Brookes laments ‘less than acceptable’ Donington results

Josh Brookes has described his results during round three of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship as ‘less than acceptable’ after failing to reach the podium at Donington Park.

A favourite to continue his winning streak after a double success at Oulton Park, Brookes started race one from pole position but a dramatic high-side into retirement kick-started a weekend to forget.

Finishing fourth after struggling to recover from a poor start, Brookes fared worse in race three when he out-braked himself into the Roberts chicane whilst following Be Wiser Ducati team-mate Scott Redding in second and had to run on, dropping him to fifth.

With Redding going on to claim a triple victory, which in turn lifts him to the top of the standings, Brookes was left to bemoan a weekend that fell well below expectations.

“Finishing in fourth and fifth isn’t what we go racing for and the results have been disappointing. Everything felt like it was going to plan in the first race [on Sunday] and I was catching the leaders but just after mid-race, I lost both grip and a bit of performance with the bike whilst I also eased off a bit more than some of the other riders when the rain began to fall.

“In the second race, I got sucked in a bit when I was in the draft of Scott and made a mistake going into the chicane which obviously lost me a lot of time.

“After that it was damage limitation so the results, for me personally, have been less than acceptable so we’ve got some work to do ahead of the next round.”