Josh Brookes holds third place in the British Superbike Championship standings after the opening round of the season at Brands Hatch, the Tyco Suzuki rider taking third place in the opening encounter, after leading in the early laps; and followed it up with a lonely fifth place in race two.

Young American PJ Jacobsen had a solid debut in the British Superbike class and holds a top-10 position in the championship standings after taking ninth and 12th in his full BSB debut.

Josh Brookes:

"I'm fairly happy with the weekend and I don't want to use not having track time as an excuse, as no one really has coming into this round. We worked through with a new set-up on suspension and it wasn't perfect straight away, but by the time we got to race day we were in a good range and the tyre lasted pretty well for us in both races. My GSX-R1000 Superbike was running clean and crisp and I don't think we could have got much more out of it. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to secure the results we wanted this weekend, but we will move onto the next round at Thruxton and see how it goes - it's a long season ahead."


PJ Jacobsen:

"The first race was really good but 30 laps really was a bit different for me and I didn't really know what the Superbike class was going to be like in a race situation - but yeah, it was good. I just concentrated on being really smooth and maybe didn't push so hard in the first race but ninth at the end was absolutely great. In the second race I got tangled up with someone going into turn one and basically that was the race over for me in terms of trying to better my place from race one. I just concentrated on putting in consistent lap times and although I'm a bit disappointed, it was a good start to the year."

Philip Neill - Team Manager:

"As Josh says, we didn't quite get the results we wanted from the weekend but there are a lot of positives to be taken away from the first round; not least no broken bikes, which is of paramount importance on back-to-back weekends. We will need to have a look at certain areas that we must improve on, but all in all we are third in the championship after round one, so we will not complain.

"PJ had a good solid debut in BSB: He qualified well, dealt with the pressure of riding in the premier class and his race one result was more than impressive for a rookie who has had limited track time. In race two he got pushed wide into Paddock Hill and it put paid to any chances of improving on race one, but we are delighted with his attitude and application and it couldn't have been a much better debut."

BSB Race 1 Result:

1. Shane Byrne (Kawasaki)
2. Alex Lowes (Honda) +1.376s
3. Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki) +6.207s
4. Jon Kirkham (BMW) +9.009s
5. Tommy Bridewell (Honda) +9.326s
6. Keith Farmer (Kawasaki) +13.351s
7. Chris Walker (Kawasaki) +13.681s
8. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) +13.814s
9. PJ Jacobsen (Tyco Suzuki) +16.980s
10. Josh Waters (Yamaha) +20.505s

BSB Race 2 Result:

1. James Ellison (Yamaha)
2. Alex Lowes (Honda) +1.997s
3. Shane Byrne (Kawasaki) +5.904s
4. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) +11.507s
5. Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki) +15.974s
6. Jon Kirkham (BMW) +21.280s
12. PJ Jacobsen (Tyco Suzuki) +31.654s

British Superbike Championship Standings (after 1 round):

1. Shane Byrne (Kawasaki) 41
2. Alex Lowes (Honda) 40
3. Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki) 27
4. James Ellison (Yamaha) 25
5. Jon Kirkham (BMW) 23
6. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 21
7. Chris Walker (Kawasaki) 17
8. Keith Farmer (Kawasaki) 16
9. PJ Jacobsen (Tyco Suzuki) 11
10. Tommy Bridewell (Honda) 11

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