August 28, 2022

Top Ten For Brookes As Sykes Lucks Out

A day which promised so much for the MCE Ducati British Superbike Championship Team ended with Josh Brookes scoring a battling tenth place finish in today’s opening eBay sprint race at round seven of the series at Cadwell Park.

The Aussie double BSB champion continued his battle with set up issues on the MCE Insurance and factory-supported Ducati Panigale V4R and started the race from row six of the grid. But the race wasn’t to last long as an accident at The Mountain brought out the red flags on lap two.

 

In the restart, Brookes battled with a host of riders on the fringe of the top ten and in the end, was rewarded with a tenth-place finish to keep his slim hopes of making the Showdown just about alive.

For teammate Tom Sykes, it was a day of frustration having shown his best form of the season so far for Paul Bird’s Lake District-based team. The Yorkshireman, making a return after 14 years to Cadwell Park, worked his way into the Omologato Superpole competition and ended up setting sixth fastest time on the MCE Insurance Ducati to give him his best start of the season on row two.

 

The ex-World Superbike champion was circulating towards the front when a rash move from rival Danny Buchan had them both on the grass at the Hairpin but not long after, the race was stopped due to the accident. 

 

The restart saw Sykes again towards the front and showing good pace when he was taken down at Mansfield Corner by Christian Iddon with just two laps to go, ending his promising race. 

 

Josh Brookes: “After the difficulties we had in qualifying, a top ten position is an improvement but, understandably, there are no hurrahs in the team. We still have a load of work to do, and we need to find some further improvements to get us to where we need to be. It was good to be racing with riders who have had wins and podiums, and I enjoyed jumping the Mountain, but I’ll keep working and feed as much information back to the team as I can so we can try to improve tomorrow.”


Tom Sykes: “It turned out to be a very frustrating day as I seemed to have a target on my back. Firstly, I got taken wide at the Hairpin and then in the restart, I got sideswiped by another rider so the least said about it the better as he’s since been penalised. People need to remember it’s Cadwell Park but it’s so frustrating as we had a reasonable set up for most of the lap, I was just losing out in the last sector. But we’ll dust ourselves down and go again tomorrow.” 

 

Bennetts British Superbike Championship Sprint race (15 laps)

1 Bradley Ray (Yamaha)

2 Rory Skinner (Kawasaki)

3 Danny Buchan (BMW)

4 Jason O’Halloran (Yamaha)

5 Tommy Bridewell (Ducati)

6 Peter Hickman (BMW)

10 Josh Brookes (MCE Ducati)

DNF Tom Sykes (MCE Ducati)

 

Championship Standings

1 O’Halloran 344

2 Ray 332

3 Jackson 219

4 Skinner 219

5 G Irwin 199

6 K Ryde 177

12 Brookes 94

14 Sykes 75


 

Pictures courtesy of Double Red: Josh Brookes (25) and Tom Sykes (66).

IRWIN AND HAGER PBM DUCATI READY FOR DONINGTON PARK TEST

April 17, 2025
THE Hager PBM Ducati team and rider Glenn Irwin head to Donington Park this week for the second Bennetts British Superbike Championship R&G Official Test. After a strong run at Circuito de Navarra earlier this month, the team is looking forward to getting back on track in the UK, as the countdown to the start the 2025 season continues.  The iconic Donington Park will play host to the second pre-season test on Good Friday and Saturday, before the class of 2025 heads to Oulton Park next Wednesday and Thursday, April 23 and 24, for the final test before the season begins over the May Bank Holiday weekend. The team is looking to build on the success of the Navarra test, where Irwin was consistently quick, setting the pace on the first day before topping the timesheets at the end of the event with a best lap of 1min 44:527s. But keen not to get caught up focusing on lap times yet, Irwin is more concerned about getting through as much work as possible during the two days and making sure the important boxes are ticked. Glenn Irwin: “We’re all looking forward to it. At Navarra, it was important we worked through a number of things which are different this year and it was a great test – but it’s important that we don’t get complacent. “At Donington we’ve more new items to try and we’ve got a list of work to get through, which will be our priority. Once we’ve done all that and have a good feeling, I think we can show up well on the timesheets, but more so in race rhythm than in one-off fast laps. “At Navarra, we found areas where I was weak last year but not this year so we were able to use this as a reference. At Donington, we know the track well and have an idea of where we need to be but for me it’s about continuing to evaluate what we have and understanding the feeling of everything rather than get too hung up on what the timesheet says. If it feels good and we’re good, we’re happy!” Jordan Bird, Team Co-owner: The whole Hager PBM Ducati team is looking forward to being back on home soil for the first time this year. Navarra was a really productive test for us so the team and Glenn are heading into our UK testing program in great spirits! “We are looking forward to seeing plenty of BSB fans trackside at Donington Park. Let’s hope the sun is shining for us!”

SUCCESSFUL OPENING TEST AS IRWIN AND HAGER PBM DUCATI TOP NAVARRA TIMESHEETS

April 8, 2025
THE Hager PBM Ducati team is heading home from the first official Bennetts British Superbike test of the year feeling confident about the season ahead following a strong two days on track in Spain. The team and rider Glenn Irwin joined the class of 2025 at the first of the R&G Official BSB tests at Circuito de Navarra in Northern Spain, ending the event fastest overall, with a best lap of 1min 44.537secs. The team used the two days on track to work on a number of areas, with a particular focus on a new, updated lower seat unit and the new 2025 Pirelli tyre. And despite not putting any pressure on themselves to chase lap times, Irwin still clocked the best lap of the event, sticking in his best lap time during in Monday morning’s session to top the overall timesheets. Glenn Irwin: “We came to Navarra with the objective of just working with the guys again which has been fun. The layout here has improved a lot, it’s a really, really good track now, hopefully we can return. “We had quite a lot of things to try, my Ducati from last year to this is a very different bike but it’s been enjoyable to ride, I feel really comfortable on the bike. “We ended the test fastest which isn’t so important, but we were low into the’45s with 20-plus laps on the tyres every time we exited the pits. No new tyres this afternoon and lots of really good race pace. “The guys adapted the bike to the new tyre and I adapted my riding style a little bit and we’ve had a great, enjoyable couple of days. Roll on Donington!” Frank Bird, Team Co-owner: “It’s mega to finally get the 2025 season underway - it sounds a little bit cliched but it’s been a really long winter! There’s been a lot of hard work and stress in the build up but it’s good to finally get to a track and put all the hard work to the test. “A big thanks to the boys and of course thanks to all our sponsors. It’s been a really productive three days, I like to think we’ve ticked off all the boxes that we had before coming to the test so hats off to the whole team. “Everything ran smoothly, it’s like we’ve never been away but it’s great to finally get going and to be fastest on day one and fastest overall at the end. It seemed to come quite easily so we’re all looking forward to the next couple of tests.”  The team will now head home to the UK and the workshop for some further work, before the next R&G Official Test at Donington Park on April 18 and 19.
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