TT 2017: Brookes eyeing top five on TT return

He might have been away from the TT for two years, but 2015 BSB champion Josh Brookes is determined to make his mark as he returns to the mountain course with Norton this year. 

Brookes’ praise for the V4-RR SG6 shows just how far the bike has come with the Aussie claiming it even handles better than his BSB bike on certain sections of Oulton Park.

“Having ridden the bike at a couple of unfamiliar tracks, I was worried I was maybe glorifying or fantasising the idea of the bike being as good as it is,” Brookes confessed. “I was worried I might ride on a track I know and find it’s not as good as I thought it was, but I rode at Oulton the other day and that’s not the case.

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“At the start of the BSB race I was doing 1’35s at the start and 1’36s at the end, on the Norton I was doing 1’37s so it’s not too bad considering it’s a bike set up for the Isle of Man TT! Earlier this month at the BSB round, over Clay Hill I was having to do everything I could to get the bike to stay straight but on the Norton I think I could have done it with one hand on the handlebars. It was so stable up over the top there, it was performing really well.

“I’m building confidence with the bike and I’m optimistic, but I think I still need to be aware of my own experience at the circuit. If I was really disappointed with the bike I would probably be saying top ten or near the top ten, but as I’m getting more and more confident about the bike I should hopefully be pushing more towards the top five. You can try to predict it but you really don’t know until you get there. I’d like to think we’re going in more of the direction of the top five than just the top ten.” 

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