BSB's Defining moments: 6

Two. The Guintoli incident at Donington Park. The seven-rider pile-up at Mallory Park. Both triggered by HM Plant Honda’s Josh Brookes.

At Donington he t-boned Guintoli at the Melbourne Loop on the sighting lap and the Frenchman suffered a compound fracture of his lower right leg. Brookes screamed brake failure. Honda said not.

With no hard evidence to the contrary, the judicial panel determined Brookes was the cause and sentenced him to a one-race ban, suspended for three meetings.

Then came Mallory. Brookes attempted to outbrake Chris Walker for third place at the Hairpin but lost control and crashed into race leader Simon Andrews.

Five other riders went down and the race was red flagged.

The BSB Judicial Panel determined Brookes was the primary cause through reckless riding and sentenced him to a two-race ban, plus a one-race ban suspended for two meetings.

But only later – thanks to MCN – did evidence surface that Brookes’ brakes were leaking fluid.

There was no indication whether or not it was the leak that caused the crash – but it was enough to cast doubt on the decision to ban him.

And if that had been the case, the public outcry after the Mallory incident would have been far more muted.

Ultimately Brookes bounced back after the crash to finish the season with a string of podium finishes to become one of the stars – and characters – of the series.