Be Wiser Ducati’s Josh Brookes has revealed his King of the Mountain win today was anything but easy as he confirmed his spot in the Showdown.

The new championship leader, who polished off his weekend with a victory to add to this afternoon’s earlier runner-up finish behind Danny Buchan, admitted he and the other two front-runners took a big step forward in race two as they neared lap record pace.

“It was sweet, but it was tough going,” Brookes said. “The race pace was a lot stronger, we all found a little more with our bikes and I think the track condition was a little better with all the racing today so we were all doing super fast times.

“It was almost like ‘well if I’m going this quick how can the others match it’, but I was impressed with Tommy as well. He led the race and set a really, really strong pace which I initially struggled to keep with.

“I think by doing that he may have used too much of his tyre because by the end of the race I was able to get past him.”

The Australian revealed how at times he’s been stuck between a rock and a hard place this season, juggling bike setup with self-criticism, and has admitted to himself it may just be a case of bad form.

But Brookes knows that the hard-fought 45-point haul and a secured Showdown place takes some of the pressure off heading to Oulton, where he’ll be a favourite for victory.

“Some races this year I haven’t felt like I’ve been able to do that and it’s very difficult to criticise the machine when it keeps winning every weekend.

“You kind of find yourself in this difficult zone, ‘is it me, is it the bike, is there something I can do differently?’. Sometimes you got to accept you’re not on good form.

“But I’m pleased to get the win, its done my championship a great favour.”