Brookes and Tyco Suzuki win at Oulton Park BSB
Brookes first ever BSB win at Oulton Park
Josh Brookes took his first-ever British Superbike victory at the Oulton Park Triple-Header event for Tyco Suzuki, making it two wins from eleven podiums so far this season aboard the GSX-R1000, and guaranteeing his place in the end-of-season Top Six Showdown.
The Australian also took second place in Sunday's opening BSB race; his team-mate PJ Jacobsen was sixth in the opening encounter, with a mechanical problem forcing a retirement in race two for the American when another top six result was on the cards. Tyco Suzuki's Taylor Mackenzie was eighth in the second British Supersport race aboard his GSX-R600.
Brookes and Jacobsen
Josh Brookes:
"One of the guys said to me 'that race was all about heart', but to be honest it took more heart for me to finish fourth in the opening race of the weekend yesterday, when we still hadn't mastered our set-up. In the end we had the package sorted on the GSX-R1000 and when it works I can ride to my true potential as I showed today. It was a real battle but I wasn't prepared to lose that one and we now go to Cadwell looking for more podium credits as the all-important Showdown edges closer."
PJ Jacobsen:
"The first race was good, although I suffered from a little bit of a grip issue, but I was happy with sixth. In the second race I had far better grip and was ready to follow Bridewell through onto that front group. I'd just set the fastest first sector before we had to retire, but I've proved this weekend that I'm ready to tag onto those front guys. I'm ready now to hit that jump at Cadwell in two weeks' time."
Taylor Mackenzie:
"Yeah that was better today and I really enjoyed it, apart from Glenn Irwin running into the side of me late in the race, which snapped the end off my clutch lever. We have made progress and I've gone faster again at Oulton, so it's a matter of getting geared-up for Cadwell Park now."
Philip Neill - Team Manager:
"We always said that Josh is a racer. We did have a slow start to the weekend with a problem that was later traced to a fuel injector. It significantly hampered Josh and his crew from finding the perfect set-up at the start of the weekend. As usual his crew worked their magic and turned the bike around for race day and Josh excelled once again on his GSX-R1000 Superbike. He rode perhaps one of the best races of his BSB career today to capture his first win at Oulton Park.
"For PJ it was the opposite story. He had a phenomenal start to the weekend and a disappointing end, but overall it confirmed the natural talent and ability we knew he possessed after his stand-in rides last year. He certainly proved he's capable of running at the front. It's just a shame we had a technical issue with his bike in the second race today, as it looked like he was coming home with another strong top-six result.
"We are also happy with Taylor's result in today's Supersport race. The only thing keeping him out of that top six is his pace in the opening laps, but it will come and he's applying himself exactly as I expected he would."
British Superbike Championship Race 2 result:
1. Shane Byrne (Kawasaki)
2. Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki) +0.173s
3. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) +0.932s
4. Tommy Bridewell (Kawasaki) +9.532s
5. Jon Kirkham (BMW) +15.772s
6. PJ Jacobsen (Tyco Suzuki) +18.343s
7. Dan Linfoot (Honda) +26.707s
8. Keith Farmer (Kawasaki) +26.991s
9. James Westmoreland (BMW) +27.380s
10. Howie Mainwaring +31.556s
British Superbike Championship Race 3 result:
1. Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki)
2. Shane Byrne (Kawasaki) +0.246s
3. Alex Lowes (Samsung Honda) +0.836s
4. James Ellison (Yamaha) +1.070s
5. Tommy Bridewell (Kawasaki) +1.237s
6. James Westmoreland (BMW) +18.465s
7. Keith Farmer (Kawasaki) +18.555s
8. Howie Mainwaring (WK Bikes) +19.142s
9. Jon Kirkham (BMW) +19.937s
10. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) +20.694
Information from Team Suzuki Press Office - Aug 12
Wemoto