Josh Brookes smashes Supersport lap record at Eastern Creek

Castrol Honda Racing team joined the FX competition when they competed in the Flexirider Australasian FX championship at Eastern Creek over the weekend. The Castrol Honda team certainly had an impact on the event when Josh Brookes took out the Supersport class in dominating style. The freshly painted Honda Financial Services Honda CBR600RR looked a treat as it flashed around at the head of the Supersport pack the whole weekend long.

Josh Brookes was in devastating form over the weekend, setting blistering lap times that his fellow competitors struggled to maintain, a 5th place in the final race was the only blip on an otherwise faultless score card. His extreme pace was rewarded with a new lap record when he managed to go one full second under his own previous best Eastern Creek time aboard his CBR600RR. Josh held the previous lap record of 1:35.3 which he set at the final round of the Australian Road Racing Championship at the end of August, but proved the Honda CBR600RR has plenty of race potential still to come when the NSW rider set his new record at an amazing 1m34.2. During practice Josh actually dipped down to 1m33.5s.

Brookes was understandably pleased with his result from the weekend and when asked how he managed to take so much time off his previous best he confirmed that it was a number of factors “We tried some different suspension settings for the final round of the Shell Advance Australian Road Racing Championships at Eastern Creek and it felt good so the team took the settings a little further in the same direction and it worked a treat. We also tried out a new exhaust system which gave the Honda CBR600RR more drive out of the corners. All this combined with the favourable weather conditions and our Michelin tyre choice just clicked for me and I was able to confidently push my Honda faster than I have before.”

Brookes didn’t exactly have it all to himself though and several times he was pressured by Kawasaki rider Russell Holland and even his own team mate Kirk McCarthy who had a strong ride with a 6th, 3rd and two 4th place finishes for 4th overall. The final race of the day turned wet but that didn’t change the end result with the Castrol Honda team taking 1st and 4th positions overall.

The next outing for the Castrol Honda team will be in the support classes of the MotoGP at Phillip Island next weekend. Both Brookes and McCarthy are at Phillip Island testing their CBR954RR Superbikes yesterday to prepare for the MotoGP races next week.

NEW SOUTH WALES SUPERSPORT CHAMPIONSHIP

1 Josh BROOKES (NSW) Honda 25 25 25 11 86
2 Brendan CLARKE (QLD) Yamaha 16 16 13 20 65
3 Russell HOLLAND (NSW) Kawasaki 20 20 20 0 60
4 Kirk McCARTHY (VIC) Honda 13 13 16 10 52
5 Glenn ALLERTON (NSW) Yamaha 0 11 11 25 47