Donington BSB: Bridewell confident of making Showdown after FP3 performance

Tommy Bridewell got his last-ditch attempt to make the MCE British Superbike Showdown off to a flying start this morning at Donington Park this morning, qualifying provisionally on the front row after holding second place for most of the session.

He spent most of the session behind Shane Byrne, who held the lead almost from the start of the session as he completed a race simulation, before being pipped back to third by a fast lap from Samsung Honda rider Alex Lowes shortly before the flag went out on the forty-five minute session.

“Starting second straight away was a good start. I’ve always known that the Kawasaki is strong here; Tom Sykes did the double in World Superbikes here. We know we can’t float away yet, though; we have to keep our feet on the floor. Alex got a good lap in at the end, but we can up the pace ourselves too when we need to.”

“I’m happy with the position we’re in and the lap times we’re doing, but there’s still some work to be done – the bike setup is not so good yet. We have no major problems, but we have a lot of small problems, with wheel spin, braking, things like that. We’ll address at least half of them before qualifying, and although alp times won’t jump drastically, I’m confident I can do those times all race.”

Bridewell is some 25 points adrift of the final Showdown spot, currently held by Buildbase BMW rider Jon Kirkham, but the Halsall kawasaki rider is remaining upbeat that he can be in the top six at the end of the weekend.

“I’m coming out fighting this weekend – I need to do everything I can. There’s 25 points between me and Jon, and I need to lay down the law. I’m not here to mess around; I need to take the fight to him and keep the pressure on him all weekend.”