Josh Brookes will make a return to Honda in the 2025 Bennetts British Superbike Championship after signing a new deal with the DAO Racing team and ahead of the new season, the double champion has been building a Honda CBR1000RR-R in Superstock specification to race back home in Australia with a winning return.
Brookes last raced with Honda in 2010 when he finished second in the title battle and since returning home to Australia, he has been converting a Honda CBR1000RR-R to the specification to compete in the St. George Summer Night series, where he won the opening race that took place this weekend.
Brookes said: “I’ve spent the last few weeks building a Honda CBR1000RR-R in the British Superstock spec, which is the same as Australian Superbikes run. The plan was to take part in the St. George Summer Night series, which I’ve raced in for the last two years here in Australia. Previously I’ve partnered with an existing team but as there is no Honda representation in Australia this year it meant I had to build a bike myself if I wanted to race. This weekend was the first round and the first time I’ve been back on a Honda since 2010.
“I had booked into a ride day for Saturday day time hoping to do a shake down, adjust suspension, settings and check everything was in order, but as it was torrential rain all day I didn’t ride the bike at all. Fortunately, it dried out for the evening’s events to start but my very first ride on the bike was qualifying. I’m pleased to say the bike ran faultlessly, I qualified on pole and won the race.
“For a variety of reasons, there were quite a few names missing from this event who would normally be there, but they will be back for round two so now I’ve got some laps in, I’ll work on tuning the bike and refining it for when they return.
“This process has been super positive in many ways, but particularly generating a strong communication link with myself and my new DAO team as I’ve had a lot of support from them during the build, phone calls and advice with set up as we are all learning the Honda together. To build a bike myself and then race it immediately gives me great hope for what we can do together when we’ve got time and test days behind us.”