Bridewell and Ryde share the Monday BSB wins at Cadwell Park

2024 Bennetts British Superbike Championship
Round Eight – Cadwell Park
Monday Round Up

Images by David Yeomans

Kyle Ryde roared to both Pirelli King of the Mountain and Monster Energy Cadwell 90 Trophy honours after an unstoppable weekend as the Bennetts British Superbike Championship hit Cadwell Park.

The OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing rider lifted the Pirelli King of the Mountain Trophy after winning Sunday’s race and finishing second to Honda Racing UK’s Tommy Bridewell in Monday’s shorter Race Two – and then stamped his authority on the weekend by winning Race Three, and with it the Monster Energy Cadwell 90 Trophy.

British Superbike Race Two

It was home hero Lee Jackson on the MasterMac Honda who got the holeshot at the start on the second race of the Cadwell Park race weekend, but Bridewell was also fast off the line and made a move for the front at Park.

Behind, Ryde was pressuring Jackson, finding a way past on the fifth lap. He looked like he was poised to make a move on Lap Six but it didn’t happen and a lap later he fell back to third as Jackson swept past.

It took two laps for the Race One winner to find his way back past Jackson as the top three stayed close together on track, but nobody had an answer for Bridewell, who remained in full control.

On the final lap, he was able to just edge a small advantage as Ryde made a tiny mistake on the approach to the Mountain, giving him a small bit of breathing space as he rode to the flag for the win.

Ryde’s second place was enough to hand him the coveted Pirelli King of the Mountain Trophy, as the highest combined points scorer in the first two races.

Jackson crossed the line third, just ahead of team-mate Charlie Nesbitt, who ran most of the race in fourth position after passing Hager PBM Ducati’s Glenn Irwin on Lap Six.

Sixth was Ryan Vickers, who rode a heroic race from 20th on the grid following his technical problem in Sunday’s race.

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The OMG GRILLA Yamaha rider stormed through the pack and by the seventh lap was running in the top eight, moving up to seventh a lap later before hitting sixth with a move on Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki’s Jason O’Halloran on Lap Nine.

FHO Racing BMW Motorrad Josh Brookes was again the first BMW home in seventh position after a late charge, as ROKiT Haslam Racing BMW’s Leon Haslam took eighth with a move on Oxford Products Racing Ducati’s Christian Iddon on the last lap and O’Halloran rounded out the top 10.

FHO Racing BMW Motorrad’s Peter Hickman was given a long lap penalty after being involved in an incident with McAMS Racing Yamaha rider Danny Kent, as the latter crashed out at Park on the fifth lap.

British Superbike Race Two Results

British Superbike Race Three

Kyle Ryde got a flying start from second on the grid to grab the holeshot and lead the pack into Coppice for the first time as MasterMac Honda’s Charlie Nesbitt settled into second with the second OMG GRILLA Yamaha of Ryan Vickers in third when the third race of the weekend got underway on Monday afternoon.

On the second lap, Vickers shoved his way past Nesbitt and moments later passed Ryde, setting a blistering pace as he crossed the line into Lap Three.

But it was to be short lived, as he crashed out at Coppice seconds later, handing his team-mate the lead once again as further back, Bridewell moved ahead of the second MasterMac Honda of Lee Jackson into fourth.

Ryde controlled the rest of the race from the front, as Bridewell’s next target was Glenn Irwin’s Hager PBM Ducati, which he passed on the fifth lap and set off after Nesbitt, passing him at Coppice on Lap Eight as behind, Jackson – who had dropped back to fifth – stuck a move on Irwin to climb back to fourth on the seventh lap before passing Nesbitt for third three laps later.

From there, the top three remained the same to the chequered flag, as Bridewell kept close to Ryde’s rear wheel, remaining around half a second at most off his rival.

With two laps to go, it was clear Bridewell wasn’t going to be able to bridge the gap and had to settle for second position behind a delighted Ryde, as Jackson scored another podium in third.

Nesbitt took fourth, with Irwin fifth as Josh Brookes was once again the first BMW home, the FHO Racing BMW Motorrad rider beating Leon Haslam on the ROKiT Haslam Racing BMW, as Christian Iddon claimed eighth for the Oxford Products Racing Ducati team.

Peter Hickman, aboard the second FHO BMW, crossed the line ninth, just 0.252s behind Iddon as C&L Fairburn/Look Forward Racing’s Billy McConnell finished in 10th place.

The race marks the end of the 2024 Bennetts British Superbike Championship Main Season, as the riders prepare to enter the Showdown in the final three rounds, when the points value increases.

After Cadwell Park, Bridewell remains at the top of the points table, 19 clear of Ryde with Glenn Irwin third, a further 41 points behind.

British Superbike Race Three Results

Quotes

Kyle Ryde

“From what started off as a bit of a struggle, it ended up being pretty easy, which weekends like that don’t come very often but when they do you have to take the most from them. I would’ve liked to have taken all three wins but when it’s 12-laps everyone is pushing to the limit and the risk wasn’t quite worth it going wrong. The last race was probably the best race I’ve done, I was consistent and only made one mistake in the 20 laps. I got as many trophies as I could and was crowned Bennetts Rider of the Round – so thank you to the fans and of course my team for it.”

