Tommy Bridewell broke the Honda Racing winning streak in the third round at Donington Park and the Oxford Products Racing Ducati rider is confident that he can carry the momentum into the races at Snetterton this weekend.
The weekend at Donington Park didn’t get off to the best of starts for Bridewell by his own admission, but after some drastic changes to the Ducati during the weekend, round three marked a complete turnaround from free practice.
“I think we could have done with some more testing if I am honest before Donington Park, as we condensed everything into a really busy weekend,” said Bridewell. “You always hope that, we were strong last year, we have a similar bike, so you turn up and think right, yes that gearing, that setting, boom off you go and you’re fast.
“But it couldn’t have been any further from the opposite. What we ended up with on the bike compared to last year, was so different. It was good because we gained a lot of information and the team turned it around from the test, to a really hard free practice and qualifying to the final race. We made some drastic changes in warm up, which was a bit of an experiment, which luckily saved the day as we managed to iron out a lot of the problems. We didn’t know if it had solved everything, but I felt good on the bike.”
The opening three races came thick and fast at Donington Park but Bridewell believes that it could have been more than one victory in the bag at the season opener if it hadn’t been for such a hectic start to Sunday’s round two.
“I started on Sunday a little bit steady, trying to find my feet,” reflected Bridewell. “I got tangled with Jason putting me up on the kerb and that dropped me back and then I got caught up with Héctor, and I lost quite a bit of time, so a mixed bag really. I felt good, had good pace, but was back in like tenth and then all of a sudden I made some good passes and made a bit of a charge and then was fighting for the win. I am not putting the blame on anyone, it was my mistake in that race.
“I wanted to make my passes clean and early, but Glenn was on line and Andrew swopped back onto the racing line. I am not putting the blame on him, but it lured me into braking where I normally brake, but when I am in a battle like that you don’t always brake so late for the tolerance of others. I went through the gravel and lost the time. I didn’t panic but Josh, Taz and Christian came by and I had two laps to try and pass them. I think where I went into the gravel it knocked something out of line as I went down Craner and I was just hanging onto it. It was a bit of a shame but it made the last race even more amazing.”
Bridewell was determined to stay out of trouble in the final race at Donington Park, and he did just that. Getting the jump from pole position, he led from the start to the chequered flag and edged out an advantage over the rest of the field.
“We made some changes before the final race. My pace in race two was similar to race three, but I was in a dogfight and I couldn’t put it into practice,” added Bridewell. “In the last one I knew what I could get away with. In race two I wasn’t sure about the tyres and with four or five laps to go the tyre was still brilliant and we were running a slightly slower pace. I hadn’t initially intended to set that pace in race three, because race two wasn’t as fast, but I thought I would give it a go and save a bit of tyre, and I saw on my board that I had a lead after the first lap!
“It was risky as I had the debate of sticking to the faster pace because I felt fine, but would it catch me out at the end of the race with the tyre. I wanted to take the gamble and stay out of trouble so that is what I did; I just did it and then I had a good gap and I thought even if I did drop some time a lap I would be relatively able to do it by the skin of my teeth. It sounds bad, and I shouldn’t say it, but it was easy. I am not saying I was riding around one handed, but I could ride my own lines, wide and swooping and let the bike do the work, when I was on my own and not in a battle.
“It was nice to win in the way I did and on reflection watching back, it was nice to see my main competitors, i.e Josh, Andrew and Glenn, were not buried mid pack which allowed me to escape. So when I watch it back the 4.4s lead was pulled on my main competitors so that was nice, I must be honest. It was good for my confidence; I did it fair and square.”
The much talked about season opener was filled with drama, but Bridewell refuses to be intimidated ahead of the next three rounds of the championship this weekend and the Oxford Products Racing Ducati rider is now feeling confident ahead of Snetterton, knowing that Ducati riders locked out five of the six podium places at the Norfolk circuit in 2019.
“It is tricky to say if Donington was more hectic than usual,” Bridewell added. “Silverstone last year was carnage and I remember thinking at the time, ‘what is going on here, this is ridiculous’. It was similar at Donington but I think it might be closer this year and the racing at Donington is what you will see through the course of this year.
