Sensational Snetterton Victory For Bridewell

A lap later and Irwin took the lead for the first time with Bridewell up to sixth and by half race distance, the duo were running in first and second as Bridewell tore his way through the field. Indeed, he led the race from laps seven to ten as he and Irwin battled for the lead.
 
All the time O’Halloran and Josh Brookes were closing in but on the final lap, Tommy grabbed the lead at the end of the back straight with a great move and although it looked like a BeerMonster Ducati 1-2 was on the cards, Brookes pushed Glenn back to third at the final chicane before O’Halloran relegated him to fourth on the dash to the line.
 
The result sees Bridewell extend his lead in the series to 17 points over Irwin going into tomorrow’s two races over 16 laps each.
 
Tommy Bridewell: “That was a mega race! Glenn was riding well but I’ve been keeping my head down, working with my team and doing all the hard work so it was a pleasing race. I felt like I had better pace than the others, but I knew Glenn would be determined enough to come back at me and so it proved. He was better in a couple of places but, overall, I felt stronger, and the bike was working well so felt confident of getting back ahead. I was so determined to win the race and it’s great to see my boss Paul Bird smiling. I’m here to win the Championship and I’ve got the team and infrastructure to do it so wins like today are what I need.”
 
Glenn Irwin: “We had some issues yesterday so today’s FP3 was like my FP1, but I felt comfortable on the bike when we got to qualifying. In the race, I felt strong and was surprised when the gap went up to 0.6 seconds as I wasn’t deliberately trying to put the hammer down. When Tommy came by me, I could see he was strong, and I learnt a lot from him. I was struggling with the rear through the Bomb Hole and Coram and whilst I was defensive at the end of the straight on the penultimate lap, I wasn’t on the final lap which allowed Tommy through. He beat me fair and square so hats off to him and although it’s very frustrating not to even finish on the podium after leading for so long, it was a good, fun race.”
 
Johnny Mowatt, Team Coordinator: “It’s been another good day and fair play to Tommy, he’s been strong all weekend. He came with a plan and focused on long runs in practice, so his bike was set up for the race as opposed to qualifying and it paid dividends. Glenn has been behind after suffering a bike issue yesterday and is essentially a couple of sessions behind everyone else, but you could see he was strong in the race and only a bit of bad luck prevented him finishing on the podium. We weren’t anticipating a four-way scrap so we'll have to be on our guard tomorrow but there’s no reason why we won’t be fighting it out for the wins again in tomorrow’s races.”
 
Bennetts British Superbike Championship – BikeSocial Sprint race (12 laps)
1 Tommy Bridewell (BeerMonster Ducati)
2 Josh Brookes (BMW)
3 Jason O’Halloran (Yamaha)
4 Glenn Irwin (BeerMonster Ducati)
5 Christian Iddon (Ducati)
6 Danny Kent (Honda)
 
Championship Positions
1 Bridewell 181pts
2 Irwin 164
3 Ryde 158
4 Brookes 152
5 Haslam 136
6 O’Halloran 112
 
Pictures courtesy of Double Red: Glenn Irwin (2) and Tommy Bridewell (46) at Snetterton