Australia’s Josh Brookes remains in the BSB title hunt after his rivals suffered misfortune in Assen.

Aussie Josh Brookes is focusing on a return to form for the penultimate round of the British Superbike Championship (BSB) where he remains in reach of a maiden title.

The Tyco Suzuki rider easily confirmed his place in the Title Fighters Showdown but struggled at last weekend’s Assen clash in the Netherlands.

He placed fourth in the opening race, around 11 seconds off the lead battle, and was left to rue a crash in the second race which cost him valuable points.

An incident between title rivals Alex Lowes and Shane Byrne which saw the former excluded and the latter register a DNF has offered a glimmer of hope for the Australian rider.

“It certainly wasn’t an ideal weekend for me, but with Alex getting excluded from the race two results we’re still in the championship hunt,” said Brookes.

“The crash in race two was just down to me trying as hard as I could to gain maximum points and I just over-rode slightly.”

The experienced rider put his error down to the level of pressure placed upon riders with the Showdown format bringing the points gap back to a minimum.

“That’s the nature of the Showdown; we all want to win and I’m sure it was great viewing for the fans but the focus is now on Silverstone where we need to be winning races if we’re to go to Brands with a chance of winning this championship,” he finished.

Team Manager Philip Neill admitted the misfortune of Lowes and Byrne had thrown their lead rider a relative “lifeline” and hoped to be able to work with Brookes to regain momentum prior to Silverstone.

Brookes currently sits fourth on the standings, 34 points off the leader Byrne. He is just three points shy of a top three place, currently occupied by Milwaukee Yamaha’s James Ellison.