Josh Brookes’ hopes of championship points in the opening WorldSBK race at Phillip Island were dashed by a water hose which came loose after a handful of laps today but the former BSB champion has his strategy for tomorrow pinned down.

After starting from 16th on his privateer ERMotorsport-EliteRoads.com.au Yamaha R1, Brookes did lose out on a few positions in the first two corners as he isn’t running the high-level of electronics his competitors benefit from but then started to make some passes.

“I started to move forward and I think some of the other riders tyres were fatiguing and couldn’t manage to maintain a fast lap time,” Brookes explained to bikesportnews.com at the track.

“I felt like I was starting to move forward and then I saw the water temperature go through the roof which forced me to pit.

“I’m thinking it doesn’t matter how much hard work you put in, it doesn’t buy you luck. You just have to take what you get. We had a water pipe pop off, but now we are fixing the bike and hopefully there is no damage to the engine.”

As in 2015 when he won the MCE British Superbike Championship on effectively the same bike, Brookes knows how to look after the rear tyre and will employ that tactic tomorrow. The Bringelly man will be starting from the same position on the grid and he hopes to hang on as long as he can in the beginning of the race.

“As people start to fade with the tyre issues hopefully the bike is working better on the tyres than some others and we can make up some places during the race.”