Broc Parkes believes a trio of podium finishes on his British Superbike guest appearance can be translated into success on the world stage, the Australian delighted to be taking the fight to a factory Yamaha team for the first time.
Parkes was the only rider to consistently challenge Leon Camier and Airwaves Yamaha over the course of the weekend, the Australian rallying hard to try and hold onto leads he held in races one and three.
However, while he wasn't quite able to resist the charging youngster behind him, for Parkes, three second place finishes represents a big confidence boost for himself and the Paul Bird Motorsport team.
"I was not sure what pace to expect coming into the BSB this weekend as there are a number of top teams and riders this year and the performance at Brno was on an entirely different type of circuit to Brands. However the improvements made recently are really starting to show returns and the bike was the best it has been all year.
“I was able to battle with the factory Yamaha for the first time and really pushed them all weekend. It was a great result for the team and for Paul Bird to return to BSB and secure three podiums will hopefully address some of the disappointment we all had from Donington."
Having used the weekend as a chance to acquire some additional race mileage and work on the development of the steadily improving ZX-10R, Paul Bird thinks the team can be very happy with its efforts.
''I think it's been a successful weekend and Broc proved just how competitive our bikes can be and I'm pleased with a hat trick of second places. It's also helped our development and we can now hit the ground running for the remainder of the season.
“It's been a great weekend for our team and I'd like to thank Jonathan Palmer and Stuart Higgs for the opportunity to demonstrate the Kawasaki's potential in the competitive arena of British Superbikes. We came along to add a bit of variety to the show and hopefully we did that so we'd like to be classed as 'The Entertainers' this weekend as I think we did just that!"
