First British superbike podium for Brookes
While McConnell wins supersportJosh Brookes fought through the pack to claim his maiden British superbike podium at Thruxton last Sunday, while Adelaide's Billy McConnell made it a stellar 24 hours for Australia with a yard-fought win in the supersport event.
Brookes was eighth on the opening laps of race two, but then started slice through the pack when he passed Ian Lowry under brakes on lap five, before repeating the same manoeuvre on Aussie teammate Glen Richards the next time around.
Full of venom, Brookes eventually took care of Stuart Easton (Honda) for third, and finished right on the tail of Yamaha's James Ellison in a gritty performance.
"We made some changes between races and you can see the result, we made real good progress and it was like the old me and I had my flare back," said Brookes. "This is a great environment and the team have been working really hard to get us here and now I feel like I have paid back all their efforts with this podium.
"This has been a great opportunity that the team have given me and now I need to keep it up. Of course I want to say sorry to Sylvain (Guintoli) and I hope that it is now behind us. Hopefully the fans will get behind me and I am now ready for the next round at Snetterton."
The week before, Brookes collided with leading Suzuki rider Sylvain Guintoli on the sighting lap at Donington, breaking the Frenchman's leg.
Ellison's teammate Leon Camier won race two, just as he was the victor the day before.
Richards scored 6-7 results, while Brookes was seventh in the opener.
Camier has extended his lead to 38pts (167 to 129) over Ellison, followed by Easton (107) and Richards (95).
In supersport, McConnell (Yamaha) stole the championship lead back from Steve Plater (Honda).
The race had to be restarted after Dennis Hobbs and Lee Johnston crashed in spectacular style on lap one, putting an end to proceedings. Hobbs sustained a fractured right upper arm and a soft tissue injury to his right hand.
Johnston made the restart and was ninth, while McConnell prevailed in a classic from Plater and Dan Linfoot (Yamaha).
For full results and standings, click here.
Photo credit: Double Red
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