“In some aspects Ducati dominated last year with the top three positions in the championship, but the Hondas have come out of the blocks very quick and looks like they are a very close competitor for Ducati. But you can also argue that the old Honda was very quick at Donington, so I do keep one eye on it, but I am not too concerned. I feel like riders’ form and bikes do fluctuate through the year, where me and the team keep a nice consistent pace throughout the year and I think that’s what wins championships.
“If you look at Scott last year, if he had to take a fifth, that’s what he had to do, as it all adds up and that is why I was a bit disappointed with race two at Donington because I do feel I had the pace to win the race, and potentially that could have been a double win.
“The harder part of it would have been the way the Irwins were riding, to have been making a pass stick and making it fair. My problem is I can get kind of lured into going ballistic and that is a genuine thing, because if they play those sort of games with me it won’t end well for them. But then I would be in the position Andrew was in, and two wrongs don’t make a right.
“I am not remotely intimidated by the comments they make or the way they ride. I am one hundred percent up for barging fairings than what they want. They don’t want to pick a fight with me. I wasn’t concerned, but I do feel there was a slight element of desperation in their riding. The thing with Jason I couldn’t completely grumble, it wasn’t real dirty and he wasn’t trying to wipe me out on the next corner, where it seemed to me that Andrew was always desperate to follow Glenn. Andrew was so desperate to hang onto Glenn that he made that pass on Josh and wiped him out.”
Bridewell arrives in Norfolk with one win already in the bag and third place in the standings ahead of Snetterton and ready to close in on the Hondas in the standings.
“It was nice to get a win early in the season I must say, rather than waiting until we are a few rounds in,” reflected Bridewell. “It is nice to get almost that monkey off my back as I said it before, last year I didn’t win enough races, and I needed to approach my riding slightly differently, which I have but it is never easy racing the same bike. So when I was racing Josh and Christian in race two, it was so difficult as we were weak in the same places and also strong in the same places. So it was nice to get the pass done and pull away from them.
“At the end of the day we came away from Donington Park and took the positives, with a mixed bag of points but the ultimate icing on the cake was getting the win we did and at this early stage of the season.”
Bridewell admits that he was impressed with the tyre longevity at the opening round, something that has caught him out in the closing stages of a race previously, and that was also a big confidence boost in his winning performance as Ducati bid to continue their winning performance.
“Snetterton we will be strong one hundred percent,” said a determined Bridewell. “The bottom line is the two races last year, alright I crashed out of the lead, but the Ducati was the dominant bike. Oddly, it isn’t all about the Hondas and the Irwins; Jason’s lap times were strong during the weekend but he couldn’t seem to do it in the race. Why that is, I don’t know, and Tarran was strong at Snetterton last year, so the Yamahas should be good but the Ducati strength isn’t just down to straight line speed. Yes it is fast, but we found something at Donington Park that allowed me to do 26 laps on lap record pace and not struggle with tyre life, so for me that is so important.
“You can’t imagine how many years I have struggled at the end of race; but at Donington we made some changes which transformed the bike and I didn’t have one tyre life issue. Not even a remote concern because everyone thought when I set off at that pace in race three I would get caught out at the end, but I was still doing the times if I wanted. Which bodes well as Snetterton can be quite hard on tyres, so if it translates from one track to the other, which we are confident it will, then it will bode well for that.”
The Honda Racing pairing currently hold the top two positions in the standings, but Bridewell is more than ready to take on the opposition this weekend.
“Honda have been notoriously strong at Snetterton; as a rider you do analyse your competitors and where they are stronger,” Bridewell said. “The Honda isn’t a bad package; for me it looks good on tyres and they can brake really late on it and make the corner - they stop and drive out. We will see, hopefully Andrew will be riding with a bit more respect, I guess is the wording, because that could have so easily go wrong. You need to think about it, because if you put someone in hospital by doing something like that, even though we are all out racing motorbikes, it isn’t good. We shall see where our competitors are but I know we will be strong at Snetterton. It is then knowing where our challengers will be.”