Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes is taking a pragmatic approach to missing out on this year’s Suzuka Eight-Hours after being bumped out of the factory Yamaha squad by Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro.

Brookes stood on the podium for Yoshimura Suzuki in 2013 and rode alongside Broc Parkes and Yamaha golden boy Kats Nakasuga last year but didn’t get a seat in the works Yamaha team for 2016 as, after the announcement of Casey Stoner by Honda, they opted for their Monster Yamaha MotoGP riders.

“Deep down I wanted to get the position, because years ago as I was coming up through the ranks there was always a list as long as your arm of all the reasons that I wasn’t good enough and now, at this point I see myself as the lead person in the development of the R1,” said Brookes, speaking to bikesportnews.com

“As far as realistically in the world of racing, apart from what they’re doing in Japan, which I don’t think anybody knows, I’m the first person in line with actually doing the job on the bike and giving back consistent quality feedback about where we’re going with the machine. I’ve done five years at Suzuka, and I’ve been on the podium.

“I think I was expecting to be in a position that would be enough to grant you the ride but if they’ve got five Grand Prix riders going, they’re going to get 100,000 extra spectators, if they’ve got five BSB riders going there they might get 500 extra spectators. In real terms, what happens is the promoter of the event goes ‘we really need Grand Prix riders, they’re the people that everyone wants to see’ but it doesn’t mean they’re better riders or they’re more skilled or they’re going to get a result.”