Brookes finds his missing mojo
Aussie gives fans hope at Cadwell Park
It’s come to the point where everybody wants to see reigning champion Josh Brookes find a breakthrough and make a return to the front of BSB. Well, Sunday’s races did just that as the Aussie battled to two fifth places – his best results in the dry this year. Something finally clicked, and Brookes was fighting against old frontrunning rivals the Irwin brothers, as well as Lee Jackson, in a race-long duel which meant the TV cameras were glued to them for most of the final race. Brookes looked confident and competitive again, he was like the champion of old. One move in particular which proved this came at the run down to Park, when he dived down the inside of both Glenn Irwin and Jackson to take fourth. Ever the perfectionist though, Brookes isn’t getting carried away.
“We’re not out the woods yet,” he told MCN. “The bike is stopping well, it’s good on the brakes, the change of direction is good, but it’s the grip – it’s still spinning on the rear. Coming out of Barn onto the start/finish and at Chris Curves, those were the obvious corners where the problem was so crippling. At Thruxton it was the whole circuit, not just two corners, so I think this was the best example of what we could bring. “Having better race results is a
‘It’s positive but we’re not out of the woods yet’
positive so we should, and will, focus on that, but I feel there’s plenty to come before we can be truly satisfied. We haven’t done enough yet to take the pressure off when it comes to finding improvements.”