In only his second year of competition on the International Road Racing scene, Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes recorded his debut ‘between the hedges’ podium [second place] during Thursday night’s Supersport race at the Vauxhall International North West 200.

The 31-year-old Aussie stormed through from the second row of the grid and impressively disputed the lead with the Triumph duo of 13-time North West winner Michael Rutter and Supersport TT winner Gary Johnson during the opening laps of six. The Bringelly man also set the fastest lap of the race on lap three at 115.948mph, which was only bettered by eventual winner Alastair Seeley.

Brookes was just 1.9 seconds behind Seeley at the chequered flag in third place, after 54 miles of nose to tail racing on the high-speed 8.9-mile road circuit in Northern Ireland. Suzuki’s Guy Martin joined Seeley and Brookes on the podium in second place.

Still pumping with adrenalin afterwards, Brookes recounted:“It’s so difficult to get your braking points exact when you are drafting around here. I’m not proud of some of those moves out there, but I’m proud of the podium for Milwaukee Yamaha.

“I was thinking I could win at one point and thought, ‘maybe this will work out’ but that’s the way it goes. Thanks to the Milwaukee Yamaha guys for preparing a great wee bike. I haven’t raced a 600 competitively for six years but that race gives me a better idea of what to expect on Saturday.”


His team-mate Ian Hutchinson, who suffered nasty hand injuries during Tuesday’s Supersport practice session, battled bravely to sixteenth place, and will be looking to better his effort during Saturdays full race programme at the North West.

“It’s not so much as painful but awkward,” said Hutchy. “It hasn’t been the ideal start to the roads racing season for me and when I crashed on Tuesday I thought my North West and TT were over for this year. We’ll see how we get on Saturday.”

Team Principal Shaun Muir said:

“I’m happy with Josh and pleased with how he ended up in what was effectively his first dry race at the North West. He’s still learning the place and he just needs to take that experience now into the Superbike races tomorrow. We just need to help him get in a position where’s he’s comfortable going for the wins. Leading from the front has given him valuable experience and I’m sure he will use it to his advantage.

“Hutchy has been suffering tiny little problems that are setting him and back and he’s not really recovered fully from that crash on Tuesday which is understandable. We’re going to look at the package on the Milwaukee Yamaha R6 for Hutchy this morning [Friday]. It’s a strong bike, but he’s not just getting what he wants from it yet. Maybe a softer engine will be the answer for him. We will have to wait and see.”

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