British Superbikes: Determined comeback brings Bridewell Snetterton sprint win

Tommy Bridewell gave himself a lot of work to do in the sprint race at Snetterton to come out in top. Starting third from the front row, the BeerMonster Ducati immediately went backwards, eighth at the end of the first lap.

After contact with Tito Rabat on his way back, it was an exciting duel between the teammates on the red bikes that thrilled to the line.

‘Same bike, same team, let the best man win!’

The #46 was certain he had the pace to be at the front, and after a false start it was that speed that brought him back into play, and pole for race two:

“It was a tough race. It was harder than I wanted it to be, it was harder than I expected, purely because, I felt really nervous on the grid, I knew I had race winning pace… I expected myself to win.

With that comes anxiousness, nervousness, you want to win by ten seconds!

That made that race so much harder than it needed to be. The ideal scenario was a nice clean start, get away at the front, conserve a bit of energy, save my tyre and off I go at the end and that was the plan and it worked out the opposite”.

Running solo meant Bridewell was unsure of the best place to use the power advantage of his Ducati to overtake, with mostly clean passes until he met Tito Rabat, in at McAMS Yamaha, on track:

“I knew I could make passes but I didn’t know where, I’ve rode on my own all weekend do I didn’t know where I was fast or slow compared to other riders.

• 2023 British Superbikes Snetterton Race Results (1)
• 2023 British Superbike Snetterton- Qualifying Results
• Tito Rabat joins McAMS Yamaha in BSB

So as I was chipping away, getting through the riders, then obviously there was a fair coming together with Tito, to be honest I didn’t feel like it was my fault, purely for the fact is he ran wide, I then tried to get in coming wide out of the chicane, not quite there but then he turned in and lost the rear, as he lost the rear I just hit the side of it and then obviously it got a little bit messy, I thought I was down, I thought to be honest we were both down, so sorry to him for that but I had one target and that was to win the race”.

There was more passing to come as he searched for a way to catch teammate Glenn Iwrin, who lead for much of the race, with Jason O’halloran to deal with on the way:

“As soon as I get on Jason I knew I could do him up the start/finish straight. The Duke, she’s got some ponies under her, so that was kind of quite easy for me..but the Yamaha is a lot stronger in other areas - you have to utilize and maximise what you’ve got under you.

Glenn dug deep and had a go,down the back straight again, but I knew I was so much stronger in that last sector than him, so I sat patient but to be fair, he upped his pace and I had to work really hard, coming onto the last lap I said to myself ‘lets go toe to toe, same bike , same team,may the best man win', I just got a good run onto him on the back straight”.

‘I thought I would just have to settle for third at one point’.

With Bridewell away, things went from bad to worse for Glenn Irwin with Josh Brookes having hunted the frontrunners down.

The FHO Racing BMW Motorrad rider first had some bike issues to deal with to be competitive:

“The start of the weekend wasn’t going well, the opening laps of the first practice and the bike had an issue, with some sensors, it was playing up and had to spend a fair bit of time in the garage.

Fortunately for FP2 we made a good step forward, I felt we had some momentum but then late in FP2, every change we made went the wrong way. We tried again in FP3 but didn’t really make any improvements with the bike, I kind of ended up with a combination of what we had.

That’s what I went out in qualifying with and I qualified fairly strong, the bike felt good. Starting that race I wasn’t really confident with the bike under me and then the early laps I kind of lost a few places, wasn’t really forcing my position on people - and you need to do that here.

Brookes seemed to ease into the race and as he visibly became more comfortable the Australian went from strength to strength:

“As the race went on I got more relaxed with the bike and understood it better. It was staying really consistent and the tyre grip was good, I had a few moments, like we all do, spinning the tyre but nothing that I couldn’t manage.

I thought I would just have to settle for third at one point. When I got past Jason,Glenn and Tommy were too far away, but I managed to close them up because they were fighting each other as well,my pace was good at the end, so in the final turn I didn’t have that planned… I could see the opportunity, so rode around the outside of Glenn”.

‘I just hang in for as long as I can, get as close as I can, you never know what can happen’.

Not even third place was guaranteed for Irwin, as another Australian, Jason O’Halloran, was back after falling behind with a bike issue and hunting for the final podium spot:

“It was a good race for us, I had an issue on the first lap - into turn two I went back to first gear and the rear of the bike just locked up on me, so I don’t know what was going on with that.

Starting from pole and the fastest man all weekend leading up to the race, the #22 had great one lap pace, and knew the best way to utilise that would have been to get up front and try to lead and break, but it wasn’t to be:

“Settled back in and it seemed to come good, but I knew my best chance was being in front, once Glenn came by, Tommy came by and Josh I knew it was going to be a bit tough, but I could see everyone was struggling a little bit, maybe with the front tyre…so I though if I just hang in for as long as I can, get as close as I can, you never know what can happen.

Josh passed Glenn at the last corner - he got a bad run out - and I managed to pass him, so really happy, I’ve said it before - NOT normally happy with third but I’m really happy with third here!”

That left Irwin off the podium in fourth.

After the first race Tommy Bridewell increased his championship gap from eight to 17 points, with 181 - Irwin is now back in second after Kyle Ryde (158) was off the pace all weekend so far, finishing the sprint down in 13th.

The #77 now has Josh Brookes right behind him in the overall standings with just six points between the pair.