Josh Brookes is gearing up for the racing debut of the new Milwaukee Yamaha R1 at the opening round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Donington Park this Easter weekend (4/5/6 April) as the team continue the development of the new and much-anticipated machine.

Brookes and the Milwaukee Yamaha team had their initial shakedown test in Alcarras earlier this month, followed by a further test at Cartagena before returning to the UK for the official test at Donington Park last week. The former title-runner up was 0.680s adrift of Shane Byrne's pace-setting lap, but Brookes believes the team have a firm direction for further improvement ahead of the opening two races of the season.

Brookes said:

"Initially everything was how I thought it should be at the test, the conditions were tricky, but the bike felt spot on and doing what it should - there were some areas we needed to tailor, but then in the afternoon we found it more difficult to go quicker. We were going quicker every session, but I found it more difficult to do it.

"We had the weight transferring too much onto the front of the bike and taking weight off of the rear, because Donington has got really heavy braking areas it is easy for the bike to pick up the back wheel rather than just wash the speed off.

"We made a few changes at the end but it wasn't enough to make it feel completely right - we still have to tailor a few things, but we have pinpointed what we believe it to be. We look at the data, listen to what I feel, I had some people out around the track watching, so we think it is the speed in which the forks are travelling through is not working efficiently with the nature of the bike so if we can adjust that and change the setting and start from there I think we will get to see quicker improvements again.

"We had a good run at the test, but we just need a couple more things. At the moment I can see next weekend is going to be very close, which is very typical of Donington. We need to focus on that and what we have learnt as a priority for the first round."