With three podiums, one of which was his 52nd career win, Josh Brookes left Donington Park in the driving seat for the 2020 Bennetts British Superbike Championship with a 16-point lead over nearest rival, team-mate Christian Iddon.

 
The VisionTrack Ducati rider moved from fourth in the championship table to first after the three races at the Leicestershire venue, winning when he could and using his head to take a big haul of points when he couldn’'t.
 
Nowhere was this more evident in the opening race which saw the worst of the conditions and although other circumstances may have seen him try a move on Iddon, with Glenn Irwin out of the race the Australian looked at the bigger picture.
 
"“It very tricky in the damp conditions in the first race as the track was drying quickly which meant I had to ride conservatively with the bike moving around a lot,"” said Brookes. “

It wasn'’t worth the risk of making many moves and it was all about consolidating the points particularly with Glenn crashing out.”"

With good weather for the rest of the day, Brookes was able to attack although again he was able to control his riding without taking any unnecessary risks. Despite a lot of pressure in the second race, especially from fellow Australian Jason O’Halloran, he took the win and the Championship lead for the first time in 2020.
 
“"The target'’s always to win a race at the slowest possible speed as the faster you go, the more you risk. In the second race, I had a bit of chatter from the front and spin from the rear and I wasn'’t sure how the bike was performing compared to the others so I tried to maintain my rhythm and the lead which I was able to do for an enjoyable win.”"
 
The final race followed a similar pattern and it looked the 2015 Champion would take his second win of the weekend but he wasn’t able to maintain the quicker pace in the final third of the race and so wisely settled for third. He now leads the series ahead of Brands, a circuit where he’'s always excelled.
 
“"In the final race of the weekend, I tried to keep the lead for as long as possible but I didn’t have the pace of Tarran or Glenn and brought the bike home for some more good points.

"It'’s been a strong weekend and nice to lead the Championship going into the final meeting at Brands Hatch. Normally I’m the one doing the chasing so it’s good to have a bt of a margin."”