Josh Brookes finished a tough weekend for Bertocchi Kawasaki with a 20th in race 1 and 23rd in race 2. Striking set up problems from the first practice session, Josh was battling to make the ZX10R perform and finished disappointed with his results.

“From the minute I started here, the bike was giving me problems and they just never got better. I was chewing tires just to keep up with the back markers and the harder I tried, the more they deteriorated. It was a good weekend, in that I got to learn the track for 2007, but other than that, it was very disappointing. In Race 2, the bike was a little better, but I fell trying to push the bike. I picked it up, wiped off the dirt and eventually finished. I just have to keep persisting and eventually things will turn around.”

Josh is now in discussions for 2007 and has hopes of a better year.

“This year has been very hard for sure. All the champions, like Bayliss and Corser had tough times. Nothing is easy in this sport and you have to earn your success. I think this is really part of what I have to go through. The deal is, if you never give up, get yourself on a good bike and team, work hard, then any success you achieve is deserved. Until then, it’s an apprenticeship.”

Josh heads back to Italy before the next round in Imola.