Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha’s Josh Brookes will start the opening MCE British Superbike race at Oulton Park from third place on the grid, but the rider is 'disappointed' not with his position but with his own expectations.
The 2015 champion still holds the lap record at the Cheshire circuit and even went three tenths of a second under that time during the third qualifying outing with a 1’34.109.
Brookes shares the front row with fellow showdown racers, RAF Reserves Kawasaki’s Jake Dixon and Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne and the trio will all be aiming for the best start to kick off their championship title campaign.
The Bringelly rider felt that he did not make every apex ‘perfect’ but he does have a good setup on the R1 going into the double header on Sunday and is still pleased with his front row start, even though of course two places higher would have been even better.
“In qualifying it is easy to see the mist and go for it and sometimes that’s false economy and you need to calm yourself down and run smooth and make every apex absolutely perfect,” said Brookes at the track.
“I wasn’t able to put that together in qualifying then that’s the only reason I am disappointed, not with the position just with my own expectations of myself.
“I think we have got a good set up for the race and every practice we have been strong with the lap times and I have a lot of confidence going into the race and starting from the front row is a great position. Of course there are two places better but the front row is enough this weekend and see what we can do from there.”
