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BRIDEWELL DEFIES THE ODDS TO LAND SILVERSTONE DOUBLE

Author: Carter Sport
Posted on: Monday, Sep 28 2009



In front of another healthy crowd basking in autumnal sunshine at Silverstone, the 21-year-old from Etchilhampton near Devizes was gradually upping his pace all weekend aboard the four-year-old Team NB Suzuki GSX-R1000 K6 which culminated in him setting an amazing seventh fastest time in the first part of the Swan Combi 50 Roll for Pole knockout qualifying session on Saturday, ahead of many of the official works bikes.


However, during that session, the team discovered a problem with the gearbox which they had no chance to fix before Bridewell was out on track a few minutes later but a hasty repair proved ineffective and the nett result was Tommy qualified in 20th position on the grid.

A quick prognosis revealed terminal damage to the gearbox so the team had no option but to return to their Wiltshire base to collect a standard unit from a road bike which they fitted in the early hours of Sunday morning and Tom ran it in during the morning warm up.


In race one, Bridewell put in a fantastic performance to claw his way through the field and at the end of the 20-lap race, he was up to 12th overall and comfortably won the Cup class but in race two, more drama was to befall the team. On the opening lap, a multi-machine pile up saw Tommy punted into the gravel where he eventually managed to extract himself as the race was red flagged.


With a quick check over, the team awaited the restart whereby Bridewell didn't get away well and had even more work to do. However, try as he might, he struggled in the early stages with lack of grip but gamely hung on to record his second top twelve placing of the day and his second Cup victory to move to within sight of third place in the standings, despite not contesting the opening four rounds.

Tommy commented: "I don't know what it is about me and tyres but after the slow puncture at Croft, we went with the same race tyre as I started race two on but it didn't work a second time so we should have maybe gone for a new one as I think the heat cycle had been broken. I'm pleased with the results but I expect to win and I'm only interested in how many works riders I can beat now. I'm riding so hard, I'm nearly crashing everywhere but as long as we can, we'll keep trying and hope that someone is taking notice of our achievements."


Bridewell will next be in action at the final round of the MCE British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park over the weekend of 9/11th October.

Results Race One


1, Leon Camier (Yamaha)
2, James Ellison (Yamaha)
3, Josh Brookes (Honda)
4, Stuart Easton (Honda)
5, Tommy Hill (Honda)
6, John Laverty (Kawasaki)
7, Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki)
8, Ian Lowry (Suzuki)
9, Simon Andrews (Kawasaki)
10, Julien Da Costa (Kawasaki)
11, Graeme Gowland (Yamaha)
12, Tommy Bridewell (Suzuki)
13, Glen Richards (Honda)
14, Gary Mason (Honda)
15, Peter Hickman (Yamaha)


Results Race Two


1, James Ellison (Yamaha)
2, Leon Camier (Yamaha)
3, Josh Brookes (Honda)
4, Stuart Easton (Honda)
5, Tommy Hill (Honda)
6, Julien Da Costa (Kawasaki)
7, Simon Andrews (Kawasaki)
8, Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki)
9, Ian Lowry (Suzuki)
10, Alastair Seeley (Suzuki)
11, Chris Walker (Yamaha)
12, Tommy Bridewell (Suzuki)
13, Peter Hickman (Yamaha)
14, Karl Harris (Honda)
15, Michael Rutter (Ducati)


Mirror.co.uk Cup Standings after round 11


1, Gary Mason (Honda) 470.5pts
2, Peter Hickman (Yamaha) 361pts
3, Martin Jessopp (Honda) 289pts
4, Tom Tunstall (Honda) 259.5pts
5, Tommy Bridewell (Suzuki) 234pts
6, Kenny Gilbertson (Kawasaki) 85pts


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