BSB: Brookes makes Anvil Hire Yamaha debut at wet Jerez

Josh Brookes made his debut for the Anvil Hire Yamaha team at Jerez today despite poor weather doing its best to interrupt the team’s first test of the season. 

Heavy rainfall at the Spanish circuit meant the 2015 MCE British Superbike Champion wouldn’t get on track until 5pm local time, first on wet tyres before moving onto slicks only to realise the track was still too damp.

With the team having experienced mixed results in the past, the anticipation surrounding Brookes’ first ride has been high but the Aussie was largely positive after a quick first blast.

“Track conditions were less than satisfying!” he explained. “We went out on wets and came in and put slicks in at the end but I was slower on the slicks as the track was too damp. First impressions are good, the bike is as it should feel! It’s an R1.

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“The first thing I noticed is the throttle connection didn’t feel quite right so the guys are making some changes now. We looked at the data and what I feel and what it says is matching up so it should be an easy change to get that the way I want it. 

“The bike felt a little high in the front, but again that’s an easy adjustment to make to get it a bit flatter like I want it. Top end power felt stronger than I was expecting, but the mid-range power is a bit aggressive. It’s a bit of a wheelie machine at the moment so we need to tame the mid-range to make it more ridable and friendlier on the tyre.

 “I’m making a lot of comments but I’ve only done a few laps in patchy conditions! We’ve enough information to get an idea of where we want to go but before we do anything we’ll see if it’s dry tomorrow and gets some dry laps on it as it is and if my comments are still the same we’ll work on making the changes.”

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