Following on from his double podium at Cadwell Park last time out, Wiltshire rider Tommy Bridewell made the long journey to Croft in North Yorkshire this weekend for round ten of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship and once again came away with a double trophy haul.
The 21-year-old from Etchilhampton near Devizes followed up a third place finish in the opening Mirror.co.uk Cup encounter with a battling second place in race two to consolidate fifth place in the standings and in doing so, continued to claim more big name scalps in the process.
After qualifying on row four of the grid for the first time this season, Bridewell made the most of a lightning start in race one to run inside the leaderboard placings aboard the four-year-old Team NB Suzuki GSX-R1000, eventually finishing in 12th place overall and in front of the Buildbase Kawasaki of John Laverty as well as the Node 4 Yamaha of Karl Harris.
Race two saw Bridewell make the most of his grid position to again circulate with the lower leaderboard placings and looked set for a top ten placing when a problem with the front tyre manifested itself meaning he dropped down to 14th at the flag, again just behind Sylvain Guintoli's Worx Crescent Suzuki but ahead of Harris and the works HM Plant Honda of former double BSB champion Ryuichi Kiyonari.
However, a post race inspection noted that the front tyre had been gradually deflating and was virtually flat by the time Bridewell crossed the line!
Tommy commented: "It was good to be battling with the likes of Guintoli on the factory Suzuki and the works Kawasakis and Yamahas out there, but they have so much more grunt than my old girl, it's unbelievable. I thought if I could just hang in there in race one as this is the first time I've raced a Superbike at Croft, I'd be OK and it was and then in race two, I was feeling good when the front tyre started to feel a bit odd. We were parked up in Parc Ferme afterwards and was about to go onto the podium when one of the guys came over and pointed out the front tyre was flat so that explained it!"
Bridewell will next be in action at the penultimate round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Silverstone over the weekend of 25/27th September.
Results
Race One
1, Stuart Easton (Honda)
2, James Ellison (Yamaha)
3, Josh Brookes (Honda)
4, Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda)
5, Ian Lowry (Suzuki)
6, Leon Camier (Yamaha)
7, Tommy Hill (Honda)
8, Gary Mason (Honda)
9, Julien Da Costa (Kawasaki)
10, Graeme Gowland (Yamaha)
11, Peter Hickman (Yamaha)
12, Tommy Bridewell (Suzuki)
Race Two
1, Leon Camier (Yamaha)
2, Stuart Easton (Honda)
3, Josh Brookes (Honda)
4, James Ellison (Yamaha)
5, Simon Andrews (Kawasaki)
6, Tommy Hill (Honda)
7, Ian Lowry (Suzuki)
8, Gary Mason (Honda)
9, Julien Da Costa (Kawasaki)
10, John Laverty (Kawasaki)
11, Chris Walker (Yamaha)
12, Graeme Gowland (Yamaha)
13, Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki)
14, Tommy Bridewell (Suzuki)
Mirror.co.uk Cup Points after Round 21
1, Gary Mason (Honda) 475.5pts
2, Peter Hickman (Yamaha) 341pts
3, Martin Jessopp (Honda) 266pts
4, Tom Tunstall (Honda) 243.5pts
5, Tommy Bridewell (Suzuki) 184pts
6, Kenny Gilbertson (Kawasaki) 85pts
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