BeerMonster Ducati Double Up At Oulton Park
The BeerMonster Ducati team enjoyed a superb day’s racing at Oulton Park today with both Glenn Irwin and Tommy Bridewell taking a Bennetts British Superbike Championship race win each to occupy the first two places in the standings.
After Irwin’s podium finish yesterday in the BikeSocial Sprint race, today’s opening race saw Bridewell head home Irwin for the PBM team’s first one-two in three seasons, before Irwin claimed victory in the day’s second outing meaning with three podiums out of a possible four this weekend, they’re now first and second in the championship with Irwin holding a four-point lead over Bridewell.
Yesterday’s results meant Bridewell started from pole position for bank holiday Monday’s opening 18-lap race around the Cheshire circuit with Irwin heading up the second row. Bridewell hit the front early on and for the first half of the race, there was little to choose between the front five riders, but Tommy continued to control proceedings from the front on the F23-specification V4R BeerMonster Ducati.
As the race entered its second half, he was able to up his pace to gradually edge away and take his maiden win for Paul Bird’s Penrith-based team. His eventual winning margin was 1.5 seconds over teammate Irwin who took second, having steadily worked his way through the field.
Starting the final race of the weekend with Irwin on pole position and Bridewell in third, the first lap saw them running in second and fifth and it was again Glenn at the forefront. He took the lead on the third lap and despite a fierce challenge from a bunch of riders, he managed to hold on for his second win of the season which saw him take the championship lead.
Bridewell, meanwhile, ran in fifth in the early stages and moved up into third at half race distance, aided by the fastest lap of the race. He was unable to climb any higher and ultimately had to settle for fourth meaning he now sits in second place in the table, just four points behind his teammate.
Glenn Irwin:
“It’s been a brilliant day for both myself and the whole PBM BeerMonster Ducati team and you can see the passion within the garage with everyone working really hard. I really struggled at the beginning of the first race and lost a position when Peter Hickman crashed in front of me, so I had to work hard to get going. I was really happy to come through to second and give PBM a 1-2 and fair play to Tommy, he rode faultlessly. We made some changes for the final race which helped in some areas, but I nearly lost the front at Shell whilst I also made a mistake when Leon came by. I got back in front to take victory so let’s keep this run going.”
Tommy Bridewell:
“It’s been a slightly mixed day as whilst I’m delighted with the race win, I’m disappointed with fourth in the second race. We made a slight change to the chassis, but it wasn’t enough to have made the difference it did, and the bike felt very different in the two races. In the first race, it felt a lot more stable whilst in the second, there was a lot more stress and I was having to ride on the limit to be where I was. It’s helped me understand the bike more though and I believe we can make big improvements to it so it’s a shame we haven’t got another race to try it. Overall, it’s been a positive weekend and it’s been my best ever start to a championship so with further changes, I think we can be stronger still.”
Johnny Mowatt, Team Co-ordinator:
“With two wins today and our first 1-2 since 2020, it’s been a fantastic day for the team and it’s even sweeter with it being our local circuit and with the success coming in front of many of our sponsors. It would have been nice if we could have had Tommy on the podium in the final race as well but that would have perhaps been a bit greedy! The wins were good for different reasons, Tommy leading from start to finish in the first and then Glenn leading the final race, dropping back to third and then coming through again to win. We’ve been to two different circuits now and the bike’s proven itself at both which is testament to Ducati so let’s hope the run continues.”
Bennetts British Superbike Championship race two (18 laps)
1 Tommy Bridewell (BeerMonster Ducati)
2 Glenn Irwin (BeerMonster Ducati)
3 Leon Haslam (BMW)
4 Andrew Irwin (Honda)
5 Kyle Ryde (Yamaha)
6 Josh Brookes (BMW)
Bennetts British Superbike Championship race three (18 laps)
1 Glenn Irwin (BeerMonster Ducati)
2 Leon Haslam (BMW)
3 Kyle Ryde (Yamaha)
4 Tommy Bridewell (BeerMonster Ducati)
5 Josh Brookes (BMW)
6 Peter Hickman (BMW)
Championship positions (after six races)
1 Glenn Irwin 91
2 Bridewell 87
= Brookes 87
4 Haslam 76
5 Ryde 73
6 Andrew Irwin 44
Images courtesy of Double Red: Glenn Irwin (2) and Tommy Bridewell (46) in action at Silverstone.
