| Josh Brookes wins the 2020 British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch |
• Josh Brookes wins Race 2 and 3 at Brands Hatch to claim his 2nd BSB Championship Title
• Brookes’ win sees Paul Bird Motorsport take their 8th BSB Championship Title
• Christian Iddon finishes 3rd in the BSB championship
Josh Brookes rode his Panigale V4 R to victory at Brands Hatch GP over the weekend to take his 2nd British Superbike Championship title. The championship title came down to this final round, with 5 different riders including Brookes’ VisionTrack teammate Christian Iddon all in the fight to take the crown.
Brookes headed into the weekend leading the championship, and started his title challenge off in the best possible way by claiming pole for the weekends opening race. Saturday's race proved to be a thrilling one with plenty of action and passes. Jason O'Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) took the win, while VisionTrack Ducati's Christina Iddon took 2nd place ahead of O'Halloran's teammate Tarran Mackenzie. Brookes finished just off the podium in 4th place, maintaining a points lead, although seeing his advantage at the top of the standings reduce to 7 points.
After a cautious start to his weekend, Brookes went on to win the first of the two races on Sunday. Brookes managed the gap at the front brilliantly to finish on the top step, where he was joined on the podium by O'Halloran, and his VisionTrack Ducati teammate Iddon. This result meant the title would come down to the final race of the season.
In a repeat of Race 2, Brookes once again led from light to flag and was joined on the podium by O'Halloran and Iddon. This 5th victory of the season saw Brookes win the 2020 Bennetts British Superbike Championship, his 2nd BSB title. The VisionTrack Ducati team had further reason to celebrate with Iddon taking a career best 3rd in the championship after his first season riding a Ducati.
The 2020 season was a different story for the Tommy Bridewell and the Oxford Products Racing team, who have struggled to get their bike setup, suffering a lot from chatter, to get the winning results they have been accustomed to. The shortened season gave them less time to overcome issues and despite winning a race at the season opener at Donington, the team expected to finish the season on a high rather their 9th, 10th and 7th results at this final round. Bridewell finished his 2020 British Superbike season in 7th place but will come out fighting for the top spot once more in 2021.
Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati #25)
Bennetts British Superbike Championship winner (288 points)
"It's been an amazing season. To get a 2nd British Superbike Championship is of course unreal. To join the line of history with PBM and Ducati for results and wins, it's a nice feeling to join that group. It's been a dogfight of a year. Every round, every race, has been a real fight. There's never been a moment in the year that's been real stand out, clear dominance. And it's made it particularly sweet to win the championship today because it came down to the last race and it was a dogfight right to the end. It's fitting for the year that we've had."
Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati #21)
Bennetts British Superbike Championship - 3rd place (258 points)
"I ended the British Superbike Championship in 3rd, which is my best ever result. I should be content with that. But I'm a little bit disappointed with how todays panned out. I wanted to take the fight to the other guys and for whatever reason I didn't quite have what was required which was a shame. Overall the season's been really positive. Really consistent, taken loads of podiums, always at the front and fighting hard. I'm happy we gave everything we had and grateful to the VisionTrack Ducati team, the bike's been a pleasure to ride. Not a single mechanical issue all year. I hope that this is something I can build on for 2021."
John Mowatt - VisionTrack Team Co-ordinator
"It's been one of the most challenge BSB seasons of all to be fair. The current climate and the situation of the Covid, it's been really challenging. The season started late; we weren't sure if we were going to get going. Thankfully Stuart and MSVR put on a fantastic job to get it underway and we've reaped the rewards. The boys have been fantastic to be fair. Can't praise them enough, both Josh and Christian rode exceptionally well all year. So big credit to them, big credit to the PBM Team, doing a fantastic job. Our 8th British Superbike Championship is truly phenomenal. Without Paul Bird and the team, we wouldn't be where we are today, so a big credit goes to Paul."
Paul Bird - VisionTrack Ducati Team Owner
"The season has been phenomenal really under the circumstances and the conditions we've had. It's been difficult at times. Pulled through, difficult championship. That's 4 championships in 5 years for Ducati now. Chuffed to bits. Bikes have been phenomenal, team's been phenomenal, riders have been great. Stuck for words."
Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing #46)
Bennetts British Superbike Championship - 7th place (168 points)
"It’s been a tough year for us. A very, very tough year. I’m not going to lie. Our expectations and plan was a lot, lot higher than what we achieved. But we’ve had a lot of issues with the bike this year and with chatter. But as a team, and rider, we’re always trying to work on improving that, and I feel like we have done that this year. We’ve made a big, bold change for that last race because we had nothing to lose and it was a big direction we needed. I’m happy because the Oxford Products Racing team worked so hard all year and I’m grateful for that. It’s important now that we take the data we’ve gained from this test year that it is really. Over 6 rounds it’s kind of something or nothing. When it’s over 12 rounds we could have perhaps salvaged something to have fought at the end. Ultimately it’s looking at the bigger picture for 2021 and we’ll come back stronger.”
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