Broc Parkes had a strong weekend at Brands Hatch following his participation in the Suzuka Eight Hour Endurance event last week.
The Australian delivered the team their strongest performance of the season so far, qualifying for Superpole and securing fourth place on the grid to head the second row.
In the first race of the day Parkes made a great a great start and was battling inside the top five for the majority of the race. He eventually crossed the finish line in a highly respectable sixth place.
Parkes said: “I felt like the weekend went well and we have to look at the big picture. This was the first time I had actually raced, because at Snetterton I was involved in the crash at turn two. To get into Superpole again and qualify fourth was better than I had initially expected but a great result for me and the team.
“We changed something after warm up and in the race I was really in the mix with the guys and was running in the top five until the very end of the race when I got done and ended up sixth, but it’s so close in this championship.”
The second race didn’t go quite to plan for the 34-year-old after the team made some changes to the bike. Parkes ended up down in 13th place, which was still good enough to add a few more points to his tally.
Parkes explained: “In race two we made another change between races and then for the first time in the weekend I kept feeling like I was going to lose the front and a few times I did rescue it. I was in a big battle with Dan Linfoot and Christian Iddon at the end and they have both been on the podium this year, so it just shows how tough these races can be, but I am happy with the progress we are making.
“We had some good input from what I experienced with the Yamaha at the Eight Hour which the team are working with and hopefully we can take another step forward.”
Next up for Parkes and the ePayME Yamaha team is round eight of the championship at Cadwell Park,Lincolnshire, in three weeks time.