Oulton Park: Round 1

The opening round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship took place this weekend at Oulton Park for the Oxford Products Ducati team and Tommy Bridewell. It was a good start to the season for Tommy and the team with pole position, two third places and a DNF.

Tommy looked strong from the start on Friday and he was soon settling into a good rhythm on the Ducati and they were eager to get going. He had a fantastic qualifying session and set the first pole position of the season for the opening race on Saturday.

He did not get one of his usual flying starts and had to battle for position in the opening laps. Tommy pushed hard throughout the race and started the season with a podium in third place.

For race two he started from fifth place on the grid and was in the mix at the front in the early stages dicing for positions. However, he went to make a pass on Tarran Mackenzie but realised he was not going to make the corner, he was forced to run straight on but clipped Tarran on the way through, which caused a problem with his chain and Tommy was forced to retire.

Tommy started 12th for the final race of the weekend and the team knew there was a lot of work to do to get a podium position. Tommy put the work in and moved his way through the field quite quickly, he was soon on the back of Tarran and looking for a podium position. He made a solid clean pass on him for third and started to hunt down the leaders, O’Halloran and Iddon. Despite his hard work it was another third place but a very good position after the lower starting place.

Tommy – “It was a strong weekend for us for the start of the season. The race results were as we wanted but it was hard work all weekend. We had strong pace from the start and I felt really confident with the bike, the team, as always did a mega job.

Everything worked perfectly, I’m so happy on the bike, we were able to make the tyres last and we managed to preserve the new tyre really well and run a strong pace at the front.

It was my fault in race two when I had a coming together with Tarran, which caused the chain to come off but we were running well again up to that point but it was a shame as it could have been another good result.

I can’t thank the team enough for all their hard work, through the off season and this weekend to allow me to just get on and ride it hard. It’s a really strong start for 2021 with pole position and two podiums and it sets us up well for Knockhill, which I am looking forward to.”

A BSB test ban sees a rise in training bikes. But what exactly is one?

Bennetts British Superbike teams aren’t permitted to go testing in exotic places or even Spain this season in order to save some wedge. So an increasing number of riders are getting themselves training bikes in order to stay track sharp over the big winter break.

Oxford Racing Ducati's Thomas Bridewell is one such rider and he has his own, self-funded (at a discount) Panigale V4R which he will use to keep himself bike fit but what exactly is a training bike? Team boss Steve Moore explains: "Well there is some confusion. Racing, testing and practice are all very different things and serve different purposes with different costs, so we use different bikes.

Testing is using a BSB-spec bike, with the whole team there to run through what works on all aspects of setup. Chassis, electronics, motor specification, tyres. It’s very involved and very expensive in terms of logistics, staff and material costs of using a full superbike.

To save a lot of budget, there will be no testing this year in southern Europe for BSB Superbike teams or riders. All the teams were in agreement and the organisers have instead launched a UK based testing programme, so the track time is fully relevant to our racing too.

This is great for the teams to save money and have more relevant testing, but it leaves the rider without action for six months. So, apart from just getting grumpy about not riding, it’s impossible to keep bike fit and focused, so they go practicing.

You’ll see riders on mini-bikes, pit-bikes, off-road riding and as we get closer to the start of testing in the UK, they pack a van and go to few tracks with a modified road bike spend a few days riding round to warm up for the testing programme and season.”

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Steve continues, "It’s a good compromise. The cost of lapping round on a road bike and the logistics required are a tiny fraction of Superbike testing costs and the rider gets fit enough that we don’t waste valuable testing time while they warm up after the break.

As well as a BSB team we are a motorcycle shop and workshop, so we prepare many track-day Ducatis, so it was simple to put a V4R together for Tommy. It’s not a gift, he bought it himself... with some staff discount.

The spec of training bikes is simple, it’s a road bike with road bike electronics, swingarm, brakes, just with some track upgrades from K-tech, Termignoni, HEL Performance, Fullsix Carbon and Spider racing (I make no apologies for name dropping our sponsors, who helped with this bike too).

Then we paint it, add the Oxford Products logos and he’s ready to go and get fit and train.”

This article is published with thanks to Bike Sport News.

Oxford Products Racing Ducati announce Bridewell’s return for 2021 season

Tommy Bridewell will return to Oxford Products Racing Ducati for the 2021 British Superbike Championship season, signing a deal to remain with the Ducati dealership team for a third full campaign.