Tommy Bridewell

“I’m happy with my weekend, I really am, I can’t be anything but happy. After the disappointment of qualifying yesterday, I knew that things were going to be difficult today. But I never give up, and to fight back to fourth yesterday, and then get the win this morning and come home with a second this afternoon is credit to where we are at the moment. I owe a lot to the team for the win earlier, because I was struggling in a couple of areas and we worked hard to come up with a strategy to help me manage the race. The plan was to put the sector I was struggling in on my board so I knew where to focus and where to defend and it worked. I don’t think it was the prettiest win but it’s a win nonetheless. In the second race, yes I was frustrated to follow Kyle for the whole race but we were doing unbelievable lap times. I needed to keep the pressure on him in the race, and as competitors, you can’t help but admire the pressure we put him under and the fact he didn’t crack so fair play to him. I’m leading the championship still and that’s the way I want it to stay!”

Glenn Irwin

“5-5-5 means I’m really happy with the performance of the team and myself this weekend, we worked hard to steady the ship and come away with some fighting results. Right now our package isn’t competitive enough to fight for wins every week due to our struggles on the harder tyre. It’s only in some areas of the track, but we lose so much. There are many positives with the performance in lots of other areas which keeps us optimistic whilst being realistic going forward into the next round at Oulton Park, where we won all three races earlier in the season.”

Josh Brookes

“It was awesome to see such a big crowd this weekend at Cadwell Park. Coming away with 7-7-6 and I’m actually pretty pleased with that! It’s obviously not the results we know we are capable of, but I had much stronger races and there’s certainly some positives to be had. Particularly the final race of the day, although the final results doesn’t look that impressive, I felt like I had one of my strongest races of the season so far. Mid-race we were in a battle, but I was able to make passes and pull away which shows we were much more competitive and able to maintain decent pace right to the final laps. I have to say a big thanks to my sponsors and especially to my FHO Racing crew, it’s hard graft for little reward at the moment but we keep working for any gains we can, especially when it’s tough.”

Billy McConnell

“Anything in the top ten I’m happy with, it was our target at the start of the year and everyone in the team continues to work hard to help me get these good results. It was strange with the weather conditions this weekend but I can’t complain at the results and look forward to getting to Oulton and seeing what we can do there.”

Peter Hickman

“We struggled a lot on Saturday in the rain with a lack of feeling from the rear and I couldn’t get a lap together that was fast enough. However saying that, I did just miss out on Q2, which really scuppered us moving forward, along with other riders cruising and not looking where they were going during qualifying. We were then so far back on the grid for the opening race, which really makes a difference, especially at Cadwell where it’s just so close and it’s impossible to make the time back up.

“On Monday we managed to break the into the 26’s finally, and we were regularly there in both races. In the Sprint Race I unfortunately nudged into Danny [Kent] and took him off track, as well as myself. Unfortunately, he went down – it was my mistake and I apologise for that and have apologised to Danny; but that’s racing, I made a very small mistake which resulted in us both across the grass.

“The final race I made a really good start and hung in there with Josh, Leon [Haslam] and Christian [Iddon]. In fact, for a lot of the race I felt like I was stronger than both Leon and Christian, definitely in the last half of the race I was stronger, but I just couldn’t find a place to pass. Cadwell is super difficult to make passes and I was stronger in unusual places, which made it difficult to be able to pass. To finish inside the top 10, finally, is a little bit of relief if anything, it’s been a real struggle, but we now move forward to Oulton Park where we’ll try and continue this momentum.”

British Superbike Championship Points

British Superbike Qualifying Results

British Supersport / GP2 Feature Race

Ben Currie was fastest off the line as he launched into the lead ahead of Stapleford and Honda Racing UK’s Jack Kennedy, but on the second lap, Stapleford came through to lead.

From there the Triumph man was never headed after Currie crashed out on lap three.

While Kennedy stuck close behind Stapleford for the full race he was never able to get close enough to make a pass.

Jack Kennedy

“Today, we had a game plan to bring the bike home in the top position that we knew was within our limits. It was important for us to race within our limits today to make sure we maximised the championship points that we could score. I flipped a switch in me and said I am not overriding this bike here to try and beat Luke and go down. I need to get this result and I need to finish the race today. I can finally say that I decided to settle for second, which goes against the racer in me, but for the championship, it was the right decision. 
Third was ROKiT Haslam Racing’s Eugene McManus, with Rhys Irwin fourth and Harry Truelove fifth.”

In GP2, Owen Jenner became the first championship winner of the year with another class win over Keo Walker as Lucca Allen was third.

And in the Cup, Cameron Hall took victory ahead of Adon Davie as Ben Tolliday secured third.

British Supersport / GP2 Feature Race Results

British Supersport Championship Points

GP2 Points

HEL Cup Points

Pirelli National Superstock Race

Davey Todd got an impressive start from Row Two to ride around the outside and into the lead at the first corner as Talbot and Luke Mossey settled in behind him, the pair swapping places briefly before Talbot moved back into second on the third lap and then passed Todd on Lap Five.

The battle continued as Todd hit the front again but he was powerless to stop Talbot coming past on the penultimate lap – and was unable to find a way past on the final lap as a backmarker came into play in the closing corners.

Local star Tim Neave was third, with Mossey fourth as Matt Truelove took fifth.

Pirelli National Superstock Race Results

Pirelli National Superstock Championship Standings

Pirelli National Sportbike Race

Rhys Stephenson crashed on the Mountain on the second lap, taking Harrison Dessoy with him, and that led to a restarted race over 10 laps.

Cooper hit the front on the first lap and held the lead all the way to the penultimate lap, when the Italian got past.

Cooper got back ahead at the start of the final lap but Colombi rode around him coming into Park and held the lead to the flag.

Thomas Strudwick was third with Alfie Davidson fourth as Aaron Silvester crossed the line fifth.

Pirelli National Sportbike Race Results

Pirelli National Sportbike Championship Standings