British Superbike Championship: Thruxton double for Josh Brookes
Last Updated: 03/08/14 8:58pm
Australian Josh Brookes won both races in Round 6 of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Thruxton.
The Milwaukee Yamaha rider enjoyed a comfortable victory in Race 1 at the Hampshire circuit as he came home 4.306 seconds clear of Shane Byrne.
Brookes took the lead from Dan Linfoot (Quattro Plant Bournemouth Kawasaki) on the seventh lap and then remained clear as the battle for second place raged behind him.
Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) eventually edged out Japan’s Ryuichi Kiyonari (Buildbase BMW) with Linfoot taking fourth.
Brookes’ team-mate Tommy Bridewell finished in fifth spot with pole-sitter Jakub Smrz (Millsport Ducati) back in sixth.
The second race had to be restarted after Bridewell’s bike left oil on the track when he retired due to a technical problem.
Byrne had led from the start and he once again took command on the restart, but by half distance Brookes had charged ahead.
He was unable to pull clear this time but still managed to secure his third victory of the season by 0.204secs with Byrne holding off Kiyonari for second place again, while Linfoot grabbed another fourth place for his best points haul of the season.
Byrne now leads the overall standings with 261 points ahead of Brookes on 179 and Kiyonari on 139.
