Josh Brookes finished the Assen round with his first point of 2006. In a bitter sweet weekend Josh rode a strong first race to be in 4th place when he fell and ruined his chance of a top 5 finish. In the second race, riding his spare bike, he battled to finish 15th and score one point.

“I guess that’s what you call experience. I was pushing from the start in race one, the rain was pissing down and rode the arse of my bike. With everyone going down, I just kept it on the whole race and found myself in 4th. I know now I should have buttoned off and ridden around to finish, but I just kept racing. It was really slippery and just lost it. The bike was destroyed and I lost my chance for a top 5 result. A big lesson learnt. Race 2 was survival. I got caught in the first corner incident, then got hit in the side a couple of corners later and was pushed off the track. When I rejoined, I was no where, and just knew I had to finish the best I could. This time, I rode smarter, and my second bike was just such a handful, that I just did the best I could. 15th is not that great, but at least I got a point.”

With Josh’s best time in practice being 1.7 shy of pole, he expects more improvement for the next round.