Podium finish for Tommy Bridewell at Cadwell Park

Tommy Bridwell had shown strong pace throughout the Free Practice sessions at Cadwell Park and qualified for the weekend’s opening race in fourth. A poor start saw the Oxford Products Racing Ducati rider drop down the order a couple of places, holding station until the 15-lap race reached its final stages. 

In the closing laps Bridewell passed Honda Racing’s Glenn Irwin for third, but it was a position he had to settle for as the gap to eventual race winner Peter Hickman (FHO Racing) and Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) in second was too much to make up.

VisionTrack Ducati’s Christian Iddon crossed the finish line in a strong fifth, up from ninth on the grid, while his teammate Josh Brookes completed his race in the Top Ten, up from thirteenth on the grid.

Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing Ducati #46) – 3rd
“I’m happy. Here at Cadwell qualifying is so important. I was disappointed because I wanted to be front row. I can’t make starts anyway, so sort of irrelevant really. I’m just hampering myself. Because I can’t get it off the line and get it going, I lose crucial places. Two, three places here, is what lost me the fight for the win.

The pace wasn’t bad to be honest. The whole weekend I’ve been lapping very, very low to mid 26’s over race distance. And then, because I’m stuck in traffic, we’re low 27s. I’ve got the pace to be able to go a lot faster but when you’re not on a clear track you can’t do that. We’ve got a few bits we need to get sorted for tomorrow, we’ve got to work out how to get it off the line, at worst case hold my position and make a race from there. Congratulations to Jase and Pete, they’ve done a good job. We’ll come back strong for tomorrow.”

Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati #21) – 5th
“I’m quite content with today’s result and after qualifying about where our pace suggested we should be, I had a much better race. I didn’t make the greatest of starts so it was hard work, but we made good strides forward and with about three to four laps to go I thought we may be able to make it onto the podium. It wasn’t to be sadly, but it was a hard fought fifth place and if we can improve the performance in a couple of sectors, we’ll be in a better position tomorrow. Being third and on the front row for Race Two is definitely a much better starting point and we’ll be giving it 100% once more.” 

Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati #21) – 10th
“It’s been a similar meeting so far as per previous rounds sadly and that’s just where we are at the moment. I obviously gave it 100% again and gave the race my best efforts. And with a couple of riders coming off and by overtaking a couple of riders, I got myself up to tenth. It’s frustrating and I can use all the words you can imagine to describe finishing tenth as it’s not at all pleasing but we are where are. The mixed conditions and rain look like they’re going to give me my best chance of a podium this season as that’s when I’m competitive so let’s see what tomorrow brings.”