Features 6 Sep 2016

Catching Up: Josh Brookes

Aussie WorldSBK regular on season so far and the future.

There was much anticipation ahead of experienced Australian Josh Brookes’ return to the Superbike World Championship in 2016. Coming off the British title win last year and remaining with Shaun Muir Racing, albeit switching from Yamaha to BMW this season, it was supposed to be 33-year-old Brookes’ best hope of world championship success in his career so far. It hasn’t been so easy though, with he and the Milwaukee-backed team due to separate in 2017 and Brookes now searching for a new home to save his international career. CycleOnline.com.au caught up with him earlier today for his take on what’s been going on to date.

Source: Supplied.

Source: Supplied.

How would you describe your comeback to WorldSBK so far?

Ah, I mean, the best way to describe it is disappointing. You know, I’ve waited since 2008 when I finished third in World Supersport and now’s eight years later to finally get back. Every year I have had this idea of trying to get back into the world championship, but it’s always been a salary that’s kept me away or a team asking for money that’s stopped me from getting back. I really thought that this was a hopeful opportunity to get back, get results and show what I believe I am capable of doing. It’s been absolutely the opposite. The bike’s under-performed, the team’s under-performed and my results have shown poor. It’s not what any of us went in expecting, so at this point, looking at where we’ve come from, I’m really disappointed.

What are some of the main problems encountered?

In a summary, the biggest issue has been no testing. We got the bikes late, got started late, went to the first round unprepared and that race was actually acceptable. But from then on we’ve done no testing and we’ve gotten no better. This year’s been doubly-difficult because of the fact that we’re a new team to the championship and then they’ve changed the rules. Years ago you would have had two practices on a Friday, a third practice on Saturday, two qualifying sessions and a morning warm-up before you have to get racing. Now we’ve got two timed practices, qualifying and then a race on Saturday afternoon. It’s really, really affected the track time for the teams and riders that are needing it the most. The teams that are established have a major advantage as they come to the track already flying with previous data and riders who’ve got experience with the bike/track combinations. So, I mean, that’s a really generalised aspect. If we get to being more specific, from the first day we had big issues with the electric throttle ride-by-wire operation and that threw up a lot of problems through the first few days of testing and first round. I’m in the opinion that that area of the bike has improved, but not to the level where I feel confident. That also puts a big spin on the chassis set-up, because whilst the Milwaukee team that I was with last year operates the chassis side of things, BMW operates the engine, clutch and electronics side. They don’t really work together, they’re two independents that come together at the race track. BMW always blames any problem on the chassis set-up and the chassis guys from the Milwaukee group blame the engine, clutch and electronics combination as to why things aren’t improving. There’s no real collaboration and it’s not seemingly able to with the two separate groups – it seems like one side is always blaming the other side and neither wants to take responsibility for the problems. We’re sort of in a stalemate situation where nothing seems to improve, because no-one’s really sure of what the actual problem is. Whilst the rider, being me, is coming in and saying the bike’s not working, nobody seems to be able to give a clear direction of where the problems are coming from. The electronics seem like they need to be improved, BMW immediately direct their attention to the chassis and say that it’s the only part they don’t have control of, so they’re quick to criticise the suspension and chassis set-up. It’s really hard to get some forward momentum, because they’re two independent parties that feel like they’re not working together and are pulling in two different directions.

Does it make it even more frustrating and result in tensions between you and the Milwaukee team, considering the success you had as BSB champions last year… switch the Yamaha out with the BMW and change championships, it’s been a very different picture, so how’s that been, trying to get your point across?

