BEST EVER FOURTH PLACE FOR BRIDEWELL AT CADWELLQuay Garage Racing's Tommy Bridewell came within less than a second of scoring his and the team's first outright British Superbike podium when he finished a sensational fourth in today's first race in round four of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at a sun drenched Cadwell Park today.
Aboard the 2008 specification ex Gregorio Lavilla Honda Fireblade, the 21 year old from Etchilhampton in Devizes near Wiltshire qualified in sixth position for the opening 18-lap race and in front of another bumper Cadwell Park crowd got a good start to run with the leading pack in the opening stages of race one. Bridewell continued to battle against a number of the factory supported works riders and with a lap to go was set to challenge the Ducati of Michael Rutter but try as he might he couldn't get past and had to settle for a career best fourth position at the chequered flag.
A repeat of the heroics looked on the cards for race two but a clash with Kawasaki's Chris Walker forced Bridewell onto the grass at the chicane but with typical determination he bounced back from tenth position into sixth and was set to challenge John Laverty for fifth position when the race was stopped after Dan Linfoot crashed on the Mountain, luckily without injury.
Tommy Bridewell: "We had two strong results but I'm a little disappointed not to get on the podium. I'm now fighting at the sharp end and have proved that Brands Hatch wasn't just a one off. We lacked a little bit of top speed but you're always going to have that with an old bike. I rode my heart out and thought I deserved a podium but I'm now aiming for a double podium at Mallory next time out. We've made good progress but the boys in front of me are all on factory bikes. The team have done a great job this weekend, so it's a big thanks to them."
Ian Woolacott: "Tommy has done a brilliant job this weekend. Our bike lacks a little on top end power. It's been a great weekend, we've had two very good results and we've beaten factory teams and we were next to HM Plant Honda on the grid so I'm very pleased."
The next round of the Championship takes place at Mallory Park on 25/26/27th June.
MCE InsuranceBritish SuperbikeChampionship race 1 result (18 laps)
1 Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 27m35.356s2 Michael Laverty (Suzuki) +0.497s3 Michael Rutter (Ducati) +1.877s4 Tommy Bridewell (Quay Garage Honda) +2.528s5 Josh Brookes (Honda) +5.168s6 John Laverty (Kawasaki) +7.754s7 Chris Walker (Kawasaki) +10.072s8 Martin Jessopp (Ducati) +11.042s9 Alastair Seeley (Suzuki) +11.953s10 Dan Linfoot (Yamaha) +13.178s
MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship race2 result (15 laps)
1 Josh Brookes (Honda) 22m15.411s2 Tommy Hill (Suzuki) +4.398s3 Michael Laverty (Suzuki) +5.675s4 Michael Rutter (Ducati) +5.921s5 John Laverty (Kawasaki) +10.465s6 Tommy Bridewell (Quay Garage Honda) +10.731s7 Alastair Seeley (Suzuki) +13.663s8 Chris Walker (Kawasaki) +19.568s9 Martin Jessopp (Ducati) +1 lap10 Stuart Easton (Honda) +1 lap
Championship standings (after 4 rounds)
1 Tommy Hill (Suzuki) 146pts2 Josh Brookes (Honda) 1103 Michael Laverty (Suzuki) 1014 Michael Rutter (Ducati) 885 Stuart Easton (Honda) 816 John Laverty (Kawasaki) 807 Alastair Seeley (Honda) 798 Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 789 Martin Jessopp (Ducati) 5710 James Ellison (Honda) 4111 Tommy Bridewell (Quay Garage Honda) 38
