Josh Brookes fended off the challengers to clinch the British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch.

Five riders started the weekend with a chance of glory but Aussie rider Brookes maintained his position at the top of the standings to take the title for the second time.

Brookes won all five races at Brands last year and went into the triple-header 16 points clear of Ducati team-mate Christian Iddon. Glenn Irwin (Honda Racing) and Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) weren’t far behind while Tarran Mackenzie was an outsider.

Iddon led the opening race at Brands up until the penultimate lap when he was passed by O’Halloran, who took the win. Mackenzie was third and Brookes down in fourth.

Just seven points separated O’Halloran and Brookes heading into Sunday’s title deciding races. Iddon and Irwin remained close too.

But Brookes showed his class with victories in both races, roaring back to clinch his title.

The first race on Saturday saw the VisionTrack Ducati rider quickly pass Mackenzie after he had claimed the advantage off the line. Mackenzie crashed out with O’Halloran having to make do with second and Iddon third.

Brookes went into the final race 12 points ahead of O’Halloran and 18 clear of Iddon. There was more pressure on the championship leader during the last race, as O’Halloran and Mackenzie chased him hard, but he held on to win.

While Brookes claimed the title, O’Halloran was the runner-up while Iddon took third in the overall standings.

The title follows up his 2015 success and he said: “It felt awesome to win the title and a lot of my talking was done out on the track.

“When I'm under pressure, I seem to be able to find that little bit more and get the results when I need to, which is exactly what I did.

"It's been a hard fought year and I was pushed hard all weekend but the bike worked really well, especially on Sunday and it felt natural to go out there and win so a big thank you to everyone at the PBM team."

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