Milwaukee Yamaha claimed the first pole position of the 2014 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship season at Brands Hatch this afternoon as Josh Brookes overcame three crashes in difficult conditions during qualifying to seal the top spot in the final minutes.

The wet conditions made it challenging for the riders however Brookes wasn’t going to give up without a fight and despite three crashes in as many sessions the Australian powered in the fastest lap in the closing stages to seal the position. Tommy Bridewell narrowly missed out on the top ten in eleventh place but is confident that in the forecasted dry conditions he will be able to move up the order to make amends.

Brookes said:

“I had felt in control in the final free practice and everything was going smoothly even though it was the first day we rode in the wet and it was all going to plan. In qualifying it was completely different conditions and I went out and went down. I managed to get the bike back to the garage as there was time to get it back to the team and we started again and then I crashed for the second time. Again I made it back and the Milwaukee Yamaha guys did a great job to fix it all and I got back out to be in Q2. I am thrilled to be on pole and the team now have to work to get the bike back to how it was, but I feel this might go some way towards repaying them for their hard work. I am really pleased with how things are going and I am looking forward to hopefully a dry race tomorrow.”


Bridewell said:

“Eleventh place is obviously not where I want to be on the grid and we want to change that for tomorrow. The Milwaukee Yamaha was working well but it was a massive gamble trying to get it through into the final qualifying. It is dry tomorrow I am feeling really positive with our settings. Eleventh is not where I wanted to be on the grid but we will give it our best shot in the races tomorrow.”

.