A stirring start for Bridewell, ninth in FP2 at home track Donington

On track at historic Donington Park, local hero Tommy makes good progress during Friday’s practices to finish inside the top ten

Superbike Advocates Racing and Tommy Bridewell are at Donington Park for the UK WorldSBK round, a very important home event for the veteran British rider and his Anglo-Australian squad.

Heading into his home round with a positive outlook after a series of strong results at recent rounds, WorldSBK rookie Bridewell used FP1 to make a series of setup adjustments to his Panigale V4R. Taking a methodical approach in order to be best prepared for Saturday’s Superpole, Tommy completed seventeen laps, the best of which in 1’26.737. Placing a temporary twelfth at the end of this first phase, the Brit rider and his team were confident they could do more.

The second of three WorldSBK practices ran later in the day in very hot and humid conditions (air 32°C, track 43°C). Racing in front of many of his fans this weekend, a motivated Tommy soon shaved a good half second off his earlier time, projecting himself into sixth position. Despite a brief interruption to the session following an incident for another rider, Bridewell remained focused and made the most of the track time. His best lap of the afternoon, completed in 1’26.180, saw him round out this second session in ninth position, which translated into P10 in the day’s combined standings.

Superbike Advocates Racing will be back out tomorrow to continue its campaign at home track Donington, lining up for a final free practice before attention turns to the Superpole qualifying and the first of the weekend’s 23-lap races.

Tommy Bridewell #46

“Today was a positive day. FP1 went okay, just a standard first session really, in that it always takes me a while to get going. After that first practice, we could see from the data that we needed to make a change to the electronics to help us with corner entry. So, we made quite a significant modification and that immediately made a big difference. I think if we can make another small change again tomorrow, and if I can improve through sector four, then I think we can be lying somewhere around the top five, which would be fantastic. We’ll keep working this evening and see if we can that extra step we need to be ready for the races.”