Sykes And Brookes Score Solid Points In Opening Race
The MCE Ducati pairing of Tom Sykes and Josh Brookes got their 2022 Bennetts British Superbike Championship underway at Silverstone this afternoon with the duo taking hard fought 12th and 13th place finishes respectively to get points immediately on the board.
With the competition fiercer than ever, both practice and qualifying was hectic around the 1.64-mile National circuit and although the duo were well on the pace, it was Tom, who was one of 12 riders to lap inside the existing lap record, who had to be content with 12th on the grid with Australian Brookes two places further back in 14th.
Held over 24 laps, Yorkshireman Sykes, who was the 2013 World Superbike champion, held station in the initial stages with 2015 and 2020 BSB champion Brookes dropping back a place to 15th although by lap six both riders started to move forward on their respective factory-supported MCE Ducati Panigale V4Rs.
However, with many of the riders on a similar pace and with overtaking difficult, they were unable to make up further ground with the chequered flag seeing Tom get four points on the board for 12th and Josh take three points for finishing one spot and just 0.083s further back.
Josh Brookes: “It’s been a difficult start to the season, and I’m obviously not pleased with the result, but we made a small change for the race which was possibly the wrong way. We’d been improving steadily in practice and qualifying so the change, although not big, wasn’t helpful either and when I caught Tom it got quite difficult. Although we’re on the same bike, we’ve got different styles of riding and I didn’t want to do anything desperate trying to get by him so consolidated the position. It’s a bitter pill to swallow but it’s only race one, so we won’t get too downhearted.”
Tom Sykes: “Today has been a bit of a mixed bag to be honest. It was good to get the first race out of the way and get some points on the board but frustrating not to be closer to the sharp end. I made a good start and made some passes on the brakes with the bike turning really well but we’re suffering when we open the throttle as we haven’t got the traction we need. Many aspects of the bike are in the ballpark and it’s just that one area that’s holding us back this weekend so there’s a bit of work to do in that respect. I’ve got a good feeling with the bike though and there’s a great team spirit, so we’ll look to move forward tomorrow.”
Johnny Mowatt. Team Co-ordinator: “The results today, both in qualifying and in the race, highlight the difficulties we have at this circuit, and we need to make a few changes for tomorrow to get both riders further up the field. To be fair, in sectors one, two and three we can hold our own but in sector four, both riders are struggling to get the bike to work under acceleration. We had a decent run last year but haven’t been able to replicate that so far and although we’ve gone quicker, the rest of the field have gone that bit quicker still so there’s work to be done.”
Tomorrow will see the two 30-lap races get underway at 13.30 and 16.30.
Bennetts British Superbike Championship race one (24 laps)
1 Glenn Irwin (Honda)
2 Kyle Ryde (Yamaha) +0.139s
3 Bradley Ray (Yamaha) +0.327s
4 Rory Skinner (Kawasaki) +2.019s
5 Jason O’Halloran (Yamaha) +3.533s
6 Andrew Irwin (BMW) +5.436s
12 Tom Sykes (MCE Ducati) +13.066s
13 Josh Brookes (MCE Ducati) +13.149s
Images courtesy of Double Red: Josh Brookes (25) and Tom Sykes (66).
