Author: Chris Ashby

The Bennetts British Superbike Championship in association with Pirelli delivered a double dose of drama-fuelled entertainment at Thruxton today (4 August), as the country’s finest two-wheeled warriors put on a sensational show for an appreciative crowd.

The UK’s premier motorcycling series always draws in the fans, and when Bennetts BSB visits the fastest track in Britain, excitement is guaranteed. Maintaining that trend, the first of the day’s two headlining contests was a non-stop thrill ride from lights-out to chequered flag, as the leading protagonists kept spectators guessing right the way to the very last corner.

Peter Hickman grabbed the early lead from the outside of the front row of the grid as pole-sitter and championship leader Scott Redding initially slipped to sixth, just behind fellow local hero Tommy Bridewell.

Andrew Irwin, Christian Iddon and Jason O’Halloran soon joined Hickman to make it a four-way fight at the front, but behind them, after biding his time in the opening laps, Redding was increasingly turning up the wick and by mid-distance had latched onto their tail. As the Be Wiser Ducati man moved forward, however – dragging team-mate Josh Brookes with him – his Oxford Racing rival Bridewell found himself being shuffled backwards.

In evidence of the superb slipstreaming spectacle – delighting the hordes of fans filling the grandstands and packing the circuit banks – the top nine were blanketed by less than 1.4 seconds with four laps to go, but all eyes were fixed firmly on the very front of the field.

The scrap for supremacy eventually settled down to the quartet of O’Halloran, Irwin, Brookes and Redding, before Irwin survived a wiggle under braking into the chicane to snatch the advantage on lap 18. With the Ducatis hunting as a pack, Redding then set about picking his competitors off one-by-one and looked primed to grab the lead on the final lap, but Irwin proved to be a step too far for the former MotoGP podium-finisher, as a last corner attempt around the outside failed to come off.

Irwin duly took the chequered flag to register his breakthrough Bennetts BSB victory, just two tenths-of-a-second ahead of Redding, with Brookes – the most successful of the current crop at Thruxton – completing the rostrum in third, the Australian coming on increasingly strong as the race progressed. Bridewell wound up a frustrated eighth on home soil.

“This is crazy – it’s so hard to put into words what I’m feeling,” reflected an emotional Irwin, after securing Honda’s first win at Thruxton in seven years. “I really didn’t expect it – I don’t think anybody expected it from me! My first thought after taking the chequered flag was, ‘I’m earning some money for the first time in my life!’ It was said before the weekend that you don’t have to be the fastest rider here to win, but that you do have to be the smartest – well we managed to be both in that race! I’m so happy!”

Race two was a three-part thriller. Brookes and Hickman focussed on making a break early on, pulling more than two-and-a-half seconds clear of the chasing pack before the action was red-flagged on lap nine due to intensifying rain – just as Hickman was looking set to mount an attack.

The Smiths Racing man duly sped into the lead at the re-start, but it didn’t take Brookes long to redress the balance, with earlier winner Irwin next in line while Redding – who had been climbing the order prior to the stoppage – fell to the foot of the top ten. The flying Irwin subsequently moved up to second and closed right onto Brookes’ tail for the lead, with Dan Linfoot posting fastest lap as he scythed through into third. The race was developing into a six-way scrap when it was halted again after Glenn Irwin’s crashed BMW caught fire on the exit of the chicane.

When it resumed, Brookes rapidly checked out as all the fun happened behind, with pretty much everybody else disputing second. ‘Mr. Thruxton’ ultimately took the chequered flag more than four seconds ahead of the enthralling battle for the runner-up spoils, which included multiple passes and even gesticulations at close to 200mph!

Redding crossed the line second, but had 15 seconds added to his finishing time for not completing a long lap penalty issued for cutting the chicane. That dropped the Be Wiser Ducati rider well outside the points, meaning Irwin and Hickman rounded out the rostrum, the pair separated by the narrowest of margins of just 12 thousandths-of-a-second.

“Ordinarily, you need to ride pretty conservatively round here due to tyre wear, but when the race was reduced to 13 laps at the first re-start, I knew I could just go for it and when it was subsequently shortened again at the second re-start, there was no need to worry about the tyres anymore so I gave it everything I had,” explained Brookes. “From that point on, it was game on – and I had a lot of fun!”

