Josh Brookes admits the Relentless Suzuki by TAS team have some improvements to make if he is to challenge the leaders in Sunday's races. The Australian will start the championship showdown 20 points off the lead, held by Tommy Hill, but only qualified eighth on Saturday, with Hill on pole.
After a difficult start to the weekend which included a crash on Friday, Brookes feels he is moving in the right direction but still has a bit of ground to make up.
“People keep thinking this is a track I haven’t been at too much, but it’s my fourth season racing here and I’ve won a World Supersport race here. In the first practice I just couldn’t put the bike in the places on the track that I needed to be. I could see the line I wanted but just couldn’t seem to get on it. I’ve adjusted the way I’ve been riding a bit and that’s been helping and we’ve tried a few things with the bike.”
“Now we’re seeing light at the end of the tunnel. We still need to take a good old solid step forward to make the lap times come a bit easier, but we’ve dug deep today. If it is dry tomorrow – which it’s not meant to be – we need to find a bit more time but I know where that is and we shouldn’t be too far away.”
The weather forecast looks mixed for Sunday's double header and Team Manager Philip Neill believes everything is to play for from the second row.
“When things go good it’s easy to heap praise on a rider, but it was pleasing today to see Josh dig deep and make Q3 after struggling to find a set-up that he was really comfortable with. He never makes it easy for himself but he has come through today and the second-row is far from a disaster. It could all come down to the weather tomorrow and wet or dry we should be in the hunt.”
