Brookes heads to Oulton after securing visa
Added on Friday, May 1st, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Brookes heads to Oulton after securing visa
HM Plant Honda rider Josh Brookes will race at Oulton Park this weekend after overcoming the visa issues that forced him to miss the opening round of the British Superbikes season.
Brookes was forced to wait at home in his native Australia after UK Border Force officials refused to grant him entry to the UK due to an apparent error on his visa application, making him the latest in a number of international sports professionals to be held up at customs due to a recent clampdown on non-EU immigrant workers.
HM Plant were prepared to cut their losses on Brookes had he been unable to race at Oulton Park this weekend but the 26-year-old is due to arrive from Sydney later today after securing the necessary paperwork from the British Embassy in Canberra.
“I can’t tell you how relieved I am to actually have my visa,” Brookes told the Mirror. “I’d got to the point where I was beginning to really feel worn down with the whole situation.
“Everything just seemed to be coming up against me with my visa application, even up until the last few days when I couldn’t get my visa on Monday as it was a Bank Holiday in Canberra, which is where the British High Commission is. I feel like I’ve had a hot line to there over the past few weeks I’ve called so often!
“Anyway, I finally got it and then drove three hours back to Sydney to catch the plane so it has been pretty flat out. With everything going on it’s been a bit hard to fully concentrate on my mental and physical form for racing, so over this next 24 hours my aim is to clear my head of the visa stresses of the last few months and get focused for getting back on the Fireblade and being competitive.
“In an ideal world I’d have had at least a few days in the UK before Oulton Park but that wasn’t to be, so I’m now just looking forward to getting my head down, learning more about the bike and the circuits and being up there with the front runners.”