Bridewell joined the Winchester-based team midway through the 2018 season and since joining forces, together they have celebrated two race wins and a further 24 podiums in the Championship, with their strongest finish in 2019, when they ended the season in third place in the title fight.

The news of Bridewell’s return to Moto Rapido Racing for next season follows the recent announcement from the team that they have extended their title partnership agreement with Oxford Products for a further two years into the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

Tommy Bridewell: “The decision to stay with Moto Rapido Racing with Oxford Products was simple for me – the Ducati V4R is the best bike and I believe in the team and the crew. Previously throughout my career I jumped between bikes and teams after each season and never found a comfortable position, but since joining Moto Rapido I feel at home and I am happy in the team environment and that is how you get the best out of me. Obviously, it was a no-brainer to continue that next season.

“We sat down and we want to understand why 2020 didn’t go as expected after such a good year in 2019. We talked about next season and straight away, we all wanted to stay together. I wanted to get the deal done to stay with the team and now we can move straight on to what we can do to come out of the blocks in 2021 fighting where we know we can be. I know we will get on top of it, because I believe in the team and we want to be winning races again."

Team Owner Steve Moore: “Tommy signed for year three - well I must say I didn’t expect this in 2018 when we were both thrown together, but it has been a great fit from the start. Tommy is a highly skilled and talented rider, who is at home in our team. He was my first choice for 2021 and Oxford Products, Ducati and all our sponsors and team are delighted.

“After a fantastic 2019 the team worked perfectly and I’m very pleased to say after the much more challenging 2020 we still are. The test of a team is when it is hard, not when it is easy and we are stronger than ever. Securing Tommy for 2021 means that we have everything we need - everything we have learnt from the last two seasons with the V4R is so valuable when you can keep the same rider. I’m really looking forward to getting back on the podium in front of our fans.”

Moto Rapido Racing announce extended two year title partnership with Oxford Products

The Moto Rapido Racing team has announced a continuation of their title sponsorship with Oxford Products for a further two seasons ahead of next year’s British Superbike Championship, with 2021 marking their third consecutive season in their extended partnership.

Oxford Products first joined forces with the Ducati dealership-run team as title partner for the 2019 season with the Winchester-based squad, and since then together, they have secured race wins and podium finishes in the championship, ending their 2019 campaign in third place in the final standings.

The renewal of the partnership, which will total four consecutive seasons in 2022, further shows the Oxford company’s association with motorcycle racing, which began in the 70s and has supported riders including Robert Dunlop, Steve Hislop, Jim Moodie, Jeremy McWilliams and most notably Trevor Nation.

Moto Rapido Racing Team Owner, Steve Moore: “This is massive for us and the best thing to come from 2020! Times are uncertain and securing high quality sponsors who understand the commercial and sporting side of BSB is harder than ever, so I’m absolutely delighted to continue with our leading sponsor not only for next year, but also into the 2022 season, which shows their dedication and commitment to our team.

“The Oxford partnership has been a great success from the start, so to continue this relationship for another two years together is ideal. Oxford Products is a perfect fit with our team and I’m very pleased and proud to work with them to continue their racing history.”

Oxford Products Managing Director, Andrew Hammond: “Oxford is delighted to continue with Moto Rapido in BSB for another two years, cementing their place at the sharp end of the BSB paddock. To have an Oxford Products Racing team in the world’s best domestic motorcycle racing championship is a thrill that we never grow tired of!”

Brands Hatch GP: Rounds 16-17-18

It was a tough finish to the 2020 season for the Oxford Products Racing team at Brands Hatch. Tommy Bridewell ended the season with three solid results.

The sun was out for the final round of the Bennetts British Superbike at the glorious Brands Hatch GP circuit, The team gets one practice on the Friday afternoon to collect some data before moving into Saturdays qualifying knowing that rain was forecast overnight.

The practice session on Saturday morning was in drying conditions which saw the team lose some precious track time and Tommy qualified in 15th place for the opening 16-lap race on Saturday afternoon.

Despite a great start the front pack had managed to break away slightly and Tommy was able to work his way through to ninth.

