Brookes replaces McGuinness at Team Winfield for Senior Classic TT

Josh Bookes will once again take to the TT Mountain Course in 2017 having secured a ride with Team Winfield for the Senior Classic TT.

The British Superbike frontrunner will be campaigning the 500cc Paton that John McGuinness took to a record-breaking victory just 12 months ago.

McGuiness had been due to ride the bike again this year but having sustained leg injuries at the North West 200, the team were in need of a top quality replacement and they’ve got just that in 34-year old Brookes.

Fresh from his Suzuka 8 Hours duties, Brookes said:

“It’s great to be riding the team Winfield Paton at the Classic TT. The team and the bike clearly have pedigree having won last year’s race and setting a new lap record. It’s going to be a steep learning curve for me with a type of bike I have no experience of riding, but I am looking forward to the challenge and will give it my all to give Roger and the team a good result.”

Roger Winfield’s team have been ever-present at the Classic TT since 2013 and currently hold the Senior Classic TT lap record at 113.342mph.

Team owner Roger Winfield said: “We were deeply saddened when John (McGuinness) was ruled out after his crash at the North West 200. Working with John has been a real highlight for our team over the past few years and after some terrible luck we showed what we are capable of last year when he won the race and moved the lap record on considerably. Hopefully he will continue to mend well and we look forward to be able to work with him again in the future.

“The task of replacing the most successful living TT rider has been a difficult one and we would have been forced to miss the event if we couldn’t find a rider of the very highest calibre to fill John’s boots so we were delighted when Josh Brookes agreed to join our team. While not as experienced on the Mountain Course as some of the riders in the field, there is no question about his skill level, and his results impressed everyone at this year’s TT after two years away. We will give Josh a great bike which hopefully he will get a lot of enjoyment out of riding, and we will see where we all end up after a week’s qualifying and four fast laps in the race itself.”

Brookes is set for a busy Classic TT, with the Australian ace also signing up to ride Wiz Norton Racing’s, 588cc Norton Rotary in the Superbike Classic TT race.

Action on the island gets underway on August 19^th and BikeSocial will be there brining you all the latest news from gasoline alley.