strong.  He’s good to battle with, a good rider who has a very good riding team.  He should be at World level next year.”
“The team struggled at Donington, but we have improved since then.  We haven’t stopped it’s been constant as we’ve had so many new things to use.  We have worked on everything including the engine, the chassis, suspension upgrades.  You can’t put everything on at once as you would get lost.  We had so much coming in and I think that’s where we went wrong for Donington, but at the following round in Brno I was always in the top ten even with a couple of crashes.”
The remaining two races should be as entertaining as the first, Parkes racing history at the Kent circuit includes him winning twice at World Supersport level.  Even though his first time here in 2001 he crashed at Paddock Hill and broke his collar bone, the circuit has since been good to him and is a track he has always liked.
Following a small change to the bike to help keep grip for longer throughout the race Parkes said: “I am going to try and be a pest, that is what we came here to do.”