New winners at Cadwell Park BSB
Bridewell and Hickman break through for victories | Brookes fails to start race two after warm up lap crash
Tommy Bridewell and Peter Hickman both celebrated an emotional debut race victory in the eighth round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Cadwell Park as Shane Byrne claimed a pair of second place finishes to add to his Podium Points tally ahead of the Showdown.
Byrne had initially led the opening race but Bridewell was closing in on him after Ryuichi Kiyonari had been forced to retire from second place with a technical problem to his Buildbase BMW.
Bridewell was determined aboard his Milwaukee Yamaha and moved ahead of Byrne’s Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki as they crossed the line after ten laps. Byrne was ahead moments later as the red flags came out as rain began to fall. The result was declared at ten laps, with Bridewell the winner by just 0.005s, in his 138th race in the series.
The rider from Devizes dedicated the victory to his brother Ollie who had died in a racing accident seven years earlier. Bridewell said: “I am feeling so emotional about this victory and this one is for my brother Ollie. It is fantastic for me to get this first win because I have been trying so hard to push throughout my career with so much effort going into it.”
Byrne was second ahead of Lloyds British GBmoto Kawasaki’s Chris Walker who is pushing to score a position in the Showdown with Josh Brookes, who had earlier crashed his Milwaukee Yamaha in the wet practice session, in fourth.
Hickman who finished sixth in the opener on the RAF Reserves Honda, relished the wet conditions of the second race. He grabbed the lead on the opening lap from Byrne and then began to edge out the triple title-winner. The local contender from nearby Louth, had been drafted into the team in mid-season to replace Simon Andrews who lost his life at the North West 200 event earlier in the year.
Hickman said: “It feels unbelievable to win and what a place to do it than at home! We are only a small team so to think of a podium finish is great, but to actually do it is unreal. I had nothing at the start of the season and it was such an unfortunate way to come into the races, so this win is certainly for Simon.”
Two title contenders had troubles. Kiyonari crashed out of third place unhurt, while Brookes crashed out on the warm up lap and was unable to complete the race.
Brookes said: “I am not dwelling on today too much. It is a bit like yesterday in qualifying, we had some bad luck, but you know what’s done is done and there is no use thinking too much about it as you can’t go back in time and fix it. What annoyed me the most about today was race one because I rode as hard as anyone else to get as high up as I could and I don’t get anything to show for it as I am already in the Showdown.
“Race two was completely wet and the conditions were known, but the setup we had just wasn’t competitive enough and I crashed on the warm up lap, so that shows that something was wrong. To explain myself, I know there is the rule that you can’t restart after a crash, but because it was a warm up lap I thought I would pull up on the grid and see if the rule applied at that point. I thought it was no good rolling into the pits and then have a moment when the team yell at me saying what you are doing when you could have lined up on the grid or something. I knew if I wasn’t meant to be there I would be told and then I was black flagged. I hadn’t felt confident so that’s the weekend over, I have forgotten about it and now we get back on to the next one.”
Shane Byrne now enjoys a significant 96-point advantage over Brookes who in turn has 55-points on third place Kiyonari.
Cadwell Park round winner Tommy Bridewell locked himself into the showdown top six with his Cadwell Park success pushing him up to fourth place in the standings ahead of Dan Linfoot and Chris Walker.
Bridewell said: “It is fantastic for me to get this first win. I have been trying so hard to push throughout my career with so much effort going into it and you have good and bad days and this is one of the good ones. I am feeling emotional about this victory and I want to dedicate it to my brother Ollie.
“If someone would have told me before this weekend that I would have had a win and a third place I would have bitten their arm off for it. That second race was a hard one because it was really wet and you were finding the grip but the crowd has been amazing. I got my first win and now we have got our place in the Showdown confirmed we can chill out a little bit ready for Donington. It had been a bit stressful to get that boxed off but tonight I am going to put my feet up and relax with a cup of tea!”
In seventh place, just outside the showdown top-six, is Stuart Easton in seventh ahead of James Ellison in eighth.
Josh Waters’ improving form saw him pass Tyco Suzuki teammate John Hopkins to move into ninth place in the standings, four-points ahead of the American.
Josh Waters: “I was happy again to improve throughout the weekend at Cadwell. To qualify on the second row and then to finish in the top five in both races was really good for me. Cadwell Park is a very unique circuit, so again I was happy to be competitive. Big thanks to my crew and team Tyco Suzuki. Now I’ll rest up and recover after my get off and look ahead to Donington Park.”
Race one:
- Tommy Bridewell (Milwaukee Yamaha)
- Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) +0.005s
- Chris Walker (Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki) +1.231s
- Josh Brookes (Milwaukee Yamaha) +1.339s
- Josh Waters (Tyco Suzuki) +1.782s
- Peter Hickman (RAF Reserves Honda) +2.397s
Race two:
- Peter Hickman (RAF Reserves Honda)
- Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) +3.398s
- Tommy Bridewell (Milwaukee Yamaha) +12.886s
- Gary Mason (Tsingtao Kawasaki) +18.282s
- Josh Waters (Tyco Suzuki) +24.701s
- Jon Kirkham (Halsall Biker Gear Kawasaki) +28.781s
Championship standings:
- Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) 353
- Josh Brookes (Milwaukee Yamaha) 257
- Ryuichi Kiyonari (Buildbase BMW) 202
- Tommy Bridewell (Milwaukee Yamaha) 183
- Dan Linfoot (Quattro Plant Kawasaki) 170
- Chris Walker (Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki) 160
Supersport
Billy McConnell regained a narrow series lead in the first Supersport sprint race and eked out a few more points over Smiths Triumph teammate Graeme Gowland in race two with a second place as Glenn Irwin takes the race win. McConnell wins the round however and now enjoys a 12-point advantage over Gowland.
Glenn Irwin – “I’m really pleased with how the weekend has gone here at Cadwell Park and to leave with a fourth and a win is brilliant. The Gearlink Kawasaki team once again gave me a great bike and we had good pace right from the start. The first race was tough as I had to work hard to get through the pack but I eventually managed to take fourth. I knew when I saw the conditions on Monday that it would be good and I had a good feeling as I know the bike handles really well in these conditions. I got a great start and pushed hard to get away and I knew my pace was good, I got to the front and settled into a really good pace. I felt so comfortable out there and wanted to keep pushing hard, the conditions were really bad in certain parts of the circuit so I had to ensure I kept my concentration. I would like to thank everyone that has got behind me especially in the last week and hope we can take this form to Donington.”
Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship
Danny Buchan made it six victories in a row as he headed off Honda Racing’s Jason O’Halloran to take the victory. Riding the Tsingtao WK Kawasaki, Buchan had taken the lead early on the opening lap and was running 4.743secs clear of the Aussie with local hero Lee Jackson completing the podium. David Johnson finished 11th on the Morello Kawasaki.
Buchan now enjoys an impressive 48-point lead at the top of the standings ahead of Jason O’Halloran, who himself has a handy gap over third placed Lee Jackson. David Johnson is currently seventh in the points standings.
Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship
Andy Reid powered in his fourth victory of the season on the FFX Yamaha ahead of Joe Collier and Nick Anderson to close within12 points of series-leading Kyle Ryde who finished fifth. Mason Law who had led for several lap midway through the race high-sided out at Mountain Top.
Benjamin Currie was 13th while Levi Day could only manage 19th at Cadwell Park.
Ryde leads Redi by 12-points in the series standings while Joe Collier holds down third. Levi Day is currently 11th on points.
