Source: Supplied.

Australia’s great hope for success on the World Superbike stage during the Yamaha Finance round at Phillip Island on 24-26 February, Josh Brookes, has taken delivery of the YZF-R1 that he will campaign this month.

In a bid to speed up the process of importing his British Superbike Championship-winning bike from the UK to Australia, Brookes has opted to source a frame from Yamaha Motor Australia and will build his race bike locally using the overseas parts.

The ER Motorsports team, which 33-year-old Brookes will contest Phillip Island with, recently acquired his former Milwaukee Yamaha machine from Tommy Hill Motorsports after it was used for a second term in BSB last year.

Despite missing Monday’s planned test at Phillip Island alongside the Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) regulars, Brookes and ex-BSB crew chief Stewart Winton will endevour to prepare the wildcard entry this week for a potential shakedown in Sydney.

“We’re going to build the bike and hopefully ride Thursday/Friday at Eastern Creek,” Brookes explained. “Alternatively, we might ride there next week, do some work with it on the dyno and that type of thing, to make sure everything’s right. I was desperate to get everything here for [the ASBK] test at Phillip Island, but the importing process is hard work.

“That really slowed everything up, so I was really disappointed not to get to ride at Phillip Island before the official test. Eastern Creek is a great track though, one that I like and know – for a shakedown it’s good enough. I’m just going to see if the bike runs with all the settings from when I raced it last, to see if it’s correct and working properly.”

While Brookes will work with Winton in the lead-up to Phillip Island, existing commitments working with Queensland’s Aiden Wagner in World Supersport at Lorini Honda has prompted Brookes to seek an alternate crew chief for the Phillip Island race weekend. He’s been in contact with Victorian-based domestic guru Phil Tainton, among others at this stage, regarding the role.