Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes is the outright MCE British Superbike series leader, and heads up the Showdown after a successful weekend at Oulton Park, which saw the Bringelly rider come away with a race-two victory and a second place podium in the final outing at the Cheshire track.
Brookes has labelled the start of his weekend as frustrating as he was blighted by engine failure in qualifying and had to start from the back of the grid for the opening race. But he fought hard to cross the finishing line in a respectable fourth place, but for the rider it showed that he had the speed and the package to compete for wins and podium credits.
But what has pleased the rider the most is the fact that he has been able to show everyone what he is capable of, and after recent developments on the R1 he has proved that he has the capability to win copious amounts of races.
Brookes and Byrne have seven race wins to their name this season, and the Australian knows he has a machine that can win even more. That was evident today as not only did he get on to the podium twice but also set a new lap record in the process. But there are only now two points separating the duo at the top of the standings.
“I am pleased to lead the championship going into the Showdown. It’s a good feeling and it’s good for the team and it is good to have that little bit of a lead but that means very little in terms of the championship as two points is quite small - but it is still nice to have that. It is a little bit of a frustrating weekend but not so bad with the results - we have come back and been strong when we could,” said Brookes, speaking to bikesportnews.com from the track.
Brookes has a slight edge going into Assen as he has competed at the track recently and put down some fast lap times when he took part as a wild-card rider in the IDM Championship.
“Assen is a track that we were at recently when I was in the IDM and I have a bit of an advantage going there and I hope the recent World GP Motocross that they had there has not affected the surface of the track too much.
“It was just unlucky with the engine that broke this weekend and I think it was bad timing for my race strategy with the pace car in the final race but I cant control those things, but I can ride the best I can and we look forward to the next race.
“Certainly our speed helps us. Over the last nine races we have won seven of them and if not because of two situation we could have won all nine and on paper those situations are quite clear for rivals such as Byrne. The lap times and the speed is on paper so if you have got the sense to look at the race and see where our speed was then yes he has something to worry about.
“It is not only nice to be that person that is so fast so regularly but it is almost relief, because you know in yourself what you can do but sometimes it takes years before you can put yourself in a position to showcase what you can do.
“If you can ride a bike that is not capable of winning it doesn’t matter how much talent or speed you have you can’t showcase your ability, so when you do achieve that position, with a bike, team and environment where you can deliver your best it is great. I am happy to be in that position, but it is more that I am relieved to reach that position that I have been trying to show for so long.”
Milwaukee Yamaha team manager Mick Shanley said: “It has been an up and down weekend for a lot of people , and it is good to come out of it unscathed. We have a very tiny slim lead going into the Showdown and two points is nothing really and we go from here and we get ready for Assen now.
“He rode for the IDM team early in the year and the lap times were strong and he can hit FP1 pretty fresh on the settings he used earlier. We have got a bit of an idea as to what happened with the engine in qualifying.
“I think it was preventable but it is the first engine issue that we have all year and fortunate it happened before the Showdown races, and happily we have got our bad luck out of the way. We have won seven races, and so has Shakey and it is good to be up there and battling and level and the expectation from us both is to win every weekend - it is good to be in that position.”
