Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes took his first Vauxhall North West 200 podium yesterday, bagging third place in the first Supersport encounter in what was effectively his first dry race at the nine-mile triangle.
The MCE British Superbike championship challenger led the race on more than one occasion, using his short circuit experience to make up ground on the brakes and on corner exit but lost out to the faster Triumph triples on the long straights.
Brookes also had to adjust his braking markers as he got caught out more than once in the slipstream, running on at York corner and tangling with Gary Johnson, and at University which created more work for the Bringelly rider.
“Having the tow makes such a big difference around here, it’s so difficult to get your braking points accurate when you’re in the draught, it just sucks you in,” said Brookes, speaking in parc ferme.
“I wasn’t proud of some of the situations out there but we got the podium. I was thinking about the win a couple of times as I was in the lead for a lap or two but once they started coming past me on the straights, I knew I had a lot of work on my hands. I had to push a lot harder than I was comfortable with in some parts.”
