Tyco Racing rider Tommy Bridewell endured a weekend of mixed fortunes aboard the Quay Garage Honda at round eight of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch.
Bridewell was celebrating his 22nd birthday at the Kent track and was hoping to avenge his disastrous luck from the opening round of the series which was held on the Indy circuit over Easter. However his weekend didn't get off to the best of starts when he struggled during the free practice sessions on Friday but was hopeful of a good result in the first of the three Championship races on Saturday despite qualifying in 17th place.
With rain clouds threatening, the race was started under dry conditions and despite a poor start Tommy eventually clawed his way through the field into the top ten when a sudden rain shower brought out the red flags. In the restart, from row two of the grid, Bridewell didn't make the best of starts in the wet conditions and eventually brought the Honda Fireblade home in 12th position.
Sunday dawned a lot brighter and in the opening race of the day, he again didn't get the best of starts but in typical fashion, the rider from Etchilhampton in Devizes near Wiltshire was closing in on the leading bunch when he crashed out at Stirling's Corner on lap five causing substantial damage to the machine and injuring his hand.
Sterling work by the Quay Garage team saw the Tyco Racing Honda repaired in time for the final outing of the weekend whereby Bridewell overcame the pain of his hand injury and also suspension problems, to record another battling 12th place finish at the flag. As a result Tommy holds 11th position in the Championship going into the next round at Cadwell Park in three weeks' time.
Tommy Bridewell: "Brands Hatch hasn't been too kind to us once again and we've not got the sort of results we were hoping for this weekend. We've tried really hard and thanks to the team for their fantastic efforts and also our sponsors Tyco and hope we can enjoy some better luck at the next round at Cadwell. It was there that I had my two best results of the season earlier in the year so the omens are looking good and I'm really looking forward to the weekend."
Ian Woollacott: "Tommy once again rode the wheels off the bike and but for a little bit of better fortune would've had some really good results this weekend but it wasn't to be. The crash really set us back for the final race and we didn't have time to fine tune the suspension as we would have liked so Tommy had to ride around the problems and it's all credit to him that he brought it home in the points once again. Needless to say, we're looking forward to Cadwell where we're hoping for a repeat of our performance there in May."
