BeerMonster Ducati Aim For More Success At Donington Park
BeerMonster Ducati riders Glenn Irwin and Tommy Bridewell head into the penultimate round of the 2023 Bennetts British Superbike Championship looking to continue their recent domination.
Just half a point separates the pair arriving at Donington Park following a clean sweep of six successive victories at the previous two rounds with Ulsterman Irwin holding the narrowest of advantages over Devizes rider Bridewell with both riders winning eight races each so far this year for the Lake District-based team.
Following an emotional past month having lost team owner Paul Bird and the subsequent tributes at Oulton Park and since then at his well-attended funeral, Paul’s daughter Jordan and son Frank have taken up the mantle of running the team and are now focusing on the quest for an unprecedented ninth BSB title for the PBM team.
The two BeerMonster Ducati riders have a healthy 60-point gap at the top of the table but with enhanced points on offer again in the three races at Donington Park this weekend, which escalate even higher into the three Brands Hatch races two weeks afterwards, both Irwin and Bridewell know they need to be on top of their game once again.
However, earlier in the season, Donington Park was just one of two tracks out of the nine rounds so far where either or both riders didn’t score a victory so they will aim to rectify that at a track both riders traditionally go well at with a combined total of ten podiums between them.
Glenn Irwin: “We will get back to business this weekend after a very emotional few weeks paying our various tributes to Paul. But just like at Oulton, we have work to do and that’s to focus our efforts and continue the job in hand. The journey this season keeps getting better and is something I’m very much enjoying as we chase the championship. I’m looking at the end goal rather than each race and whatever will be will be. We didn’t have the best of luck at Donington earlier in the season, but we were strong and had good pace, so the plan is to keep the recent winning run going.”
Tommy Bridewell: “It’s been an emotional time for everyone in the team as we said our farewells to Paul but now, we need to do him proud by maintaining our challenge for the title. Oulton wasn’t ideal for me but that’s history and all I’m concentrating on is this weekend at Donington. I suffered my one and only technical failure all season when leading there earlier in the season so I’m 100% focused on gaining as many points as I can. The plan is to leave Donington in a stronger position than when I arrived and if I can do that, then it’s game on for the final round at Brands Hatch.”
John Mowatt, Team Co-Ordinator: “It’s fair to say emotions were running very high both on and off the track at Oulton Park which is understandable given the situation with losing Paul and both our riders being so hungry to win. We’ve all had a chat and suffice to say, we are totally united more than ever in our quest to win the BSB title for a ninth time. We didn’t enjoy the best of fortunes at Donington earlier in the year, but we know we have a great chance to continue our unbeaten run and if we can manage that, we will get a little bit closer to achieving our dream.”
Pictures courtesy of Double Red: Glenn Irwin (2) and Tommy Bridewell (46) hope for more good results Donington Park this weekend.
