Josh Brookes celebrated another podium finish for the Milwaukee Yamaha team in the opening race of the triple-header seventh round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park today (Saturday).

Brookes qualified on the front row and then was embroiled in a three-way battle for the lead with title rivals Ryuichi Kiyonari and Shane Byrne. The Australian fought hard, ending the race just 0.496s adrift of the victory in second place at the chequered flag. Bridewell meanwhile made amends for dropping places at the start of the race to charge through to fourth place to move himself back inside the top six in the overall standings ahead of the two races tomorrow.

Brookes said:

“During the race I had a good fight with Shakey, it is never easy but it was particularly difficult to make passes and make them stick. Every time I made a pass either through good luck or good judgement then he would be straight back by me. It was exciting but I wanted to try and lead the race and see if I had better pace, but ironically when I did get to the front I made a load of mistakes! My lap times were up and down whereas normally I am really consistent. I got a bit flustered and then Kiyo was on the scene and was clearly fast. I tried to stay with him to keep the pressure on, but he didn’t make any mistakes and I was forced to take second. I am happy enough; obviously I want wins and to close the gap to the front, but second had to do today.”

Bridewell said:
“Today has not been a bad day really. We had quite a strong qualifying, which I was almost happy with, and we have been building really. In the race I didn’t make the start I needed to be honest and dropped a few places, but I pulled myself back up to fourth. I had a good go and a good fight and then in the last few laps I lost grip with the front tyre and I had to roll it off a bit. We do know now which direction we need to go in, not just for this weekend but for the rest of the season, and we have made a good step forward in today’s race.”

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