Oulton BSB: Bridewell overcomes setup ‘challenges’

Having taken a superb Bennetts British Superbike Championship double win last September, many people were expecting a repeat performance at Oulton Park this weekend from Tommy Bridewell – but not the man himsel

Not through a lack of belief or confidence but more a realistic view and expectation given the new Ducati him and the Oxford Products team are running. But second place in the final race of the weekend showed that the new package is getting ever closer to where the Devizes man needs it to be. “The new bike’s massively different to last year – geometry, balance, all sorts – so I knew I wasn’t going to be walking away with anything this weekend,” he said at the conclusion of the weekend’s action. “A lot of other people were saying that I was going to win this and going to win that so there was a certain amount of pressure coming into the meeting but we kept our heads down and kept chipping away. The little differences all over the bike add up to a lot and understanding how it needs to be set up is the challenge at the moment.” Having taken a solid sixth in the opening race, Bridewell was well placed in the second before crashing out early on at Lodge. But he bounced back in the final race and although he ultimately had to settle for second behind Lee Jackson, he was satisfied with the outcome. “It’s always nice to finish with a podium and while a win looked on the cards at one stage, not finishing the second race ultimately meant we had no data or reference for the latter stages of the final race. “The pace has moved on a lot this year and we’re trying to develop the bike whilst competing for the wins so these early rounds are doubly hard for us. But we improved in each session which is really positive. “Crashing