News 21 Sep 2016

Brookes satisfied with BMW improvements made at Lausitzring

Top 10 a positive finish to Germany WorldSBK weekend.

Source: Supplied.

Source: Supplied.

Milwaukee BMW’s Josh Brookes was able to push through and make progress as the 2016 Superbike World Championship resumed at Lausitzring in Germany following the summer break.

A recent interview with Brookes on CycleOnline.com.au made headlines prior to WorldSBK’s resumption last weekend, as he races to resurrect his international career following a difficult world championship return.

Brookes qualified a lowly 17th place on the grid, but made his way forward to 14th in the opening encounter on Saturday. Wet conditions on Sunday for race two saw the Aussie surge to seventh place.

“It’s great to be back racing after the summer break and I’ve been feeling good on the bike in the mixed conditions this weekend,” Brookes said. “Practice and qualifying weren’t too bad while the track was wet/dry, but then it dried in Superpole 1 and I struggled to make up quick lap times.

“In race one I just focused on doing the best I could and the lap times were pretty consistent. I was catching [Roman] Ramos towards the end, which gave me extra motivation to push, but I couldn’t quite pass him.

“Race two was a big improvement and we made progress in the morning warm-up. We wanted to try a few things with the swing-arm, gearing and wheelbase, and they really worked. The bike was a lot more nimble and didn’t lose grip, so as a result we had a much better race.

“We had glimpses of things to come on Sunday and it was great to be in a proper battle again. I’m looking forward to racing at Magny-Cours and I think if we can keep the bike in the performance margin we found this weekend then we can get some more strong results for sure.”

Following the opening 10 rounds of the 2016 WorldSBK season, reigning British superbike champion Brookes is currently ranked 15th in the championship standings. Three rounds – France, Spain and Qatar – remain this year.

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