Irwin Romps To Oulton Park Podium, Bridewell Fifth
The BeerMonster Ducati team’s strong start to the 2023 Bennetts British Superbike Championship continued at Oulton Park today with Glenn Irwin and Tommy Bridewell finishing in third and fifth place respectively in the opening race of the weekend.
With yesterday’s opening free practice session seeing dry weather, the subsequent action today saw mixed conditions at the Cheshire track and with a damp track for this afternoon’s qualifying session, it was Glenn who fared best in fourth on the F23-specification V4R BeerMonster Ducati with Bridewell down the order in 15th on the fifth row.
Conditions had improved slightly for the 12-lap BikeSocial Sprint Race and a strong start to the race saw Glenn complete the first lap in third place as he immediately latched onto the back wheel of leaders Josh Brookes and Leon Haslam.
The trio quickly opened up a two-second gap over the rest of the field and although there was never more than half a second between them, overtaking opportunities were limited. Irwin went to overtake Haslam on the tenth of 12 laps, but he wouldn’t get another chance as rain began to fall with the race being stopped on the penultimate lap.
That meant Irwin was awarded third with the points putting him in joint second in the championship with Bridewell, who put in a storming ride from his lowly grid position, coming home in fifth. Aided by the fastest lap of the race, which will put him in pole position for tomorrow’s first race, Bridewell continually moved forward and took over fifth place just after half race distance. That was as high as he was able to climb but it puts him in a much stronger position for tomorrow’s races.
Glenn Irwin:
“It’s good to get another podium but it’s also a bit frustrating as we had the potential to have done better than third. The three of us at the front had strengths and weaknesses in different areas so there was a bit of a yo-yo effect without any of us having an opportunity to overtake anywhere. I had a chance on the tenth lap, which, on hindsight, I should have taken with the red flag but that’s racing. The bike felt good and the longer races tomorrow should suit us more and whilst it’s good to have taken some points from Tommy today, I’ll be looking to take some off Josh tomorrow.”
Tommy Bridewell: “The result was OK and I’m happy and disappointed in equal measures. I’m happy to have fought my way through to fifth but that’s what I expected and to be honest, I thought I’d have been able to fight my way up to the podium battle. I needed the front three to be swapping positions as that would have allowed me to close up, but they were very much ‘follow my leader’. I’d also used a lot of the tyre to come through the field but pole position for tomorrow will make things a lot better for me.”
Johnny Mowatt, Team Co-ordinator:
“With sketchy conditions throughout qualifying and in the race, we are happy enough with a podium for Glenn and Tommy coming through to secure valuable points in fifth. We’ve got some changes to make overnight and hopefully the weather is a little more settled tomorrow so we can continue challenging for podiums and perhaps a win or two. We know the bike is good around Oulton Park, so we are confident going into the two remaining races at our local round.”
Bennetts British Superbike Championship BikeSocial Sprint race (12 laps)
1 Josh Brookes (BMW)
2 Leon Haslam (BMW)
3 Glenn Irwin (BeerMonster Ducati)
4 Peter Hickman (BMW)
5 Tommy Bridewell (BeerMonster Ducati)
6 Andrew Irwin (Honda)
Championship positions
1 Brookes 66
2 Bridewell 57
= Irwin 57
4 Ryde 48
5 Haslam 46
6 O’Halloran 35
Images courtesy of Double Red: Glenn Irwin (2) and Tommy Bridewell (46) in action at Oulton Park.
