Victory For Irwin As Bridewell On Silverstone Podium Again
The BeerMonster Ducati team’s superb start to the 2023 Bennetts British Superbike Championship continued at Silverstone today with Glenn Irwin giving Paul Bird’s team their first win of the campaign in the final race, which followed on from his third place earlier in the day.
Teammate Tommy Bridewell added to the celebrations with second and third place finishes in the two races to add to his podium of yesterday meaning the duo now sit in second and third overall in the early season standings.
Lap times from the previous day’s race meant the duo started the first 30-lap race from second and seventh respectively but whilst Tommy consolidated second on the opening lap, Glenn dropped back to 12th which gave him plenty of work to do. At the head of the field, it soon developed into a similar situation to yesterday’s race and for much of the race, Tommy ran in second place whilst Glenn continued to work his way forward and by half race distance, he was up to fifth.
With five laps to go, Tommy was still running in second but right in the wheel tracks of race leader Josh Brookes and Glenn had moved into third. However, everyone was denied a grandstand finish when the red flag came out due to an incident with three laps to go but, nevertheless, it gave the Penrith-based team their first double podium of the season, and first since 2021.
Temperatures were a bit cooler later in the day and Bridewell had more work to do this time as he started from ninth on the grid which was where he remained for the early laps. Glenn, however, slotted into sixth and by one third race distance, he was beginning to look threatening. The Ulsterman continually moved forward and after taking second place on lap 15, he hit the front for the first time three laps later. From there, he was never headed and although it remained close, he duly took his first win of the season.
Bridewell, meanwhile, found it hard to gain places initially and was still in eighth place at half race distance but from there on in, he was able to make passes stick although it wasn’t until there were three laps remaining that he moved into the top three. He didn’t quite have enough to overhaul Brookes but finished in a strong third to make it three podiums from the first three races of the season.
Tommy Bridewell:
“First and foremost, it’s been a great start to the season and to get three podiums for the team first time out, and at one of my bogey circuits, is full credit to them. I got caught up with Kyle Ryde in the first race and the Yamahas have always been good in the last sector which enabled him to continually make a move at turn one. I had to keep coming back on him as I could see Josh had opened a slight gap. With four to five laps to go, I knew it was time to go but whilst it would have been tough to get by him, the red flag brought the race to an early end. The final race was tough due to starting from ninth and I perhaps underestimated how hard it was going to be, but I got up to third, so it’s been a great start to my time at BeerMonster Ducati.”
Glenn Irwin: “Things didn’t go to plan at the start of either race today with distinctly average starts, especially in the first race, and I gave myself a lot of work to do but the boys worked hard to give me a great package and I was able to come through. We were able to look at Tommy’s settings from yesterday and translated some of that onto our bike but both races were tough as it was hard to manage the tyre whilst trying to make as many passes as what I did. It was a bit cooler in the final race and there wasn’t much tyre left at the end, but we were all in the same boat, so I got the job done. We know there are still areas where we can improve and there’s plenty for us to learn with the F23 BeerMonster Ducati, but it’s been a great start so full credit to the team and also to Tommy.”
Johnny Mowatt, Team Co-ordinator: “There’s a massive sense of relief to get round one under our belts and out the way! We were looking a bit thin on the ground three to four weeks ago, but both riders stayed positive and rode way above our expectations so to come away with a win and four podiums with the F23 Ducati V4R for our new sponsors BeerMonster is simply superb. It’s been a fantastic effort by every single member of the team and whilst we know there’ll be challenges ahead, this gives us a tremendous platform to build on.”
Bennetts British Superbike Championship race two (27 laps)
1 Josh Brookes (BMW)
2 Tommy Bridewell (BeerMonster Ducati)
3 Glenn Irwin (BeerMonster Ducati)
4 Kyle Ryde (Yamaha)
5 Jason O’Halloran (Yamaha)
6 Leon Haslam (BMW)
Bennetts British Superbike Championship race three (30 laps)
1 Glenn Irwin (BeerMonster Ducati)
2 Josh Brookes (BMW)
3 Tommy Bridewell (BeerMonster Ducati)
4 Jason O’Halloran (Yamaha)
5 Danny Kent (Honda)
6 Leon Haslam (BMW)
Championship points (after three races)
1 Brookes 48
2 Bridewell 46
3 Irwin 43
4 Ryde 39
5 O’Halloran 35
6 Haslam 30
Images courtesy of Double Red: Glenn Irwin (2) and Tommy Bridewell (46) in action at Silverstone.
