Round 10 - TT Circuit Assen
The Superbike Showdown began this weekend at round ten of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at the fabulous TT Circuit Assen.
Tommy Bridewell was having a really good first race lying in a comfortable second place behind Redding but he tucked the front and unfortunately crashed out. He had an awesome race two and finished a strong second place; he is still lying in third place in the Championship standings.
Tommy rode strong all weekend throughout the practice sessions and was consistently improving every session. He had a great qualifying session and ended up starting the opening race from the front row in second. He got a great start and was soon behind Redding in second place, the safety car was put out for several laps and Tommy was keen to stick with the other Ducati once it came back into the pits. He was riding hard and sadly just tucked the front end on lap nine crashing out the race.
He set the fastest lap in race one and was sat on pole position for the second race of the day. He struggled off the start and dropped back to fourth after the second lap but he soon got his head down and started to make his way back towards the front of the pack. He was locked in a tight battle with Danny Buchan and Josh Brookes for second place but Tommy was able to hold second place after the 18-lap race, making up for his misfortune in the opening race of the day.
Tommy:“The weekend was hard work but pleased with the podium in the second race. Coming from a crash always knocks your confidence a little bit. I was then looking at my lap-times in the race and wondering why are we so slow?
The track was so greasy compared to race one, so everyone was getting affected. I could see my pit board that I wasn’t able to shake Danny or Brooksey off. It sounds bad to say but I think I thought I could do but it just shows that the field is very even. It was a good full on battle for all of the race.
On the last lap I had nothing left and I just had to defend my line and my position. A huge credit to my Oxford Racing Ducati team they’ve done a phenomenal job, my bike was absolutely mega. I’ve just got to bounce back now, as anything can happen. I feel good and ready for Donington.”