Brookes conquers Cadwell and claims series lead

2019 British Superbike Championship
Round 8 – Cadwell Park

Images by Dave Yeomans

Josh Brookes could barely have asked for a better weekend at the Cadwell Park BSB, with the two Superbike races seeing him record a 2-1 result to claim the 2019 King of the Mountain title, alongside a 12-point lead in the championship standings heading into Oulton Park.

Danny Buchan took the Race 1 win from Brookes and Tommy Bridewell, with Scott Redding a distant fourth. Race 2 saw the trio once again dominate, this time led by Brookes, with Bridewell runner up by 0.476s and Buchan a more distant third.

The results left Josh Brookes holding the Superbike championship lead on 271-points, with Scott Redding on 259, and Tommy Bridewell on 243, with the three riders confirmed as Title Fighters in the Showdown as a result.

Josh Brookes

“That’s the racing that I know I can do! In race one I didn’t have anything more for Danny, he deservingly won that race. Race two we went out with a new setting, a couple of little changes, I saw where Danny was stronger and realised where I wasn’t strong enough. Fortunately we were able to make a change to the bike to bridge that gap and then I had Tommy to battle with! It was a great race and Tommy was riding really, really well. I felt like I could see the way he was riding was every bit of the tyre it had, and then with a couple of laps to go I thought surely there’s got to be a little bit of a weakness in the grip area so I pounced to try and see if I could lead, and fortunately I was able to hold him at bay.”

British Superbike Race 1

In the opening race of the day Brookes launched off the pole position into the lead on the opening lap from Danny Buchan, Jason O’Halloran and Tommy Bridewell. However, Oxford Racing Ducati’s Bridewell was instantly trying to make a move and dived ahead of O’Halloran on lap three.

Buchan was all over Brookes, but it wasn’t until the eleventh lap that he could make a move, which he did at Mansfield to snatch the lead. The FS-3 Racing Kawasaki rider continued to try to break away from the chasing Ducatis of Brookes and Bridewell, and at the chequered flag he managed to edge a gap of 1.047s.

Brookes kept Bridewell at bay as Scott Redding missed out on a debut podium at Cadwell Park. The Be Wiser Ducati rider was able to carve his way up through the field in a hard-fought race, running tenth over the opening laps before scoring a strong fourth place.

Peter Hickman had been chasing down Redding; the pair able to take advantage of a mistake from Christian Iddon who had been running fourth, but ran off track on the final lap and managed to salvage sixth place.

O’Halloran was seventh as he held off the second Tyco BMW of Glenn Irwin, who led his brother Andrew to the chequered flag.

Ryan Vickers completed the top 10 for the RAF Regular & Reserve Kawasaki team ahead of Luke Stapleford and Gino Rea, who impressed on his debut with Bike Devil Sweda MV Agusta.

British Superbike Race 2

In race two Bridewell got off to a flying start, firing the Oxford Racing Ducati to the front of the pack ahead of Brookes and Buchan, with the BMWs of Hickman and Iddon in close pursuit.

The drama started early in the race, with Andrew Irwin colliding with Redding on the second lap, sending them both crashing out of the race. The Honda Racing rider was penalised with two penalty points for contact causing a crash which means, having reached a cumulative five penalty points, he will start from the back of the grid for the next race at Oulton Park.

At the front Bridewell was holding the lead until Brookes made a decisive move at Park corner on lap 12 and then he kept his rival at bay until the chequered flag with Buchan claiming another podium finish. The results mean that Brookes, Bridewell and Redding are now confirmed Title Fighters in the Showdown.

Iddon moved to within 21 points of the Showdown with a fourth place for Tyco BMW, holding off Hickman in the closing stages of the race with Glenn Irwin taking his best result of the season on the second Tyco BMW in sixth.

Ryan Vickers was seventh for the RAF Regular & Reserve Kawasaki team to claim his best result of his rookie season ahead of Luke Stapleford and Xavi Forés with Billy McConnell completing the top 10 on his stand-in appearance for OMG Racing Suzuki.

Jason O’Halloran finished 14th on the McAMS Yamaha in Race 2 and currently sits 10th in the overall standings.

