The Motul World Superbike Championship rolls on this weekend at the historic Imola circuit in Italy, which will come as another chance for Australian duo Josh Brookes and Josh Hook to display their talents on the world stage.

Assen was a particularly pleasing turnaround of sorts for reigning British champion Brookes, who managed to shine in Sunday’s second race while he could in mixed conditions. A strong showing in the morning warm-up earlier on also has him confident that the trend will keep improving across the course of the season.

“When we were P5 in morning warm-up I knew the bike could work well and that we could have a good race,” Brookes said post-Assen. “I made ground quickly and found myself in the leading group, and I felt really confident to go faster than them. I overtook when I could and as often as possible, and I managed to take the lead.

Source: Supplied.

“The conditions started to change and we did a great tyre change which we timed perfectly. I took it easy on the slicks to test the conditions, but I hit a wet patch and unfortunately crashed on the out lap.

“It was upsetting to go out but it was great to see the progress we’ve made and to give the team something to cheer for. Looking to Imola, it’s a track I’ve enjoyed in the past and I’m confident that we can the performance level going and start challenging regularly.”

Brookes is easily one of the best Superbike exports we have in the world right now and he has a top-shelf, title-winning team around him. If they can collectively extract what Brookes needs out of the S 1000 RR, he will be amongst the front-runners on a consistent basis.

At 33 time is slowly running out for Brookes on the world stage. The courage it took to race the world championship after winning the BSB title can’t be ignored, but with a top team and good backing, it was no doubt the right decision. It’s just a matter of making it all click before it’s too late (the latter stages of the season).

As for Hook, he faces the tough task of trying to ride a full privateer bike up the order in what’s ultimately an unproven team, in what is his first full world championship season. It’s definitely no easy task.

But as Aussies do, he’s putting a lot of effort to get the most out of himself and his equipment as possible, in a bid to work his way onto improved machinery down the track. Injuries so far haven’t helped his cause.

Source: Supplied.

You’ve got to admire people like Hook however, who essentially gave up the comforts of a factory ride here in Australia to go and chase his dreams internationally. It might pay off, it might not, but at least when all’s said and done he’ll know that he did all he could. He;s certainly got the skills in the right environment, as we saw at Suzuka last year.

While Brookes and Hook are our lone Aussies in the premier class, we’re also keeping tabs on the likes of Aiden Wagner, Lachlan Epis and, for this weekend, Jed Metcher in WorldSSP. You could usually add Glenn Scott to that mix and Ant West on occasion, but of course through injury and a lack of a ride respectively they won’t be in Italy.

Unfortunate news also surfaced this week that Bryan Staring was injured in Italy while riding motocross in training for the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup series. It’s his final go-around in the division this season before he ages out, so hopefully he can get back on board the ZX-10R sooner, rather than later.

Make sure you check out all of CycleOnline.com.au’s social networking channels and be sure to Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for even more behind the scenes insights. Just search CycleOnline.