Tommy sees red!
Bridewell sticks with Ducati but shifts to the PBM squad
Tommy Bridewell will run in the traditional red of Ducati in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship in 2023 after signing a deal with Paul Bird’s official PBM Ducati outfit.
The switch concludes Bridewell’s four-and-a-halfyear stint with Oxford Products Racing Ducati. During that time, Bridewell has been a consistent frontrunner, finishing third in 2019 and 2022, and second in 2021.
Bridewell takes a seat on the bike that he’s openly admitted has been his biggest target out on track for the last few years. After all, up until now, he was on the privateer Ducati, the one which shouldn’t be beating the official PBM machines.
“I’ve always, always, always wanted to beat them,” Bridewell told MCN. “I’m their nemesis. I’m the rider on the silver Ducati that they want to beat, and that their riders aren’t able to beat.
The conversation with Paul was ‘What are we doing competing against each other? Why not compete together and be a force to be reckoned with?’.”
Bridewell believes that had he been on the PBM Ducati this year he would have “fought for podiums without a shadow of a doubt”. That’s not hard to imagine given that he’s comfortably beaten PBM’s Tom
Sykes and Josh Brookes.
Sykes finished 12th on his return to the UK, whilst 2020 BSB champion Brookes finished 14th. For the first time ever, PBM failed to make it into the Showdown. Some may question Bridewell’s move, but then again, Bird’s team are eighttime champions and what a story it would be for Bridewell if he turns their fortunes around.
“They’ve had a really tough year, so the timing was perfect for me because I’m joining them when I feel like they’re on a little bit of a low, and I’m at the peak. So, I feel I’m able to really resurrect that team and put them back on top – they’re a sleeping giant, everybody knows that team is capable of things that a lot of teams aren’t.”
As two of the biggest characters in the paddock, fans will be intrigued to see how the relationship between Bridewell and Bird unfolds. Bird isn’t afraid to speak honestly to and about his riders.
“I just need to deliver,” Bridewell responds when asked how he sees it going. “The bottom line is that they’ve employed me to do a job. My job description is fairly simple; ‘just go win races and win us the championship’. I believe I’m more than capable of doing that and so do the team.
“Everybody said that me and Wilf [Oxford Ducati team boss] wouldn’t last a weekend together. I feel that when you fight against each other, you help no one, but when you fight together, you make massive inroads and it’ll be the same here. I’m just going to translate it straight over.”
One key difference is that Bridewell is now a full factory Ducati rider. Of course, with that comes added pressure, but it also gives him more access to Ducati Corse technicians and bosses in Bologna, plus a faster route to new parts. As for the pressure, he isn’t daunted.
“I know that if the bike is capable of winning, I will be doing everything there is to win. Sometimes that’s not possible, sometimes the other bikes are stronger. If there’s a mountain of pressure and we qualified 20th because we just physically don’t have the pace, then I’m not going to win the race, it’s fact. But if I’ve got a mountain of pressure on my shoulders and I’ve qualified pole and I’ve got amazing race pace then I expect to win so it’s just hand-in-hand with the job.”
‘I’ve been their nemesis on the silver Ducati’