BSB: Bridewell stuns with surprise second

Bennetts Suzuki’s Tommy Bridewell will start tomorrow’s opening MCE British Superbike race from second on the grid after a stunning Superpole lap at Thruxton.

The local rider has seemed to be off the pace all weekend, but has spent his time working on the harder Pirelli SC1 compound tyre over race distance and not focused on achieving a single quick lap. 

While many riders look set to risk the soft tyre in tomorrow’s first race, Bridewell’s plan is to run the hard in the hope that he’ll have the pace towards the closing stages of the 20 lap outing.

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“I’ve been concentrating on running the hard tyre and I guess that shows really, qualifying was our first time running the zero and I think it was pretty obvious the difference it gives you,” he told MCN after the session. “We can’t run a race distance like that for sure, it just isn’t possible. That’s why we’ve concentrated on running the harder tyre and hopefully it pays off. Some people might be able to make the zero last but hopefully we won’t be too far off and it’ll be in our favour. 

“It’s the first Superpole for me this year, you think you have to be so careful not to mess up but I didn’t find that, I just came over the line and rode it as hard as I could. I’m used to riding on my own anyway and it definitely worked better for me.

“It’ll be two tough races tomorrow, they will be long and physical when the tyres start to wear so we just have to manage that. The bottom line is we need to be fighting for podiums and nothing else is acceptable, we’ve got a points deficit to make up for the showdown and the whole team is focused on achieving that.”

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