Kennedy is back to winning ways in Supersport as Bridewell extends his championship lead
After a hot and sweltering day of racing at Thruxton for round seven of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Tommy Bridewell extends his lead at the top of the series standings whilst Jack Kennedy pulls off a stunning last lap move to seal win number six of the year.
The first BSB race of the day was a frantic affair as an already short twelve-lap sprint, became a ten-lap dash to the finish as a result of a red flagged incident. So as the grid assembled for the second running of the race, Tommy and Andrew both had work to do from fourteenth and sixteenth on the grid. With the softer SC0 tyres shod to their Fireblades, both riders knew that quick progress was needed in order to score solid points. Following a brief safety car period on lap two to four, Tommy quickly set about climbing up the field to finish in seventh come the flag, a solid seven positions higher than his qualifying position. Andrew Irwin meanwhile, having had a high-speed crash the day before, was struggling to gain the same feeling from his newly built Fireblade. He finished inside the points in fourteenth.
In the second superbike race of the day, the longer twenty-lap feature race, Tommy made a promising start from the front row of the grid to lead in the early laps. However, an unfortunate problem with his quickshifter caused his bike to unexpectedly slow and he was hit from behind in the final chicane. Managing to stay on the bike Tommy dropped down to eleventh place and had to fight hard to progress back through the field. Needless to say, he dug deep and climbed all the way back through the midfield to finish sixth at the flag. With this result, he extends his championship lead at the top of the standings to twenty five points. Andrew Irwin ran as high as eighth position towards the latter end of the race, only to make a mistake and run on losing time and several postions. He fought back valiantly however and crossed the line in ninth to score more valuable points.
In the sole supersport race of the day, Jack Kennedy delivered a masterful performance to stalk his title rival Luke Stapleford for all of the race before pulling off a sensational move into the final chicane on the last lap to seal an impressive victory, his sixth of the year. In doing so, he now has a championship lead of four points. Dean Harrison just missed out on his target of a top-six finish as an in-race penalty for running on at the chicane meant that despite crossing the line sixth on the road, he dropped to seventh in the classification. Nonetheless, a return to the fight towards the front of the field as he carries out some in-season development work sees him head to Cadwell in a buoyant mood.
The team will next be in action at round eight of the championship, which takes place at the team’s home round, Cadwell Park, 24th - 26th August.
#1 Tommy Bridewell
I am satisfied with the weekend as a whole in truth. I came into Thruxton with no expectations as I didn't know if I would come here and win all three races or come here and be up against it. The feeling in FP1 wasn't amazing but the good thing is that we made inroads with the setup that I think will help, not just for here but for the rest of the year too. We tried something with the geometry which turned out to be helpful for me and unlocked some potential. This is the good thing about working as part of a team because Andrew has likely learnt things from me and this weekend I have learnt some things from his setup, which is great for the team. The sprint race just didn’t play into our hands, I had a mega start in the first running as I made such a good start and got away with the guys near the front and I was on for a strong result. Then the red flag came out and we had a ten-lap race, which was then disrupted with the safety car for two laps too. So to try and make progress with not alot of laps is tough, super tough. Seventh was ok to be fair, but I think there was potential for more. In the last race, we had a quickshift problem which made me instantly think that I was out of the race, so for me to salvage sixth is a solid result to be fair. I came into this weekend with a nineteen point championship lead and now I have a twenty five point lead to Kyle and we are forty seven points ahead of Glenn. For me, I can’t be disappointed.Race 2 - 7th Race 3 - 6th
#18 Andrew Irwin
It is another weekend where I feel like I had the speed again, we showed that today and yesterday before the fast crash. This morning's race was obviously difficult, getting back up to speed and using a new bike with the same settings just didn’t quite feel the same. In the last race I was riding well and making my way through the pack before I made a mistake, ran wide and lost four seconds. I ended up ninth but feel like we could have come through to sixth without the mistake. In the end I felt good and felt like we had more late in the race. The result is not what I want, or what the team wants, but for me it is about the speed and for sure the speed is there. I had some fight in me again and I have to remember that I’ve come back from a fast crash yesterday to be inside the top ten showing good pace.Race 2 - 14th Race 3 -9th
#4 Jack Kennedy
I tried to deliver a perfect race there because the truth is if you can be inch perfect then the results will come. I knew Luke probably wanted to follow me but it ended up the other way around. We both pulled a big gap to the guys behind which was perfect for me. The pace he was setting was so fast and it was hard for me to hang on to the back of him for the whole race. I was trying to make sure that I was in the slipstream because he could gap me with the extra torque in so many places. I have no idea how we managed to sustain such a strong pace for the whole race in this heat. I tried to tee up the move for the whole race but I just didn’t know how it was going to come off. In the end, I just went for it on the last lap and it all came off. I’m delighted to take the win, take the championship lead and head on to the next round at Cadwell Park where I think the Honda will be even stronger.Race 2 - 1st
#5 Dean Harrison
I think it’s been a good weekend all things considered, to jump on a 600 mid-season and come away with a decent result in a competitive class. The target was a top six, so to finish sixth on the road but seventh in the result due to the penalty isn’t far away from what we wanted. I passed someone into the chicane but I just wasn’t going to make the corner so I sat up and went straight on through the chicane. I let him come pack past so as not to gain an advantage but I didn’t lose enough time so got the penalty. I’m happy with the weekend and I’m looking forward to having another go at Cadwell.Race 2 - 7th
Bennetts British Superbike Championship 2024
Thruxton, Race 3
Bennetts British Superbike Championship 2024
Thruxton, Race 2