He moved up to 12th on the grid for the second race on Sunday afternoon, he got a steady start and was able to make up a couple of places over the 20-lap race. With competition being so close his race lap time put him backwards on the grid for the final race of the season where he had to start from 15th position. He got a fantastic start and had his best race of the weekend so far, making some confident passes and worked his way through to seventh position and with the top 16 riders all within 1 second of each other it was great to see Tommy carving his way to securing 7th place in the overall Championship standings.

Tommy Bridewell - “It’s not all down beat; we were just experimenting with the bike all weekend. We had nothing to lose; the goal for us all weekend was to treat the weekend as a test. The plan over the weekend was to see what was working and what wasn’t.

In the shorter race on Saturday the bike wasn’t bad, but I just didn’t have the pace of the front runners. We felt good in morning warm-up and we made some changes for race two, but we went in the wrong direction and it made the bike very difficult to ride.

For the final race of the year we went the totally opposite to race two and things did feel a lot better and the bike was working really well and we dialled a lot of the issues out. When we lose fuel and tyre life we start coming across a few problems, my grid positions for the races made it very difficult to get any strong results this weekend.

I am happy with how the weekend went in general and we learnt a lot, how the bike worked and the progress that we made throughout the weekend. We have a few ideas going into the winter and it will be a long one so plenty of time to analyse the data and make some positive changes.”

Iain Hopcroft - “ This year has been full of action from tough hard fought weekends to winning races, I can’t thank Tommy and the team enough for all the hard work and dedication to put such a good package together, it’s been tough without the fans cheering us on but with the power of social media and the TV we know just how much support we have out there.

Huge thanks to all the sponsors for their continued support through the stressful times of this pandemic because without them we could not make any of this happen. We are really looking forward to what 2021 brings and the new calendar looks very interesting for us and the fans.”

In other news, the Moto Rapido supported Ducati Tri Options Cup race team of Josh Day riding the ‘Host IT’ Ducati V2 secured the Championship title and retained the number 1 plate for 2021.

Donington Park: Rounds 13-14-15

It turned into a very mixed weekend, not only weather wise but results wise for the Oxford Products Racing team. Rounds 13, 14 and 15 all took place on the Sunday at Donington Park, Tommy Bridewell ended up 15th in race one, fifth in race two and an unfortunate DNF in the final race of the weekend.

The weather conditions on Friday were mixed, with a dry opening session and wet afternoon session. Tommy and the Oxford Product Ducati team made a switch of suspension manufacturer just after Oulton Park and used K-Tech this weekend for the first time at a race weekend. Therefore the team had to learn quickly the set-up on Friday in the mixed conditions.

Saturday was declared a washout and all track activity was cancelled so the three races were run on Sunday. The grid positions for the opening race were determined by the combined practice times, putting Tommy in sixth place for race one.

With the late morning race, the track was still very wet in places with a small drying line appearing at other parts of the circuit. They took a gamble with tyres and Tommy opted for the hard rear wet compound tyre, sadly it was the wrong decision and Tommy struggled throughout the race and was only able to salvage 15th place.

Due to this he was unable to put in a fast lap-time for the second race, this placed him in a low 19th place on the grid. The race was fully dry but cold, Tommy got an incredible start and he was soon pushing his way through the pack and quickly. He worked through the pack and secured a fantastic fifth place.

Luckily in the final race of the weekend he was able to start from a much better grid position in fourth place. He got a great start and took the wide line around the outside and slotted into third, he was soon through to second and chasing Josh Brookes down for the lead. Glenn Irwin came past for second but shortly after that Tommy was forced to retire into the pits with a problem on lap seven.

Tommy - “Obviously it was a very mixed weekend, but for me it was very positive. I know it’s the time of the year but we really could have done with some more dry track time to learn the new K-Tech suspension with the Ducati V4-R. We only had FP1 in which we were sixth in so that was a good start and then every other session was wet.

Race one was very patchy but we decided to go with the harder rear tyre and for some reason the wheel spin from start to finish was unreal, it was a real shame as we had a good opportunity for a strong race.

Race two was dry so it was going into the unknown, starting from 19th was the hardest bit. The bike felt good, not great but I felt positive, I was more than happy with fifth.

In the last race we made some good changes and the bike was fantastic and I felt great on it. Sadly we had a mechanical that caused me to DNF the race. I’m taking the positives, I felt really good on the bike, really strong. I could see Josh struggling with chatter and fortunately I wasn’t in that position this weekend. Onwards and upwards to Brands Hatch and the final race of the year.”