Tommy Bridewell takes his first win of the year at Donington Park after gambling on intermediates

The final British Superbike race of the weekend at Donington Park was soon put on hold after a red flag came out on lap three due to rain. The 20-lap restart was declared a wet race, but a drying track meant tricky tyre choices for the riders on the grid.

Bridewell, on intermediate tyres for the first time ever in his racing career, started from sixth on the restart but was soon moving up positions and by lap three had passed Tarran Mackenzie on the McAMS Yamaha for second place, before he started chasing down race leader Glenn Irwin (Honda Racing). Bridewell passed Irwin on lap six to take the lead, posting consecutive fastest laps.

The following lap saw VisionTrack Ducati’s Christian Iddon pass Mackenzie for fourth place, before he Iddon set the fastest lap. But Iddon’s brave tyre choice, the only rider to opt for an intermediate front and slick rear, failed to pay off after he crashed out at Craner, his second DNF of the day.

Bridewell went on to take the chequered flag and his first win of the season. He was joined on the podium by brothers Glenn and Andrew Irwin (SYNETIQ BMW Motorrad).

Josh Brookes was the next rider to take the flag in fourth, the best result of the season to season to date for the VisionTrack Ducati rider.

British Superbike Championship standings
1. Jason O'HALLORAN (Yamaha) 277
2. Tarran MACKENZIE (Yamaha) 223
3. Christian IDDON (Ducati) 203
4. Danny BUCHAN (BMW) 165
5. Tommy BRIDEWELL (Ducati) 157
12. Josh Brookes (Ducati) 77

Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing Ducati #46) – 1st
“We’ve been working hard as a team, and Ducati as well to be honest. We’ve come out of the blocks strong. Oulton Park was a good one for us and Brands was a good one for us. Knockhill’s not my favourite track to be honest, nor is Thruxton. So, to be honest the way I look at it is Oulton and Brands have been my main start to the Championship. In the first two races I didn’t quite hit the nail on the head with the way I wanted the bike to feel but we worked hard and continued. And in that race, the bike was awesome, absolutely awesome. I’ve never ever run intermediates in my career before, so to go front and rear was a gamble for me. Really chuffed for the team. Really chuffed for everyone involved, Oxford Products, Moto Rapido, for Ducati. Nice to see the big girl back on the top steps! Going to Cadwell, happy hunting ground for me, hopefully we can get the win tally mounting up.”

Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati #25) – 4th
“We’ve made progress this weekend but not as much as I would have liked, and I’d say the improvements have been small as my pace and results are still nowhere near where they should be. There are still some issues that we need to resolve, the main one being grip and the one causing the most concern. The grip levels aren’t what I’d like and that’s having a knock-on effect on the engine braking strategy; the lack of grip means it’s difficult to get the correct engine settings and we’re yet to find the balance. We did make improvements today from yesterday and my pace was good in the mixed conditions, so there are some positives to take away from the weekend.”