Christian Iddon and Tommy Bridewell on the podium in Race 1 at Silverstone, with Josh Brookes finishing fourth

The opening lap in Race 1 around Silverstone’s National Circuit saw Oxford Products Racing Ducati’s Tommy Bridewell take the lead, only to have the safety car come out on Lap 4 after Keith Farmer (iForce Lloyd & Jones BMW) and Takumi Takahashi (Honda Racing) crashed out.

The safety car came in on Lap 7, with Jason O’Halloran pouncing into the lead on his McAMS Yamaha. His teammate Tarran Mackenzie was also on the move and by Lap 21 was up into second place.

But drama on the penultimate lap saw a coming together between the McAMS Yamaha duo at Brooklands with both riders crashing out. This allowed Honda Racing’s Glenn Irwin to come through and snatch the lead and the subsequent race win. 

VisionTrack Ducati’s Christian Iddon was promoted to second to end his run of recent run of bad luck, a fantastic result considering his eleventh place grid spot. Bridewell was able to take the final podium position on a motorcycle that had only just been rebuilt following a crash in qualifying.

Josh Brookes’ Showdown hopes took a boost with after he crossed the line in fourth, while his main rivals both scored DNFs; Danny Buchan crashing out early on his SYNETIQ BMW, and Lee Jackson retiring from the race with a technical fault on his FS-3 Kawasaki.

Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati #21) – 2nd
“Happy with that. I have been off the pace for this round and struggling at the last round, and a little bit at Cadwell as well, so it’s nice to get back to the podium. I’m strong in some areas, I’m really not in other areas. If we can get off the corner better I really think we’ve got something for them. I’m glad to see that Jason and Taz are ok because that was unfortunate for them. I don’t think we had anything for them, but I was still looking to try and pounce on Glenn because I felt like that towards the end I had a little bit more pace than him. Really happy, big thanks to the VisionTrack Ducati squad. It’s been a tough few rounds. Hopefully this is the start of good things again.”

Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing Ducati #46) – 3rd
“A lucky third to be fair but we’ll take a podium credit whichever way it comes as long as Jason and Tarran are fine as that is all that matters. I felt good to start with. No intentions really of going off like a scolded cat. Thought I’d just sit in at middish, lowish 54s and got to the front and I felt good, it was coming quite easy. After totalling the bike earlier, we had to revert back to some of the older settings. We just didn’t have quite the time to get the bike rebuilt. The team’s done a phenomenal job to build me a new bike as it is. Quite a bit of chatter, and the geometry and the weight wasn’t quite right. But the team got me out there and that’s the main thing. And we’re back on the podium.”

Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati #21) – 4th
“The wheel spin and lack of grip I’ve been encountering continues but I’ve almost learnt to live with it now although it does make the races hard work. We only have a small window where the bike works and just the slightest movement out of that window leads to big mistakes which is why I’m up and down a bit during the races. I’m not known for making mistakes or for getting bad starts but that’s what’s happening although as the race goes on, the other riders come back to me. I can see them spinning up in the second half of the race but because I’ve had that from the start, I’m able to make up ground in the latter stages. It’s not ideal and it’s still frustrating but I’ll take the positives and the fourth place.”