Brookes feels ‘big improvement’ with BMW at Magny-Cours

Milwaukee BMW’s Josh Brookes believes he felt a big improvement in between races at the Magny-Cours World Superbikes round and hopes it will continue at the upcoming Jerez race.

The reigning MCE British Superbike Champion wasn’t desperately happy about the result in race two where he finished 11th but it was his best dry result to date and Brookes felt good that he was able to stay with the riders around him - which included Alex Lowes until he crashed out.

“That was definitely one of the better races I’ve had this year. Even though the result isn’t anything to shout about there was a big improvement with the bike between yesterday and today, and I feel quite positive about how the bike felt and what I experienced as it was moving,” said Brookes.

“It was encouraging to see our speed in dry conditions; in other races when I’ve got 11th or better it’s been due to inclement weathers or other riders falling, but today the result was from sheer pace and I was as fast as the guys around me.

“Looking to Jerez, it’s a track I enjoy riding and there have to be some positives to take from having ridden there at the start of the year. That should bring us closer to the more experienced riders ahead of us, and hopefully the lead guys haven’t improved that much at the track and we’ll have closed the gap some more.”

In Saturday’s first race, Brookes was the only man to start on slicks front and rear but he said it was a gamble that didn’t cost them anything.

“The race was a bit of a gamble; the start was clearly wet but we knew it would soon dry out. I don’t particularly like the Intermediate tyre as it has a narrow range of use, so I started on slicks to get around the need for a pit-stop. In the first laps I was quite a long way off the pace I needed to finish well. As the track dried my times were competitive, but I lost too much time at the start to make up.

“To finish 12th with what I had was pretty good, but I think ultimately the Intermediate tyre was the better choice today. I think if we’d started on wet tyres and changed I’d probably be around the same position, so even though it was a gamble I don’t think we lost anything.”