Bridewell ends a tough Italian SBK weekend with a P7 in Sunday’s Superpole race

Superbike Advocates Racing and rider Tommy Bridewell end a weekend of highs and lows at Italy’s Cremona Circuit with a positive P7 in Sunday’s Superpole race and a disappointing crash in SBK Race 2.

In preparation for the day’s races, Bridewell and his technicians used morning warm-up to check over the setup of their Panigale V4 R, with Tommy putting in the fifth quickest time of the session (1’28.600). That done, attention turned to the ten-lap Superpole race which was followed, later in the afternoon, by the second and final full-length SBK race.

Bridewell lined up for the short sprint in tenth place based on his result in Saturday’s qualifying session. Another strong start followed by an incident for two fellow riders saw Tommy quickly move up into seventh place. Having opted for the supersoft SCX tyre and aware that time is of the essence in these short sprint races, the British rider worked hard to keep pace with his closest rivals. Settling into a strong and consistent rhythm, #46 held firm in seventh before crossing the line in that position, less than ten seconds from the front.

That Superpole race result saw the WorldSBK rookie promoted to seventh on the grid for the final 23-lap race of the weekend. Keen to exploit his starting position, a focused Bridewell oscillated between seventh and eighth place through the first laps. Lapping with some very fast times through the first part of the race, the SBK rookie was able to pass Sam Lowes to progress to sixth. Everything looked to be moving in the right direction, but Tommy’s progress was brought to a sudden halt on lap four, when he suffered a crash into Turn 10. Despite his best efforts to rejoin the race, the rider was left with no choice but to return to the pits and retire.

Unfortunately, Cremona Circuit has not delivered the results the team aspire to, but this too serves as motivation for the next races. With only two SBK rounds still to run, Bridewell lies fifteenth in the championship standings, with a total of 66 points banked to date. The final rounds of the 2026 season will run back-to-back over the weekends of 9-11 and 16-18 October, at Estoril Circuit in Portugal and Jerez Circuit in Spain.

Tommy Bridewell (Superbike Advocates Racing #46)
“All in all, a frustrating end to the weekend. I am still trying to understand where the limit is for me, and this weekend felt like another learning experience. I feel like my pace is good and that I’m riding well, but sometimes I need to just rein it in a bit. The plan in the main race was to run a fairly steady race but as soon as I made a decent start, I was all in. So, slightly frustrating but it’s a learning process and we’ll now move on to Estoril and Jerez to round the season off. I think, overall, we need to be proud of the positions we’re in and what we’re achieving, and happy with the way the team’s working.”