British Superbike

Double podium delight for Milwaukee Yamaha at Brands Hatch

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The Milwaukee Yamaha team celebrated two podium finishes on the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit, with Josh Brookes finishing in 3rd place in both races.

Brookes left it very late in race one, with the Australian taking advantage of a mistake by Ryuichi Kiyonari to win the drag race to the line on the final lap.

Reflecting on race one, Brookes said: “I actually thought my chances of podium were gone by the mid-part of race one. Then the safety car came out and it bunched everyone back up again. I set about trying to do a good finish to the race, and because we were all bunched up, it was all to play for again.

“As it was, Shakey forced a pass on Kiyo and they both lost a bit of momentum and I went into the last turn and actually nearly ran into the back of Kiyo – it was really close! It was a heart in the mouth type situation, but I got a slingshot effect, on to the start-finish straight and I was able to squeeze between the two of them for third position.”

Brookes capitalised on a Kiyonari mistake once again in race two, going down the inside at Druids as the Japanese rider ran ride trying to overtake Shane Byrne for second place.

Brookes pushed Byrne to the limit for second place but was unable to put a move on the defending champion.

Brookes said: “In race two, once we get about maybe six or eight laps in, I started to make ground on Shakey. James [Ellison] was disappearing which was a bit annoying – it means you’ve got just got to do something.

“You can’t do it in that race but something’s got to change going forward to try and make that back. I just focused on trying to catch Shakey, and I thought I was doing a good job, but not good enough. The pace was good, but we were both doing it so I had to take third.”

It was also a positive weekend for Broc Parkes on the other Milwaukee Yamaha machine, with the former Moto GP rider finishing eighth in race one before finishing 11th in race two.

Parkes showed improvement throughout the weekend after struggling at the opening round of the season at Donington Park.

Parkes said: “Today hasn’t been too bad; it feels like I have been improving all weekend and we have made big steps forward since the first sessions on Friday. I felt more comfortable in the races and I had a good battle with the guys and did the best job I could. I got boxed in at the start of race two and then I came through the pack. I feel like we have made the next step and we know there is still more to come.”

The weekend’s results leave Brookes 3rd in the championship, 27 points behind the early leader, Byrne, and 21 points behind James Ellison in second.

Brookes now finds himself in 15th position in the championship after collecting 13 points from Brands Hatch.

Next up for the Milwaukee Yamaha team will be round three of the MCE British Superbike Championship, which takes place at Oulton Park on May 2-4.

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About author
Josh is a Sports Journalism graduate and has been a member of the TCF team since 2015. Between 2015 and 2018, Josh focused primarily on British Superbikes and Road Racing events such as the Isle of Man TT. At the beginning of the 2019 season he became the MotoGP Reporter.
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