Pole, fastest lap, and race win for David Shoubridge at Snetterton

David Shoubridge put in another stellar performance on the Rich Energy Ducati Panigale V2 this afternoon during the weekend’s opening Ducati Cup race. A wet qualifying earlier in the day saw Shoubridge claim pole, and he made the most of that grid position to lead for the entirety of the ten-lap race at Snetteron, posting multiple fastest laps, and taking the flag with a comfortable eight second margin.

Tom Tunstall (Motorcycle Race Parts) took another second place, his result more impressive considering he had qualified for the race down in tenth position. Tunstall had climbed all the way top fourth on his opening lap. On Lap Six Tunstall passed Phillip Atkinson (Q-Oil Treatments / Unique Motorsport) to take second place, with the riders going on to cross the line in those same positions.

Adon Davie (JDF Racing) was forced to retire from fourth on the very last lap, with Mark Bridger taking that position ahead of Davie’s teammate Max Lofthouse in fifth.

Matthew Jones (Dragon Racing), Olly Savage (R Racing), and Michael Tustin (AH Performance / Breckland Utility Solutions) took sixth, seventh and eighth. And Team Aramex / ULS teammates Bob Collins and Lee Devenport completed the top ten, with Collins’ result another impressive one considering he’d started his race from 30th position.

After crashing out in qualifying, Blaze Baker (Trackdemons Racing Powered by HMY) did not take part in the race, but the South African maintains his third place in the Ducati Performance TriOptions Cup championship behind Shoubridge and Tunstall.

David Shoubridge (Rich Energy Ducati #86) – 1st
“Win number eight! What a chaotic race from the start. We had wet knee sliders on from the previous session in qualifying and I only took them out with moments to go and forgot to put the dry ones on. I was running up and down the grid to get some sliders. Big thanks to the Buildbase Suzuki boys because they found me a knee slider with just moments to go. I ran up to the 30 second board and I think my dad was just about to push the bike of the grid! So, a chaotic start but got my head down and tried to find some pace. The bike setup didn’t feel too great, and the conditions were a bit sketchy. The track was a bit green, and not a lot of grip in places. But we stuck our head down, tried to manage the gap, and did the best we could. Number one, well chuffed with that.”

Tom Tunstall (Motorcycle Race Parts #21) – 2nd
“It's been a strange weekend for obvious reasons. I’ve got no track time, no information for Snetterton. It’s a tricky little circuit and track time has been limited and the weather has thrown a spanner in the works. It’s the first proper dry time and I was back in tenth. It was a bit sketchy, but I just tried to chip my way through, and be patient to find a rhythm. I’ve had quite a few second places this year and that one was a little more hard fought for, so I’m pleased. It’ll be nice to have a dry race tomorrow and see what we can do from there. But to be honest if you’d offered me a second place about an hour ago, I would have taken it, so I’m happy with that result.”

Phillip Atkinson (Q-Oil Treatments / Unique Motorsport #7) – 3rd
“Yeah, I nearly missed the grid. Bit of a strange one, I've never done that before. Luckily, they gave us a little bit of warning and said it’s a one off and don't ever do it again. So that was a bit close. I haven’t ridden in the dry all weekend and haven’t ridden a Ducati at Snetterton for a number of years. In the warm-up it felt strange, and I thought maybe I wasn’t up to speed. In the race I could see David was going to go away and I knew Tom was coming. I tried to stay with him as best I could, but I just didn’t have a setting that felt right for now. So, we’ll make some changes for tomorrow and maybe go a little bit better in the dry and hopefully be a bit closer to the win.”