Quay Garage Honda rider Tommy Bridewell endured a weekend of mixed fortunes at Snetterton this weekend when he contested the latest three rounds of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship.

The 21-year-old from Etchilhampton near Devizes in Wiltshire looked to be in good form on Friday aboard the ex-Gregorio Lavilla Honda Fireblade and hopes were high of a good performance in the three races, the first of which was held over from the weather-affected meeting at Knockhill a couple of weeks ago.

However, during free practice on Saturday, a sudden rain shower caught out Bridewell and he crashed at The Bombhole meaning the Braunton, Devon-based team had a race against time to get the machine fixed in time for the Swan Roll for Pole. That they did, although a rear suspension problem hindered Tommy's progress and he only managed to progress to Q2.

In the first race of the weekend on Saturday, Tommy made up for a poor grid position and bad start to eventually climb the leaderboard and clinch a fine tenth place but better was to follow in race two on Sunday when he scrapped his way to sixth after a race long dice with a number of the factory-supported riders.

Sadly in the second race on Sunday, Bridewell was dicing for another top ten placing when an electrical fault sidelined the machine with just a few laps remaining meaning he didn't see the chequered flag.

As a result, Tommy holds onto 11th place in the series standings and still has an outside chance of making the all-important top six cut over the next two rounds, the next of which is at Brands Hatch on August 7/8th. Meanwhile, the week previous, Tommy and the team will be in action as a wild card entry at the British round of the World Superbike Championship at Silverstone.


Tommy Bridewell:

"You could say I've had a pretty mixed weekend what with a crash, a top six placing and a breakdown but I'm reasonably pleased with how it's gone. We always knew the bike would be down on top speed against some of the newer models and the last place you need a slow bike is at Snetterton but we did OK. It was my fault I crashed and gave the team a load of unnecessary work which affected our qualifying but to bring it home in a best result of sixth is fairly good all things considered. There's only so much we can do to the bike now but I'm confident that we can still keep plugging away and who knows; with a bit of luck we can get a bit further up that leaderboard. For now, though, we're off to Silverstone and we'll see how we get on against the World Championship riders and if I can scrape a point or two, I'll be delighted."


Ian Woollacott Team Manager:

"Tommy never fails to give less than 100% and despite his off on Saturday, we're once again delighted with his commitment and performance. We're disappointed that he didn't finish the final race and relieved it was no more than an electronic sensor as that was a brand new engine this weekend and we didn't need the cost of another rebuild, that's for sure. But to come away from one of the fastest circuits in the country with a sixth and tenth place shows how well he's riding and what a great job James and John Buckingham are doing on the bike and if Tommy can keep plugging away, we'll be more than happy."


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Picture courtesy of Mick Lawrence http://www.fullthrottleimaging.co.uk.