The fourth round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship was a soggy weekend in Scotland for the FHO Racing BMW Motorrad team, where Josh Brookes collected vital championship points and Peter Hickman was ruled out of the final race after developing a sickness bug.

Saturday’s qualifying session was dry and saw Josh flying aboard the BMW M 1000 RR, where he secured the third fastest time and lined up for the opening race of the weekend on the front row. However, the rain soon came and with tricky conditions at Knockhill the race was reduced to 25 laps.

The race started with a wet but drying track and losing places at the start Josh was pushed back to eighth in the opening stages and by mid-race he was 11^th. As conditions started to improve the Australian started to move back up the pack where he eventually crossed the line sixth. Meanwhile, teammate Hicky retired on the 12^th lap with a mechanical issue.

Sunday saw heavy rain at the 1.3-mile circuit and for the second race of the weekend the rain was not holding off. Josh battled through the conditions to cross the line 12^th, with Peter retiring from the race after feeling unwell having developed a sickness bug.

For the final race of the weekend the rain started to ease and with glimpses of blue sky at Knockhill Josh lined up 13^th on the grid. Not having the best of starts off the line, the FHO rider was down to 18^th on the opening lap. Gradually catching his BSB rivals, Josh started to make his way back up the pack and with eight laps remaining the race was red flagged, and the result declared with Josh in 11^th place, scoring further championship points.

There’s now a short break in the season, where the FHO Racing BMW Motorrad team will be back in action in a few weeks’ time for the fifth round at Snetterton on 5-6-7 July.

Josh Brookes: “At the moment it seems like luck never goes our way when it has the chance to. We were on the front row in qualifying in dry conditions, it then became rain affected and for that moment for once, I would have actually been grateful for it to be dry because we had the speed in the drier conditions to be more competitive. There’s been other weekends in the past where I would have liked it to have rained, maybe change the dynamics to bring things into our favour and it’s just stayed dry. I just don’t seem to be able to capitalise on any situation, and I’m actually just a bit bewildered at the moment. We had speed earlier in the weekend in the wet and in comparison with the others I haven’t lost speed or decreased the performance of the bike in anyway – I’m actually still doing better lap times at the end of the final race that I had previously done across the weekend, but we just haven’t moved forward like the others. We don’t have really an answer so for now we have to just accept it for what it is at this point. We’ll move now onto Snetterton, which last year was probably one of my strongest events. I can only hope, pray and believe; you know dance and rub some stones – I don’t know, whatever it takes to get some success there this year at the next round!”

Peter Hickman: “It’s been a challenging weekend for us at Scotland, it’s always difficult coming here straight from the TT, you’ arrive having raced at the longest track to the smallest, and it does take some time to adjust your brain to being back on a short circuit. Knockhill is a really fun track and one that I do enjoy riding at, but this weekend it’s just not clicked. It’s frustrating at the moment as I’m not getting a good feeling and I’m not able to do what both myself and the BMW are capable of. I haven’t felt 100% over the weekend, I tried my best in the second race but when you’re not feeling right it’s difficult to concentrate on anything else. We now have a short break until the next round at Snetterton, so I’m going to go away, get some rest, recharge and come back fighting. Thanks to all the FHO Racing team for their hard work across the weekend and all the support from fans.” 

Faye Ho: “We’re leaving Knockhill with some championship points. It’s not been the best of weekends but it’s not been the worst; Josh had three finishes and he’s coming away with points in all three races – of course we and Josh will always want more and we know what both Josh and the BMW are capable of, but Knockhill wasn’t our weekend. The team are now looking forward to a small break between rounds, we’ve had a busy few months with BSB and the Isle of Man TT Races where everyone has worked so hard so we’ll all arrive at Snetterton fresh and ready to fight. Josh was strong there last year, so hopefully we can arrive and get back in the mix.”