Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes took a step backwards in machine setup at the weekend’s Thruxton MCE British Superbike which meant he had less feel and smoothness with the YZF-R1 but made gains in outright pace.

The gamble paid off as he was able to take the double win in Hampshire yesterday, claw back vital points on Shane Byrne and dramatically increase his podium credits total, all with a bike that was more difficult to ride - taking steps back to go forward.

“Through testing in Spain, I was getting used to the bike and the stopwatch said we were going fast, so we didn’t really change anything until we got to the UK. We were just looking for laptimes and didn’t think much about that it was wobbling in the rear or running wide,” said Brookes, speaking to bikesportnews.com in his motorhome.

“I just thought that were going quicker, so it must be better. Bike up, bike down, down is faster. Front up, front, down, up is faster. We were fast at Brands and got a second but the bike was wobbly and headshaking but we could fine tune later and it would be perfect.

“At Oulton, same thing but the bike wasn’t perfect but we got a win, lap record and a second. By this point, I had got a feel for the bike and we started to make changes and it started to feel better, with the emphasis on feel. It didn’t wobble as much, didn’t run wide as much, held a line, didn’t squat, didn’t pitch. It felt better but I wasn’t getting the results.

“We had one good result at Snetterton, but that’s an odd circuit. You set your bike up for there as it is an individual track, leave there and wipe the slate clean. The bike felt good but stopped being quick.

“At Knockhill, Mick (Shanley, crew chief) asked me if I wanted to change anything and I said I didn’t know because it wasn’t doing anything wrong. But you watch the races and Byrne’s bike is all over the place in the lead while I am in fourth, wheels all in line, perfect and looking like I am on a Sunday ride. But in fourth.

“When we came here, we decided to work not on what feels good, but what is fast. On Friday, the bike felt horrible but I had just come back from the Eight-Hours riding on Bridgestones with a drop of 30° in track temperature and all the other stuff which has an effect.

“The bike worked better when it was longer, but the gearing was wrong. The perfect gearing for Thruxton meant the bike was really short and it felt a little unstable but I wasn’t going fast. A short bike with the gearing that I liked was nimble with no wheelspin but the laptimes were shit so the answer was to ride the long wobbly bike as that was the one that was going fast.

“I don’t want to get too wound up in the emotion of a double win because next weekend is another game again. Worst case scenario is I put the bike exactly like it was for Oulton last time and I will have only myself to blame.”