HM Plant Honda’s Josh Brookes made history today at Silverstone by becoming the first rider to win on the all-new Arena circuit after holding off the challenges of his rivals, following an immense five-way battle on the final lap in the opening National Superstock 1000 Championship race.

Josh had been second on the opening lap, before taking the lead from pole-sitter Sam Warren. The battle for the lead developed and Josh was fighting hard to take the advantage as six riders diced for supremacy. Five riders had a spell in the lead before the last lap shootout which included Glen Richards, Howie Mainwaring, Jon Kirkham and Simon Andrews. On the final lap Josh was lying second and was able to swap places with his Padgetts Honda mate Glen Richards and was able to just edge ahead to take the first victory of the weekend.

Josh said:

“I just got away and tried to get my head down; I got a good start and I forgot what these bikes feel like to race as they are so forgiving. You can be so aggressive and you could see that from some of the moves out there – you wouldn’t have been able to hold some of those lines that we were doing on a Superbike! That was just so exciting all the way through; we were swapping places all round the track and you could be first one lap, then fifth the next so it was real fun. You can ride these Superstock bikes at full speed everywhere and this track is so wide you can make slight mistakes and it doesn’t cost you too much time.

“On the last lap there were a few moments and I think that was my fastest lap of the race so that shows how hard we were pushing, but also how good the Fireblade is aswell. It just feels great to know I won the first race here, now we just have to wait to see what happens tomorrow.”

Josh’s BSB Crew Chief Chris Pike concluded:

“That was such a fantastic race and it feels so good for everyone in the HM Plant Honda team to see the bike back at the front and to celebrate a podium finish. There were a few moments where it looked like Josh would miss out, as it was that close on track, but he really pulled the pin on the final two laps. A Honda one-two with Glen Richards in second is a great way to start the weekend, we are really happy with the set-up and now we’re looking ahead to tomorrow and target another victory.”