Scott Redding claims his maiden Oulton Park victory in Race 2, with all 3 Ducati riders stepping onto the podium

 

Buildbase Suzuki’s Brad Ray got the better of Be Wiser Ducati pole-sitter Josh Brookes at the start of the Race 2 with action soon paused after the safety car came out for a couple of laps in the early stages of the race due to a crashed bike. 

Shortly after the restart, Oxford Racing Ducati’s Tommy Bridewell passed Ray for the lead on Lap 6, with Be Wiser Ducati’s Scott Redding also passing the Suzuki rider on the following lap to as he moved up into 2nd place.

Bridewell and Redding both posted fastest lap times with the latter making a move on the Oxford Racing Ducati rider into Hizzy’s Chicane on Lap 12 to lead, with Brookes passing Ray on the following lap to take 3rd position.

As the three Ducati riders started their final lap, they had pulled a 1 second gap over Ray. Bridewell was looking for a way past Redding, but was ultimately unable to do so, with the Be Wiser Ducati rider taking his maiden win at Oulton Park. Brookes made the most of Bridewell’s final corner passing attempt, to pass him for 2nd across the line just with a gap of just 0.067s.

Redding and Bridewell both start Race 3 from the front row in 2nd and 3rd respectively behind pole-sitter Ray, with Brookes starting from the front of row 2 in 4th.

Scott Redding (Be Wiser Ducati #45) – 1st
“That was mega. Loads of fun. I said yesterday that I’ve got the pace, I’m confident. This morning, warm up, old tyres I was fast and felt good. I said ‘leave the bike boys’ I can do it. I just need to work on the starts. We found something overnight so that I could change my style on the starts. I had a banging start out there, put me in a much better position for the race. I was comfortable, felt good. When the guys give me a bike that can win and I feel good, I can win… I manged to bring across the line first and over the moon. Big thanks to the team that’s helped me out so much. Full send!”

Josh Brookes (Be Wiser Ducati #25) – 2nd
“Early on I was thinking maybe I could save a bit of tyre and be clear at the end but as it turns out there wasn’t anything left in reserve for myself. I think Tom’s being a bit hard on himself, that was a hard race. The lap times were really quick the whole race. Any other race of any previous year that rode of his would have been a winning race. It’s only that we’re all upping our game because we’re all pushing each other on that it hasn’t worked out for him. Gutted for him because getting nipped at the line isn’t really the idea of being truly beaten. We’re all riding good. Credit to Scott, he controlled the race and did what needed to be done. 

Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Racing Ducati #46) – 3rd
“The team gave me a race-winning bike and I didn’t deliver. I feel sorry for the team. They are not disheartened but for myself it’s not good enough. I got the last corner good, the whole circuit felt good, the bike’s on rails and I feel mega on it. It’s just hard racing the equivalent bike and these two guys are riding well. I put it all in then. Like I said the bike was working good. I need to go back to the drawing board, have a sit down and work something out.”