The Anvil Hire Yamaha team have returned home in a positive mood following their test at the Jerez circuit, with Josh Brookes and Shaun Winfield finding their feet on board the 2017 machines ahead of round one at the end of the month

Day one was a wash out for both riders, with heavy rain falling all day until the final hour, meaning both Brookes and Winfield only completed a handful of laps around the 4.4km circuit, giving both riders the chance to change their riding position and blow off the winter cobwebs.

The team made a few changes to the 2015 British Superbike Champion’s machine ahead of day two during the evening, however, cool conditions meant that track surface hadn’t dried out from the previous day’s downpours, but that didn’t stop the two team mates working through their programmes.

The Bringelley man worked hard on a damp track all day, consistently making changes to his Yamaha YZF-R1 on the electronics side, giving him a better feel with the bike. Equally, Winfield was busy working on his pace on used tyre’s, putting in a heap of laps.

Finally, Monday saw bright skies above the Jerez circuit, after breaking through the morning fog. Brookes and his team mate the 23-year-old Winfield headed out on track for more laps after positive overnight changes.

On a fully dry track both riders could open their machines and complete a full day, with Brookes working with his side of the garage on the electronics and suspension, alongside Winfield who worked hard on his lap times, and the general feel with his machine.


After the weekend, a delighted Josh Brookes said: 

“The test was positive because it was the first outing, irrespective of what we changed with the bike we needed to get that first test out of the way and get the ball rolling so to speak.

“The weather was bad and we had limited track time, but the whole purpose of being there from riding the bike, getting to know everything and everyone was positive.

“The bike is something that is already familiar with me, so I don’t need to get to know the machine because I know from previous experience what it takes to go quick with it. It’s just a process of getting to know the team and the people involved.

“I didn’t put any pressure on the them or myself ahead of the test, I just let it be what it was. I was confident before we headed to Jerez, the bike is the same as 2015 and I know the it’s capable of winning races, and I’m now looking forward to Donington.”

His teammate Shaun Winfield added: 

“It’s been a great weekend to be honest, the weather didn’t help us and we missed pretty much all of day one. Day two was better, there was still some damp patches around the track but I still managed to put some laps in, however yesterday was a great day.

“The sun came out and I put some really strong laps in, I have been working together with Josh and seeing his input into the bike, finding out things he used back in 2015 that I can benefit from that I never really knew about it, that is certainly helping me, and it will help us both as we head to Donington in a couple of weeks.”

Finally, Team Manager Gary Winfield summerised: 

“Although the weather hasn’t been kind to us this weekend with more or less two wet days, we have worked through a big programme of testing and we have found a very good base setting to work from at Donington.

“Josh’s knowledge of the R1 has helped massively, and he knows what he wants from the bike which helps everyone in the team pull in the right direction. Instantly he felt at home, we found some issues with the ECU but we worked hard together to solve those and it’s now looking very positive for the start of the season.

“Shaun has enjoyed the three days we have had out in Spain, he worked hard on his pace on used tyres and brought himself back up to speed on the bike. It’s important we now carry on this momentum into the Donington test, and then round one, because at the moment it’s looking very positive.”