Josh Brookes says leading part of race two at Assen has given his Milwaukee BMW team a🌞 useful boost in its World Superbike bow and will look to use it to launch his charge at Imola.

The British Superbike championship-winning combination of Shaun Muir Racing and Brookes made the ste💃p up to World Superbikes over the winter switching from Yamaha to BMW machinery.

Despite results not coming immediately in the opening rounds of the squad's debut WSBK year, Brookes♒ says leading in the wet-to-dry conditions at Assen is evidence the team is making significant progress with the development of the S1000RR.

"When we were P5🌸 in morning warm-up I knew the bike could work well, and that we could have a good race," Brookes said. "I made ground quickly and found myself in the leading group, and I felt really confiden𝐆t to go faster than them. I overtook when I could and as often as possible and I managed to take the lead."

Unfortunately for the Australian while getting up to speed after pi﷽tting for dry tyres he crashed out of the race on his out-lap and as a result missed out on battling for a potential rostrum result behind the Kawasaki duo of Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes.

"The conditions started to change and we did a great tyre change which we timed perfectly," he said. "I took it easy on the slicks to test the conditions but I hit a wet patch and unfortunately crashed on the out-lap. It was upsetting t𝓡o go out but it was great to see the progress we've made and to give the team something to cheer for.

"Looking to Imola, it's a track I've enjoyed in the past and I'm ♕confident that we ꩲcan keep the performance level going up and start challenging regularly."