Tyco Racing's Tommy Bridewell put in one of his best performances of the season with a superb ride into sixth place in the opening race of the final round of the 2010 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park.
Having qualified on row two of the grid for Saturday's race, the 22-year-old from Etchilhampton near Devizes in Wiltshire battled his way up into the top ten early in the race before closing in on the leading bunch as the race progressed. Going into the final lap, Bridewell was well placed on the Quay Garage-prepared Honda and closing in on championship contender Josh Brookes but couldn't quite pass the Australian and brought the machine home inside the top six for the third time this season.
However, any hopes of continuing his great form disappeared when the machine suffered a mechanical problem in the warm up session just before the race which meant he had to sit out the remainder of the day's action much to his disappointment, but consolation came in the smallest of forms as he managed to hang onto 11th place in the championship which was an impressive performance on his first full season in British Superbikes.
Following the announcement at Silverstone two weeks ago, Bridewell and the rest of the team can look forward to making preparations for the 2011 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship which will see him contest the series on the machine that Ryuichi Kiyonari claimed this year's title on in fine style in front of 40,000 fans at the sun-baked Cheshire circuit today.
Tommy Bridewell: "I felt really good during Saturday's race and the bike felt really strong so I was delighted to finish inside the top six and thought we could do even better today but after the problem in the warm up, it was game over. Naturally I'm disappointed as we have put a lot of effort in during these final few races but it wasn't to be and I'd like to thank the Quay Garage Team and our sponsors Tyco and everyone else who has helped us this season. We'll be back next year where the plan is to challenge for the British Superbike Championship title."
Ian Woollacott, Team Owner: "We used up all our spares following the problem we encountered at Silverstone and we were hoping to get through this weekend without any problems but the old girl cried enough. Tommy rode really well on Saturday and we felt a podium was on for today but we'll now start to concentrate our efforts on next season. Thanks to all of the team and our sponsors for their help this season and also to Tommy who has ridden brilliantly. Roll on 2011!"
MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship race 1 (16 laps)
1 Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 25m43.282s2 Tommy Hill (Suzuki) +0.821s3 James Ellison (Honda) +5.707s4 Michael Laverty (Suzuki) +8.459s5 Josh Brookes (Honda) +15.627s6 Tommy Bridewell (Quay Garage Tyco Honda) +15.001s7 Stuart Easton (Honda) +16.839s8 Gary Mason (Kawasaki) +20.109s9 John Laverty (Kawasaki) +28.032s10 Loris Baz (Yamaha) +32.829sMCE Insurance British Superbike Championship race 2 (7 laps)
DNS Tommy Bridewell (Quay Garage Tyco Honda)1 Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 11m16.253s2 Stuart Easton (Honda) +2.993s3 Josh Brookes (Honda) +3.231ss4 Michael Rutter (Ducati) +4.048s5 Alastair Seeley (Suzuki) +7.437s6 John Laverty (Kawasaki) +11.451s7 James Ellison (Honda) +11.474s8 Michael Laverty (Suzuki) +14.902s9 Loris Baz (Yamaha) +15.248s10 Adam Jenkinson (Kawasaki) +20.726s
MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship race 3 (16 laps)DNS Tommy Bridewell (Quay Garage Honda)1 Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 26m07.496s2 Josh Brookes (Honda) +0.639s3 James Ellison (Honda) +4.531s4 Michael Laverty (Suzuki) +7.794s5 Tommy Hill (Suzuki) +9.355s6 Loris Baz (Yamaha) +10.721s7 Alastair Seeley (Suzuki) +12.856s8 John Laverty (Kawasaki) +17.220s9 Chris Walker (Honda) +17.331s10 Dan Linfoot (Yamaha) +22.881s
Final Championship standings (after 12 rounds)1 Ryuichi Kiyonari 649pts2 Josh Brookes 6253 Tommy Hill 6204 Michael Laverty 6045 Michael Rutter 5596 Alastair Seeley 5507 James Ellison 2108 John Laverty 1909 Stuart Easton 18910 Chris Walker 13011 Bridewell 105
