Australia’s Josh Brookes suffered a weekend of mixed fortunes at the at the Brands Hatch round of the British Superbike Championship, even after taking his first win for the Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing team on Saturday.

Despite his race one victory, the Australian was forced to start Sunday’s first outing from the fourth row of the grid, and from there he battled valiantly to finish a creditable sixth after 20 laps.

Sunday’s second outing saw Brookes start from the second row of the grid. Confident to fight for a podium position, he was forced to retire in the early laps after a minor oil leak on his GSX-R1000.

“I feel bad for the team tonight. They always work so hard and for a tiny oil leak to end our race, after all the hard work, is disappointing,” said Brookes.

“Bitter and sweet is how I’d describe this weekend. I did try very hard but sometimes you just need that little bit of luck too.”

“I’m happy with race two where I came from 13th to sixth but it doesn’t change the fact that it was only sixth when we are looking for podiums.”

Brookes now sits fifth in the BSB series standings with four rounds left to run.