Tommy Bridewell and Christian Iddon back on the podium at Brands

The opening British Superbike race at Brands Hatch was initially red flagged after Brad Jones (iForce Lloyd & Jones BMW) crashed on the opening lap at Clark Curve.

The restarted race saw Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Ducati) and Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati) out at the front for the race entirety behind Tarran Mackenzie but neither racer was able to make a move on the McAMS Yamaha rider.

Mackenzie claimed his first win of the season, with Bridewell finishing second and Iddon third. Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati) closed his race in ninth.

Brad Jones was evacuated by helicopter to Kings College Hospital and thoughts are with him and his family.

Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Ducati #46) – 2nd
“There were a couple of areas where I thought if I could get close enough, I can have a go here but the last two laps I sort of lost the rear a bit and I was struggling to get out the corners. My thoughts are with Brad. There was a big delay because he had a nasty crash. Touch wood he’s ok, nothing else matters really. Thoughts are with him and his family.

Credit to everyone, Taz, Christian. I felt like they’ve done a really good job, and myself and Oxford Products Ducati have done a good job. Enjoying racing motorbikes again and we’ll come back for two longer races tomorrow.”

Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati #21) – 3rd
“It’s nice to be on the podium again but it was a really hard race and a bit of a re-run of the race last October when I was in the leading pack but didn’t have the pace to win. I need to find that little something to give us the couple of tenths we need to really go for the race wins but it’s always nice to finish the race with a trophy and equally nice to extend my championship lead a little bit more.”

Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati #1) – 9th
“At the previous rounds, my issues centred around lack of grip, but it’s been less of an issue here. However, I still haven’t got a bike that feels how I know it should be. We’ve continued to make a variety of changes to limit what’s been affecting our performance, but I think now’s the time to go back to the softer SC0 tyre. We’ve been using the SCX tyre as that’s what’s felt like the right thing to do but we need to go back to what we know to get back on the pace and be in the positions where we know we should be finishing.”