Brookes rewards Milwaukee Yamaha with double victory

The Milwaukee Yamaha team celebrated a commanding double victory in the sixth round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch, closing the deficit in the overall standings to just five points and claiming the maximum ten Podium Points available.

In the opening race Brookes settled into second on the first lap and was instantly on the attack, claiming the lead by lap four and following two Safety Car interventions kept his cool to bridge the pack to win by 0.507s. Parkes narrowly missed out on the top ten in eleventh place.

In race two Brookes was determined to build on his race one win – the first victory in MCE BSB for the next generation YZF-R1. The Milwaukee Yamaha rider bided his time to hit the front on the eighth lap with a calculated move to hold the position to the finish, whilst Parkes claimed tenth place.

Josh Brookes

“It’s strange, we’ve gone this far into the season and haven’t been able to win and then we get two in the one day – it’s pretty awesome feeling. It’s a team environment; the guys have worked so hard to make the bike better for me each round and at the start of the season.

“When you wait for something you really appreciate it and the bike worked really well by race day – I couldn’t fault it and I think it’s down to our plan we had in place. We had a ‘Theoretical Thursday’, ‘Effort Friday’ and try whatever we needed to do to get that done, a ‘Sensible Saturday’ where we put settings in that were just sensible to get the job done and ‘Successful Sunday’. We had a plan, we stuck to it, and we achieved.

“It all reflects back on the bike really, I didn’t improve the round or the round before that – the bike did. It’s given me the ability to ride with confidence and you can see in the start of the second race the team had made a small change. From what we could see in the data they thought this would help so I told the team to do what you need to do, and I’ll just ride it.

“The first couple of laps I thought ‘this isn’t right, I’m not turning in, I’m not getting apexes’, and Shakey really seemed to have control of the first couple of laps in his typical style and didn’t seem to be suffering from anything I was hoping to capitalise on. Then about four laps in, it just started to settle into a rhythm and the bike started to feel even better than race one.

“I was able to just watch Shakey for a little while and then had a look in a few places but I couldn’t see the correct place to do it and then an opportunity opened up and I went for it. To get into the lead and to get a gap is such a great feeling – the bike was on rails and it changed direction like a cat, it was just perfect.”

Broc Parkes

“It has been a mixed day really, I struggled a bit with the front in both races and I didn’t have the confidence to brake how I wanted to and the result were not as high as I was expecting.

“In the second race I had good pace towards the end, but at the start I couldn’t go with the guys. I caught a few of them and made positions up. We learnt a lot this weekend and we have some ideas for the next races, next I am off to Suzuka for the Eight Hour then on to Thruxton.”

More, from a press release issued by Paul Bird Motosport:

Byrne Salvages Podium As Easton Injured At Brands Hatch

After the euphoria of the historic double one-two finish at Knockhill two weeks ago, it was back down to earth with a bang, quite literally, for the Penrith-based Paul Bird Motorsport Team at round six of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch this weekend.

Four-times MCE BSB champion Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne was hoping to continue his winning streak at his local track but he ended up crashing out of the opening race aboard the PBM Kawasaki ZX-10R when running with the leaders in race one, just after team-mate Stuart Easton had crashed heavily at the same corner sustaining a leg injury.

The weekend had started well with pole position for Sittingbourne rider Byrne with Scotsman Easton lining up in a strong fifth place. The opening race started well with Byrne leading and Easton well placed after the first two laps. However, on the next lap, Hawick rider Easton crashed heavily at high speed at Hawthorn Bend, followed six laps later by Byrne at the same corner, as both riders were taken off to the medical centre for checks.

Unfortunately, Stuart suffered a suspected lower leg fracture and ligament damage to his knee in his frightening spill and was unable to start the second race but a battered Shakey was able to bravely take his spot from pole position. From there, a good start saw the reigning MCE BSB champion storm into an early lead although Josh Brookes relegated him to second on lap eight.

As the race wore on, Brookes pulled away to take the victory again to deny Shakey his 67th MCE BSB win but, given his earlier crash, second was a good result and saw him maintain his lead in the title race albeit by a slightly reduced margin.

Shane Byrne: “The first race crash was unlucky and all the data showed was that I’d used slightly more rear brake which was enough to unload the front tyre. I went down hard and the boys did a great job in repairing the bike so it was down to me to pay them back in the second race. I’d be lying if I said I felt brand new but I gave it my best shot although I made a few mistakes during the race allowing Josh to get away, I’ll take second given where we were earlier in the day. Massive thanks to the whole PBM team for rebuilding the bike and I’m sorry I couldn’t give them the win.”

Stuart Easton: “I was feeling confident coming into this weekend although we had a few issues getting the bike how I wanted it. I was happy after qualifying although we had a technical problem during morning warm-up which meant we had to change engines. I was feeling good in the race then all of a sudden I was flying towards the barriers and although I’ve suffered an injury to my leg, all things considered I was extremely lucky. We’ll see exactly what the damage is and I hope to be back and challenging again soon.”

Phil Borley, Technical Director: “After the highs of Knockhill two weeks ago, we’ve experienced the lows of racing this weekend with both riders crashing within a few laps of each other. The first race was a bit of a disaster but, fortunately, Shakey wasn’t injured and he was able to come back strong in the second race to take second and score some good points and podium credits. Unfortunately, it looks like Stuart has broken some bones in his lower leg or ankle and we’re just awaiting further diagnosis to find the full extent of the damage. We’ve checked the bike and haven’t found anything untoward but it’s a real shame for Stuart, especially as it wasn’t his fault, as he’d been riding so well so, hopefully, he won’t be out for too long and will be able to maintain his top six position.”

