Has Brookes blown his chance of another BSB title?
‘I’d started to wonder why I bother racing’ ‘There are strong circuits coming up’ Ducati man buries demons with impressive top five finish
Tommy Bridewell showed his potential with the MotoRapido Ducati team as he stormed to fifth place in the opening race. On the pace throughout the weekend, the outspoken West Countryman’s first race result bagged him a front row start for the second outing, but after struggling to get off the line he ended up pushing that little bit too hard and slipped off at Barn. The results mark a massive turnaround for Bridewell’s 2018 campaign, which saw him booted out of the Movuno.com Halsall Racing squad at Snetterton. He was then handed a lifeline from Steve Moore’s MotoRapido Ducati squad at Brands Hatch, where he showed promise from the off. Bridewell was relieved to be back in contention after such a rocky season. “All in all it’s been a good weekend, but I’m not happy with the results! The races showed our true pace. We can be up there fighting but I’ve got to be able to get it off the line. Without two disastrous starts there could have been two very good results. “The ordeal that happened at the start of the year took the wind out of my sails as a rider, to the point where I started to wonder why I bother. This weekend has helped me realise that I am good enough to do this.
“It’s nice to be annoyed with a fifth place, but I believe the podium was there for the taking. The team have done a great job, I’m fitting in so well and having now got my head around the bike, I know there are some really strong circuits coming up.” While mathematically Bridewell remains within a chance of moving into the top six, the reality is his Showdown charge is over, barring a minor miracle. However, the remaining four rounds are important for the 30-year-old as he’ll now need to show that this weekend’s pace wasn’t a one-off in order to strengthen his position for 2019.
Iddon keeps hopes alive
Christian Iddon kept his Showdown chances alive with a pair of sixth place finishes for the Tyco BMW squad.
The squad have struggled so far in 2018 with both Iddon and team-mate Michael Laverty, but a strong points haul sees Iddon just 15 points off a spot in that all-important top six with three races remaining before the cut-off point at Silverstone.
While Laverty showed flashes of pace, he was unable to match his team-mate in the opening race and crossed the line 14th. While race two was better, he could only manage seventh. He now sits tenth in the title chase, 32 points off a top six spot and while that might not be insurmountable over three races, it’d require significantly out-scoring his team-mate as well as Peter Hickman. and Danny Buchan at Silverstone.