“I’ve accepted there will be no racing this year” – Josh Brookes

Josh Brookes admits he doesn’t expect to complete any racing this season as the coronavirus pandemic puts an indefinite pause on any motorsport action taking place.

The COVID-19 crisis has brought all global motorsport to a standstill, including the opening round of the 2020 British Superbike Championship which was due to kick off this Easter weekend at Silverstone.

The outlook for the season going ahead remains less clear with BSB Race Director Stuart Higgs setting a deadline of September for some form of 2020 campaign to begin.

However, title favourite Brookes – who is currently in his native Australia – says he is coming to terms with the worst-case scenario that the entire 2020 BSB season will be scrapped altogether.

“I am ready to get going, I was ready to get back racing, I was really excited to get back and riding again,” he told Eurosport. “I feel like I am a realist, like this started in China seven months ago and they’re only just starting to pull back on their restrictions.

“So if we go forward seven months on the UK timeline, that takes us to September, the series was meant to finish in October, so I have sort of mentally accepted that we won’t be racing this year. Of course, I’d love it if we do, but I have kind of mentally accepted that might not be a reality.”

Having finished runner-up to Scott Redding in 2019, Brookes headed into the 2020 season as the perceived rider to beat on the Paul Bird Motorsport-prepared VisionTrack Ducati. For now, he says he is working on other projects to ‘bring in some income’.

“Mentally and emotionally I’ve accepted the worst and am hoping for the best. I am trying to maintain a fairly regular lifestyle that I would have in my off season any way. Mentally, I feel like I am just in an extended off-season, being at home and enjoying the down time of racing, but that’s wearing a bit thin now! 

“I have just gotten on doing some work at home that draws a bit of income, because obviously, no racing, no pay. So I’ve basically got on with other duties to bring in some income.”

Superbike Sunday is on Eurosport 2 and Eurosport Player from 12.30pm, which will feature interviews and re-runs of classic races, plus a new vodcast segment.