Paul Bird, Team Owner: “Not the results we came for or have been used to lately but we will take the rough with the smooth. It’s a shame for Stuart and hopefully he’ll be back soon and Shakey showed his class after bouncing back with a podium after his big crash. We’ll have two bikes out at Thruxton as Ian Hutchinson will ride in place of Stuart and hopefully we can get back to our winning ways there.”

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship – Race One (20 laps)

1 Josh Brookes (Yamaha)

2 Richard Cooper (Kawasaki)

3 James Ellison (Kawasaki)

4 Tommy Bridewell (BMW)

5 Michael Laverty (BMW)

6 John Hopkins (Ducati)

DNF Shane Byrne (PBM Kawasaki)

DNF Stuart Easton (PBM Kawasaki)

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship – Race Two (20 laps)

1 Josh Brookes (Yamaha)

2 Shane Byrne (PBM Kawasaki)

3 Richard Cooper (Kawasaki)

4 James Ellison (Kawasaki)

5 Michael Laverty (BMW)

6 Billy McConnell (BMW)

DNS Stuart Easton (PBM Kawasaki)

Championship Positions (after six rounds)

1 Byrne 221pts

2 Brookes 216

3 Ellison 147

4 Easton 139

5 O’Halloran 103

6 Bridewell 99

The seventh round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship takes place at Thruxton in two weeks’ time (July 31/August 2). For more information, please visit www.britishsuperbike.com and the team website www.britishsuperbike.com

More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office:

SOLID POINTS FOR IDDON AFTER RACE ONE CHARGE AT BRANDS

Christian Iddon finished in a solid eighth place in the second race at Brands Hatch yesterday, after charging through from 30th to 13th in the first race aboard his Bennetts Suzuki GSX-R1000.

After qualifying in 13th for round six of the MCE British Superbike championship, Iddon made a strong start in race one but was forced to take evasive action at Druids on lap one as three riders crashed out. He rejoined in last place and ended the first lap in 30th place. After catching and passing riders in front of him, Iddon pushed through and was involved in the battle for a top-10 position, but came away with 13th place for his efforts.

Starting from 13th again in race two, Iddon initially lost a couple of places on the opening lap, but soon made inroads into the top 10. Embroiled in the battle for sixth, he crossed the line in eighth place to score some solid championship points.

Christian Iddon:

“I wanted to go tight into Druids on the opening lap but my track position meant I was committed to the outside, and there’s always a danger something can happen on the inside and sadly for us it did, and it forced me well off track. But I got my head down and got myself into a rhythm and pushed my way through. I got myself onto the back of the battle for ninth but I just couldn’t work my way through the group, but 13th wasn’t too bad after how far back I was on the first lap. In the second race I got boxed-in this time at Druids, but I every time I passed another rider I was able to focus on the next one and keep moving forward. At one point I ran wide at Graham Hill bend and allowed Luke Mossey back past, and after that I started to lose some grip on the front tyre. But we’ve made real progress with the bike and it performed really well this weekend. There’s still things we need to improve such as our corner-entry speed, but the team has really made some big steps.”

Josh Waters rode to 17th and 19th placed finishes in the weekend’s two races, and while he made progress from his 25th placed qualifying position, the team is still working on finding the solution to a corner entry set-up issue that prevented the double Australian Superbike Champion from showing his true potential this weekend.

Josh Waters:

“It was a difficult weekend on our side of the garage. Everyone is putting in lots of hard work and I’m doing my best out there, we’re just struggling with one key issue with our set-up that’s holding me back from being able to ride the bike how I need to. The Yoshimura engines are working fantastically and we know what we and the bike are capable of, it’s just a matter of finding the answer to the issue we’re having. It’s so competitive out there but we’ve made progress, and once we find the answer I know we’ll be capable of far better results that we’re achieving at the moment.”

Jack Valentine – Team Manager:

“Christian got a good start in race one and I thought we were on for a good result, but obviously the drastic evasive action he had to take put paid to any hopes of that. However it was still an excellent ride from dead last to come through to take some points and be in the mix for a top-10 finish. In race two, after some of the luck we’ve had, I’ve never been so happy for an eighth place finish and it was good to be able to fight for sixth. If he hadn’t made a small mistake and run off the track at Graham Hill bend then maybe we would have had that sixth place. But he did set the sixth fastest lap of the race, in traffic too, so we’re taking the positives from that and we’ll look to build on it at Thruxton.

“On Josh’s side of the garage we’re still looking for a solution to a chassis issue that’s preventing him from being able to ride as he’d like to. Even though everyone has been working hard a quick fix eludes us. But we’ve far from given up hope and are sure we can give him a better ride at the next round. He’s also off to race the Suzuka 8-Hour and we’ll look to see if we can get some ideas from our friends in the Yoshimura Suzuki team, and we’ll keep working here to find an answer.”

Race One: 1. Josh Brookes, 2. Richard Cooper, 3. James Ellison, 4. Tommy Bridewell, 5. Michael Laverty. 13. Christian Iddon. (Bennetts Suzuki) 17. Josh Waters (Bennetts Suzuki).

Race Two: 1. Josh Brookes, 2. Shane Byrne, 3. Richard Cooper, 4. James Ellison, 5. Michael Laverty. 8. Christian Iddon (Bennetts Suzuki). 19. Josh Waters (Bennetts Suzuki).