For sure, frustrating, but I would say more surprising. It was that exact point you’ve made there that I thought this year would be the break and opportunity that I need, because often when you go into any championship for a first time, you’re often going in with a new team and you’ve got to establish yourself and trust with everybody within that team. I thought this year was going to be really great because I didn’t have to go through that process. I thought to myself ‘I’ve already got a team that trusts me and they never question my feedback or information, because this will be the third year I’ve worked in that team and environment’. We’ve won a championship, so you’d think there would be a really strong bond. I thought that would be the part that was easy, because we didn’t have to build that relationship, but honestly, I cannot believe how quickly people in the team have turned on me. Because the results aren’t there, the people that were patting you on the back and telling you how good you are last year when you were winning races, are now ignoring you and questioning your riding, questioning your training, questioning your preparation, questioning your motives, motivation and how much you want it and whether you’re determined. All these things that you think, ‘come on guys, are you kidding me?’. They’re the questions you’d think people would ask who’ve never met you before, not people that you’re in your third season with. They question whether you have the desire still to try win, whether you’re still putting it all on the line like you used to and I’m in disbelief. I’ve tried for eight years in the British championship to get back to this moment and then you think I’m not going to come with full intentions of trying my best? I’m struggling for the correct words here, but… it’s almost hurtful for them to question you. It’s like, ‘do you know how long I’ve tried? How hard the path has been and how long the road I’ve gone on has been? When I finally get here, you’re going to ask whether I’ve got that desire to keep trying!?’. It just seems really, really disheartening to hear the comments and the questions of some people, that they would even question you. It’s all just because of results. When you’re getting results, it’s easy. That’s why I like the quote, ‘never judge someone on their best day, judge them on their worst day’, because I judged the Milwaukee team by what we achieved last year when the results were coming and we were a tight-knit group – everybody had eachother’s back. It was like they were the super-professional team that you would consider to be of MotoGP quality, with nothing but support of the rider and a positive atmosphere in the pit garage, making you feel welcome, at home and relaxed to ride your best. If you walk into the garage this year, it’s a completely different environment. When I come in 10th, 12th position, they’re staring at you like ‘you didn’t try hard enough and like what are you doing, playing around, not putting 100 percent in?’. I cannot believe that the same people I worked with last year are giving me that questioning. I thought it would be obvious that there’s a problem with the bike. In a third year, as soon as results aren’t there, you’d think ‘we’ve got to look at this motorbike and there must be something wrong. For Josh to go out on track, an Australian champion, British champion, lap record holder at multiple tracks around the world, to come in with no result, we’ve got to look at this motorbike’. They’re very quick to dismiss problems with the bike and look at me, pass that pressure on to me as a rider and wonder if I’m trying hard enough. So, that’s a very long answer to your question, but I’m quite surprised to see how not getting results changes people’s personalities and attitude, that kind of things.

There have been some high points though, especially leading at Assen…

Yeah, I mean it’s a very long story to explain round by round what we’ve changed with the bike and what hasn’t, but it’s sort of on the same note of what I’ve just finished with. Often the bike was chopped and changed underneath me without my consent, because they were looking at the results, not happy with the results and I don’t direct the changes with the bike – I’m just the rider at the end of the day. The bike seems to change as a result of what I’m saying and feeling, then you’ll get to the next round and they’ll completely go in a different direction because someone in the management thinks we’re going down the wrong path. Whatever direction we were going in and the progress we were making seems like it’s completely undermined by the management changing the plan from underneath you. I haven’t mentioned Stewart Winton too much, but he’s been fighting in my corner the whole way and completely on my side. He’s never let a bad result affect his belief in me as a rider and he’s tried every time to give me the bike that I will be more confident with. He’s even gone against and challenged other people within the team saying ‘look, come on guys, you can’t change the bike like that on him when he’s just started to get confidence with it. Let the rider pursue what he thinks is working before you go and move the goal posts on him’. So, at Assen, yeah there was a moment for that day in those conditions that the bike was working well, but I don’t know if it was good luck or good judgment. We’ve tried those settings before and since, but haven’t had the same success since. It wasn’t like a magic setting that works everywhere, it just happened to work that day and unfortunately we can’t match that to reproduce those results. Even that was looking to be the best day in the championship and, again, management put the mockers on us because Stewy wanted to change the tyre early and pulled it off the rack to get it into pit lane, but management said ‘no, while he’s leading this is good for the sponsors, leave him out there’. With the confusion, the tyre wasn’t on the tyre warmer rack and plugged in, ready to do a pit stop, but the management says they ‘need the television time and leave him out there’. When I did finally come in, the tyre had been in a warmer but not plugged in, so that gave it a moment or two to lose its temperature and in those conditions that’s the most key point… as soon as you get out on a drying track, you’ve gotta have the slick to be at its absolute perfect condition to stay on. Because of management stepping in the way of what should have been a logical team decision, it completely stuffed us up. I went out on a tyre not at an optimum riding temperature and fell down on the out-lap. I’m in two minds, thinking that was the greatest weekend of the year, then in another I’m thinking that’s a perfect example of why we’re having so much trouble this year, because people are stepping in when they should step back. It’s really frustrating to see such rookie decisions being made by a team that was able to lead me to the British championship last year. It really illustrates how quickly your results can suffer as a result of what other people do. I think it’s hard for the general public to recognise how big a part the motorcycle plays in the results, which stems from grass roots here in Australia right up to the top in MotoGP. There’s often guys that go without results or guys that are regularly in the results and the public perception recognises for the results when they cross the finish line, but don’t have so much of an understanding how big a part the motorcycle plays. It’s not a surprise to me, because I’ve been in it for so many years and I know that this is what happens from time to time, but I can see that the public don’t always understand that – they can’t understand how you can go from being British champion one year to not even regularly in the top 10 the following year.

