Quay Garage: Tommy is an absolute star!

Quay Garage Honda team principal Ian Woollacott has hailed Tommy Bridewell as an 'absolute star' following his performance during the British Superbike season opener at Brands Hatch, even if two accidents left him pointless for the weekend.

Riding a 2007-specification Honda CBR1000RR, Bridewell was never outside the top ten throughout free practice and qualifying, while he would go on to challenge for podium finishes in both races alongside some accomplished rivals.

However, Bridewell could not turn his superb starts into equally impressive race finishes, the youngster crashing out of fourth in race one and colliding with Michael Laverty in the second.

Leaving him to prop up the retirements' list in both races, Bridewell was disappointed to have nothing to show for his weekend, but remains encouraged by his giant-killing pace.

"I'm very disappointed with today as I felt that we could have been on the podium and had some good results. I knew my race pace was very strong and I could run at the front. The bike was handling absolutely amazingly today and the Quay Garage team have done an absolutely fantastic job and it's just a shame I couldn't repay them with two good results.

"We've made an impression on the BSB Championship that we are going to be there or thereabouts even though we didn't get much of a result this weekend. I'm looking forward to our local track at Thruxton where the bike works really well and I hope we can continue from here and get a couple of good results."

Woollacott also chose to look at the positive side of the performance in what was the team's first event as a fully-fledged championship class operation.

"Although we've not wrapped up any points this weekend I think it's fair to say that Tommy has been an absolute star and that our bike is very competitive.

"The fact that we are running on a fraction of what the other top teams are spending just shows how good the package is and I'd like to thank Tommy for doing a great job for us this weekend and also to John and James Buckingham who are as much responsible for this result as anyone.

"Roll on Thruxton and hopefully we can have another good performance and stick the bike in amongst the front runners again."