Supersport Sunday Results

Jack Kennedy had a great weekend, claiming the double Supersport win across the Sprint and Feature races, extending his championship lead over Brad Jones and Alastair Seeley.

Supersport Sprint Race

Jack Kennedy continued his imperious form in the 2019 Dickies British Supersport Championship, cruising to victory in the Cadwell Park sprint race. Grabbing the holeshot, Kennedy was able to fight off an early race challenge from the GP2 machine of Kyle Ryde, but a mistake from the Kovara Projects by RS Racing rider made a mistake at the chicane on lap 5, seeing him slip back to third.

Continuing to control the race at the front, Kennedy was able to take the victory by 6.938s ahead of his team mate Brad Jones, who secured second place. Ryde eventually finished third on track, taking another victory in the GP2 class ahead of fellow GP2 rider Mason Law and Alastair Seeley. Charlie Nesbitt finished sixth overall with James Westmoreland, Tom Oliver, Harry Truelove and Lee Johnston completing the top ten.

Supersport Feature Race

Jack Kennedy made it another Dickies British Supersport double at Cadwell Park, dominating the Feature race to lead his team mate over the line. Brad Jones was the fastest off the line, leading the field into the opening corner ahead of Alastair Seeley and Kennedy. Not wasting any time in moving to the front, Kennedy had grabbed the lead by lap two and was able to pull away by 6.6s.

It was a lonely race for Jones in second, who crossed the line ahead of 9s ahead of Mason Law who was the leading GP2 machine, third overall. Completing the Supersport podium was James Westmoreland who crossed the line fourth ahead of Seeley and Harry Truelove. Kyle Ryde finished seventh ahead of fellow GP2 rider Jack Scott.

Superstock 1000 Sunday Results

Richard Cooper collected another victory in 2019 at Cadwell Park, holding off challenges from Taylor Mackenzie and Tom Neave.  It was Cooper who made the best of starts from pole position, leading the way after the opening lap with Mackenzie and Andy Reid chasing down the Championship leader.

On lap four Reid crashed out at the first turn as he chased down Mackenzie and Cooper who were battling it out at the front, handing Tom Neave third place. The safety car was then deployed to recover Andy Reid’s Tyco BMW, bunching the pack back together, meaning it would be a four-lap dash for the win after the car came back in to pit-lane.

But with two laps to go, Cooper pulled a large gap over Mackenzie and Neave, crossing the line with ease to take another victory in 2019. Mackenzie held on for second with Neave taking his first podium of the season at his home track.

Richard Cooper

“The weekend didn’t start brilliantly; I think I only managed a couple of laps in practice before tipping off. But it couldn’t have gone any better after that. Qualifying was busy and it was hard to get a clear lap in, but we still managed to set pole. In the race I felt like I was controlling it at the front. The safety car bunched everything up again, but I had a proper push with a few laps to go and managed to pull a bit of a gap at the front. Winning at Cadwell is always a bit special, and this is the perfect way to bounce back after missing the podium at Thruxton, and it extends our championship lead.”

Tom Neave

“It’s been a long while coming this podium! My last podium was at Knockhill last year and it’s a pretty sweet feeling to be able to do it with Honda at my home round. The cheer from the crowd was amazing when I stepped onto the podium, so it was nice to have the local support. Qualifying in fourth place made my life so much easier and starting the race I didn’t have so many people around me, so I was calm and not flustered. Today’s race was the most relaxed I have felt in a race all year – the Fireblade felt smooth and perfect! Hats off to Paul and my team for all their hard work and making the job right for me! I wanted the race to be the full race distance, but it was reduced to 12 laps, then we had the safety car so that took a few laps away. I feel that if we’d had some more laps I could have challenged for second place. I’d like to say thank you so much to the team, Honda, my sponsors, family and everyone for all their support, it’s a great feeling being back on the podium and I hope to be there again at the next round!”

Levi Day was the top Aussie performance in the Stock 1000 class, inside the top 10, with a ninth place position, and now holds 10th in the standings with 66-points to his name.

Brayden Elliott came home in 20th, while Billy McConnell was absent as he filled in in the Superbike class, and sits 12th in the standings.