Josh Brookes produced his best ever performance in Tyco Suzuki livery to take a double victory in Sunday's British Superbike races at Donington Park aboard the team's GSX-R1000.
The Australian completely dominated the ninth round of series with two pole positions and two fastest laps; which takes him into the end-of-season Showdown just 10 points behind series leader Tommy Hill.
Josh Brookes:
"In the first race I put my head down and tried to gap them, but I could hear the Yamaha behind me, so I just kept at it and after a couple of laps it went quiet and I thought 'yes' I've gapped them! In the second race I got away with a good start and everything was working perfectly on the bike. I got into a rhythm and put some good laps together, but I didn't get an instant advantage, as Michael was right with me. I made a little mistake, which let him past and he impressed me. Once I got back past I was confident the Suzuki would have more tyre life in the closing stages and I was able to create a gap and win quite comfortably. I'm glad the championship is now going into the Showdown stage as we've finally got to the part of the season where it counts. Thanks to the guys this weekend who gave me a great set-up with the GSX-R1000 - the package is working superbly."
Alastair Seeley's bad luck continued when he suffered an oil pump problem in the opening race, which forced a red flag situation, but the Ulsterman was fortunate to stay on his bike when the problem occurred down through Craner Curves. He was forced to sit out the second race.
Alastair Seeley:
"I though the back brake had jammed on when I tipped into Craner but as soon as I braked the smoke came through the bike and I knew we had some sort of problem. I just had to pick it up and run over the grass and back over the circuit to get it stopped, but we put some oil down. We tried to get it sorted for the second race but the problem re-occurred and we had to pull the bike off the line."
Philip Neill - Team Manager:
"We are obviously over the moon to take our first double in British Superbikes and to do it in such circumstances with two fastest laps and pole position in both races is the icing on the cake. There's only one way to describe Josh Brookes today and that is superb. He was in an absolute class of his own and proved beyond doubt that the Tyco Suzuki GSX-R1000 is more than capable on all levels.
"I've been saying for a while now that Donington would be a key round as it is important to carry momentum into the Showdown and Josh has done that. Alastair was unfortunate to crash on Saturday after starting the weekend strong on Friday and the oil pump problem ended the weekend for him.
"Thanks to Tyco, Suzuki and all our other associated sponsors for the support this far; it was a memorable weekend for us all. Also big congratulations to Leon Camier and the Crescent Suzuki guys on their World Superbike podium and the SERT Suzuki team on winning the World Endurance Championship. It has been a memorable weekend for Suzuki."BSB Championship points [For Showdown] 1 Tommy Hill (Yamaha) 535, 2 Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki) 525, 3 Shane Byrne (Kawasaki) 523, 4 Michael Laverty (Honda) 514, 5 Alex Lowes (Honda) 502, 6 Tommy Bridewell (BMW) 500.
