Josh Brookes was disappointed to have lost ground in the BSB Championship Showdown after only managing fifth and sixth in Sunday's races at Donington Park. The weekend got off to a terrible start when he crashed his GSX-R1000 in Friday practice and the leaders had too much pace on race day.
The Australian now trails John Hopkins by 38 points in the race for the title and is now concentrating on fighting back at Silverstone.
“There’s not a lot to say really. I rode my backside off this weekend for fifth and sixth places. Everyone congratulated me at Brands when I won there, but that was easy: This weekend we rode really hard and got nothing for it. It just didn’t come good for us. All we can do now is prepare-well for Silverstone.”
Philip Neill, Team Manager of Relentless Suzuki by TAS, admitted that Brookes never felt comfortable on the bike all weekend but expects the situation to improve in the final two events.
“Josh is obviously disappointed, as we all are, after fighting so hard to make the top-six for the Showdown. It’s frustrating to come away from Donington not having challenged the leaders, but Josh just couldn’t find a comfortable enough set-up to give him the confidence to push that little bit extra. A crash on Friday was not the perfect way to start any weekend, but we’ll get some testing under our belt and come out firing on all cylinders at Silverstone.”
BSB Championship Showdown (Five Races To Go)
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Bike | Team | Wins | Pts |
| 1 | John Hopkins | USA | Suzuki | Samsung Crescent Racing | 4 | 568 |
| 2 | Tommy Hill | GBR | Yamaha | Swan Yamaha | 7 | 565 |
| 3 | Shane Byrne | GBR | Honda | HM Plant Honda | 4 | 543 |
| 4 | Michael Laverty | GBR | Yamaha | Swan Yamaha | 2 | 532 |
| 5 | Josh Brookes | AUS | Suzuki | Relentless Suzuki by TAS | 1 | 530 |
| 6 | Ryuichi Kiyonari | JAP | Honda | HM Plant Honda | 2 | 518 |
Photo Credit: Suzuki Racing
