JOSH BROOKES OVERCOMES SUPERBIKE STRUGGLES ALONGSIDE SUPERSTOCK STRENGTH

With qualifying now in the books for the 2026 Isle of Man TT Races, the pecking order has revealed itself following the teams and riders getting to grips with their machines around the 37.73 Mountain Course.

One rider who has enjoyed a strong start, particularly in the Superstock category, is Josh Brookes. The only competitor to lap at over 130mph on a Superstock bike in the opening night, the Australian has now notched up three on his DAO Racing Honda CBR1000RR-R Superstock machine, more than anyone else so far this week.

After five sessions, and with Dean Harrison setting the pace for Honda Racing UK, Brookes’ lap of 131.943mph set on Wednesday evening was good enough to comfortably slot him into third in the Superstock rankings across the week, with a lap time just one tenth of a second behind Michael Dunlop’s 131.952mph set earlier that same day. In a year where the battle for the podium looks to be more open than we’ve seen in years, Brookes is quietly confident that the two RL360 Superstock TT races provide him his best shot at returning to the rostrum for the third time, and his first since the 2024 Senior.

Brookes in action on the DAO Racing Honda, one of the standout Superstock performers in qualifying week.

“Everyone’s always looking to do something better than their past, and the TT, as we all know, is an endurance race,” explained Brookes. “Many people have lost results because of problems and many people have gained a result from that problem. I think everyone near the top six is thinking there’s always an outside chance they can sneak a podium if someone gets some bad luck.

“I think that’s where I’ve been in the past, and going off what I’ve done in practice at the moment I think I’ve got a fair chance of a podium with everyone in the result. I feel like I’ve definitely got to improve still and I know everyone else will. I’m a bit surprised that others aren’t already quicker on their Superstock bikes, but I’m going to guess the majority of others are spending the majority of their time on their Superbike because they know their Superstock’s fine. It’s not a bike you can do a lot of work on, and normally they’re quite well behaved.

“I think people are putting their best efforts on their Superbike to try and fix them and make them work, hence you’re not seeing high figures from the usual group. It’s murky water at the moment as far as people’s performance, so I wouldn’t want to shout too much yet, it’s not really in my character. I’d rather say less and do more on the day.”

While he has looked comfortable aboard the Superstock bike right from the off, as well as posting some promising times aboard the Uggly & Co Suzuki GSX-R750, the same couldn’t be said of his Superbike. After three less-than-competitive sessions where his fastest lap after three sessions of 128.398mph placed him down in ninth place.

Brookes reflects on a mixed qualifying week, balancing strong Superstock pace with ongoing Superbike development.

“The Superstock is definitely my preferred bike at the moment, and the Supersport’s riding really well also, I’ve got no complaints there, but with the Superbike we definitely need to do some work,” he said on Wednesday evening. “The couple of things we’ve tried have gone the wrong way. We had a bike that was already a bit nervous and a bit unkind to ride. We’ve made some changes thinking we’ll try and find the direction and it’s just gone the wrong way. The bike’s probably worse than when we rolled out so we’ve definitely got some work to do.”

Brookes, a two-time British Superbike champion, has historically enjoyed the Superbike more than any other class at the TT, after all, as he’ll happily explain himself, that’s what he rides every week on short circuits throughout the year. But he also feels that the changes made to the Honda to be able to compete at the highest level in the British Championship may have left them somewhat on the backfoot at the start of practice week on the Isle of Man.

“The fact we’re particularly comfortable on the Superstock in itself tells a story,” he continues. “ Superstock rules mean you can’t change much on the bike, and it says a lot about what we’ve changed for British Superbikes. We’ve got a different swingarm, different head pipe position, different triple clamp offsets, you know, we’ve changed a lot of things to try and make a bike competitive at a circuit. But we’re not at a circuit, we’re on a public road.

“What we’d done with the Superbike this year to try and make it competitive at BSB had restricted its quality here at the TT”

“In the past I’ve always preferred my Superbike. Every year I’ve come to the TT and I’ve ridden a Superstock, Supersport or whatever, I’ve always preferred my Superbike because it’s what I’m used to. So when I come here I want to just ride the bike the way I know it. Conventionally that works, but for whatever reason what we’ve done with the Superbike this year to try and make it competitive at BSB has restricted its quality here at the TT. I think we’re in a position to review some of the chassis positions that we’re using and reflect more on what the standard bike has as a direction.”

It’s not uncommon to see riders at the TT opt to run their Superstock bike in the Superbike races when struggling to get to grips with the latter, but for Brookes that was not an option he was willing to consider.

“I’m an optimist, I think we can fix it,” he added. “The Superbike has a stronger engine so it’ll accelerate better. Provided we can get the bike to behave in a straight line - or rather get it to go in a straight line - is the main thing. There’s a couple more sessions we can refine in.

 I’m happy with the Superstock, I don’t think there’s a lot we can do that would change things a lot, so I definitely need to just concentrate on trying to get the Superbike to work better.”

Whatever the team tried between Wednesday and Friday clearly worked, as the Australian looked much happier on the DAO Racing Superbike in the final two sessions of the week. The additional confidence on the bike brought a 132.220mph lap to place him third once more in the time sheets and comfortably in the fight for the podium in both big bike categories.

Brookes will have two opportunities to add to his Isle of Man TT podium tally this weekend, with the opening RL360 Superstock TT getting underway at 11am on Saturday, followed by the six-lap RST Superbike TT on Sunday.