Relentless Suzuki rider Josh Brookes was true to his word during the third round of the British Superbike Championship at Croft in North Yorkshire - picking up 21 valuable Championship points with eighth and fourth places.
The Australian is now within striking distance of the Shoot Out top six, which was the Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing team's weekend goal.
Race one was a tyre choice lottery in difficult conditions, and while others faltered, Brookes steadied himself with a top-10 finish in eighth place. In the second race the BSB number two worked his way through from the third row of the grid, narrowly missing out on a debut podium for his new team.
Taking the positives from the race, in the last five laps the Relentless Suzuki rider was consistently the fastest man on track; his fastest lap - on lap 16 - bettered only by race winner Shane Byrne.
Josh Brookes:
"Race one was hindered with the rain but I did the best I could with the Intermediate/ Slick tyre-combination that we chose, but I wasn't confident to push any harder in the conditions. We did have a bit of a power loss but I don't think that made any difference. In race two I made a little mistake and lost a few places, but I felt very confident on the bike and got back up to fourth. I sat close to John Hopkins just in case he made a mistake, but I was happy to run it home in fourth rather than make a mistake; and in the end we picked up some good points. Next up is Thruxton which is my favourite track. I had my first BSB podium and win there so I'm looking forward to that. Before then I'm of to the North West 200 to drink some Guinness and support Alastair Seeley and Guy Martin."
Philip Neill - Team Manager:
"Given the last two meetings, it's a big relief to come out of Croft incident-free with solid points. It's not one of Josh's favourite circuits but he was very strong with his race set-up and his lap times, especially in the second race; he was right up there. Normally he would have gone for the podium, and yes it would have been nice to get our first of the year in BSB, but it was pleasing to see him riding sensibly - and even more so the way he came back through the pack. The first race was a bit of a lottery with tyre choice and we did suffer a loss of engine power but Josh handled it well."
The next round of the British Superbike Championship takes place at Thruxton on May 28-30th.
British Superbike Championship, race one result: 1st - Jon Kirkham (Suzuki); 2nd - John Hopkins (Suzuki) +2.940s; 3rd - Gary Mason (Kawasaki) +3.715s; 4th - Loris Baz (Yamaha) +13.335s; 5th - Alex Lowes (Honda) +14.699s; 6th - Stuart Easton (Kawasaki) +19.433s; 7th - Peter Hickman (Honda) +22.455s; 8th - Josh Brookes (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) +24.297s; 9th - Glen Richards (Honda) +26.063s; 10th - Tommy Bridewell (Tyco Honda) +27.747s.
British Superbike Championship, race two result: 1st - Shane Byrne (Honda); 2nd - Stuart Easton (Kawasaki) +1.887s; 3rd - John Hopkins (Suzuki) +2.269s; 4th - Josh Brookes (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) +2.461s; 5th - Loris Baz (Yamaha) +5.517s; 6th - Tommy Hill (Yamaha) +6.094s; 7th - Gary Mason (Kawasaki) +6.748s; 8th - Michael Rutter (Ducati) +8.120s; 9th - Peter Hickman (Honda) +8.397s; 10th - Tommy Bridewell (Honda) +9.657s.