Source: Supplied.

Source: Supplied.

The summer break is almost complete, with Germany coming up next weekend. Expectations for the final four rounds?

Now that the Milwaukee group have show their decisions in public of what they are doing next year, moving to a different brand, I’m hoping that I can bridge the relationship to BMW a bit stronger. I think in the early rounds of the year BMW were heavily reliant on the Milwaukee team management decisions, how they wanted the bike prepared and what they wanted from BMW. I think now that BMW know the team’s changed its alliance and is going with Aprilia, my attitude is to try get the best results we can and to try improve my relationship with BMW. The season’s over and the relationship’s over for Milwaukee and BMW in the future, but I’ve still got a few races to finish and a job to do. I’m hoping that if BMW and myself work closely, we might be able to nut out a few of the problems that may have been missed in communication going via the management of the team. Yeah, that’s my agenda, to try and get the best out of the package that we’ve got, see if I can reach the potential of the bike, because we clearly haven’t done that this year. There were signs of it, like you said, at Assen, when the bike’s working well and I’ve got confidence in it, I can ride around the outside of the world champions and pass them, you know? So, the real potential of the bike and me as a combination hasn’t been seen yet. I’m not a religious person, but I am praying that I get some good luck in these final few rounds, at least if not for the future with the team, but for the fans and for my personal satisfaction with some good results.

Aside from WorldSBK, you were on the podium again at the Suzuka 8 Hours. How was it being back with Yoshimura Suzuki with some really good teammates and the iconic Japanese team again?

Yeah, it was great to join them again. I raced with them in 2013 when we got second, so there was quite a family feeling going back to that team and it was a great honour to be riding with [Noriyuki] Haga. As a kid growing up Haga was one of the big names that we followed, so to be teamed up with him… I was even just pleased to race against him in BSB when he came there. To actually be teammates and stand on the podium with him as a team was a great experience and something I will never forget. As a rider, sometimes we can take for granted some of the stuff and moments that we experience, but that was a real eye-opener to be teamed with such a famous rider and I thoroughly enjoyed that. Also, after what’s been such a difficult season in World Superbikes, it was good to set the record straight and say ‘look, give me a bike that’s competitive and I can put it on the podium’. In a lot of ways the Suzuki’s a very old model and we were still able to podium, so there’s no loss of desire and ability – if you give me the package, I can still deliver the results. That was a sweet one considering the season I’ve had and the questions I have been asked.

So, where to from here for you, considering the Milwaukee team will be with Aprilia and has signed Eugene Laverty for 2017?

Obviously I would have loved to stay in the world championship, that’s where I’ve always wanted to try be, but having said that, everything I’ve done is to race the bikes, which is what I’m most passionate for, and also to receive a salary to do it. I need to be able to pay the bills and live life outside of racing, so I have sort of been forced down the path of earning a salary via the British Superbike Championship. I got the opportunity to come back to World Superbikes this year, but with Aprilia keeping [Lorenzo] Salvadori and merging with Milwaukee, which has signed Laverty, that leaves me no place to continue. At the moment there’s no seats in the World Superbike paddock, so unless a new team is generated and a seat becomes available, I can’t see – using my logical mindset – an opening for me to remain there. I have to turn my focus back to trying to earn a salary again and the first idea is to go back to BSB, where I’ve had my best salary and success, where there are some great teams and it’s a great championship. I’ve had quite a lot of interest in the paddock from a number of different brands, but I’m also looking outside of that. MotoAmerica are showing a lot of interest in trying to build their series again and making it bigger and better like it used to be, so I’m in talks with different people and brands in that series. I’ve already been speaking with Yoshimura because they would like to keep me involved with the Suzuka 8 Hours and have even asked if I’d ride the All-Japan series with Suzuki to develop their new bike. At the moment it’s just trying to work out, like any business, a strategy of what’s going to give the best return on investment. If I put my desires in the BSB, it’s going to be because somebody’s given me a good platform to race on and a salary to survive on, but I’d be just as interested to see what MotoAmerica can offer. It’d be nice to expand my profile, so to speak. If I could win an Aussie championship, a British championship and an American championship, it would be a great achievment. It’s not the world championship that I’ve always tried to get to, but it would be a good ‘runners-up’ success. I’m keeping my options open at the moment, talking to as many people as I can, and when I do finally make that decision it will be because it is the best option that’s available to me.

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