In the support series, there were podium celebrations for Stalbridge’s Brad Jones with second place in Dickies British Supersport – repeating his Saturday success – while Puriton’s TJ Toms came within a whisker of taking his first Superstock 600 win of the season after charging from sixth on the grid into the race lead, only missing out by 0.174 seconds following a dazzling duel for glory.

For a full rundown of today’s Bennetts BSB results, click here

Next up during Thruxton’s summer of high-octane entertainment will be the return of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship in just a fortnight’s time (16-18 August). Advance tickets are on sale from £13 for Saturday (qualifying) and £29 for Sunday (race day).

Accompanied children aged 12 and under will be admitted free of charge, and all those purchasing (or who have already purchased) advance race day, advance weekend or advance family tickets will be in with a chance of waving the chequered flag at the end of the first race.

For further information or to buy tickets, visit thruxtonracing.co.uk/racing/btcc-aug or call 01264 882222.

Tommy Bridewell will arrive at his home circuit of Thruxton this weekend (2-4 August) right in the thick of the title battle in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship in association with Pirelli, as the Wiltshireman continues to take the fight to two of the sport’s biggest names for the most prestigious prize in two-wheeled UK motorsport.

In the form of his life, Bridewell has been the master of consistency so far this season, with 12 top five finishes to his credit from 13 starts to-date. That means he heads to Thruxton sitting second in the championship standings, sandwiched between former MotoGP podium-finisher Scott Redding – from just up the road in Gloucester – and 2015 BSB title-winner Josh Brookes.

“The season has started well for us,” acknowledged 30-year-old Bridewell, who hails from nearby Devizes. “We have been really strong and I have had a very good feeling with the new Ducati. We have been to a real mix of circuits and been quick at every one. I am looking forward now to mine and the team’s home round at Thruxton and seeing what we can do. Thruxton is a track I enjoy a lot and I think it will be a good one for us.

“Being my home event, I have a lot of support from fans which is always nice and the goal is to try and get some race wins. We will see what we can do, but we had a good run when we visited earlier in the year for the Motorsport Celebration so we have some solid information to start with. I’m looking forward to the weekend; tyre management is always important at Thruxton so we need to take that into consideration, but I think we should be strong and we want to be fighting for wins.”

Another local in the field will be Danny Kent, who returned to the fray with MV Agusta last time out. The 2015 Moto3 World Champion is hoping for a smooth run to allow him to climb the grid on home soil, on what will be his race debut at the high-speed Hampshire circuit.

“I’m looking forward to the Thruxton race weekend and getting some more laps in,” enthused the Chippenham-born rider. “I’ve only ever done eight laps around the track, but I’m excited to get going – it’s fast-and-flowing, which I normally like and it should suit my style. Hopefully the Bikedevil Insurance MV Agusta will have fewer problems than we experienced first time out and we can complete more laps so I can learn the best way to ride a Superbike.”

The spectacle of almost 30 Superbikes going wheel-to-wheel and fairing-to-fairing around the country’s quickest circuit – tackling Thruxton’s legendary curves and slipstreaming one another at speeds approaching 200mph – is always an awe-inspiring sight. Success here is a delicate balancing act, requiring supreme skill, maximum commitment, absolute focus, inch-perfect precision, razor-sharp reactions and nerves of steel – to say nothing of a willingness to push the limits without overstepping them.

Underscoring Bennetts BSB’s international appeal, alongside the UK’s fastest and most fearless riders are a cluster of stars from further afield, including Australia’s Brookes – six times a winner here in the past five years – and Spain’s Héctor Barberá, a man with 139 MotoGP starts to his name.

Local interest, meanwhile, is enhanced by the presence of Bridewell’s Oxford Racing Ducati team (Winchester), Salisbury-based Gearlink Kawasaki and south coast outfit Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki (Bournemouth) – while a jam-packed schedule of scintillating support series will ensure the action remains red-hot from the moment the first lights go out to the final chequered flag.

Friday (free practice) and Saturday (qualifying and support races) tickets can be purchased on the gate for £5 and £17 respectively, while advance Sunday (main race day) tickets are still available from £29 until 1pm on Wednesday, 31 July. After that, they will be on sale on the gate from £34. Accompanied children aged 12 and under will be admitted free of charge.

All those purchasing (or who have already purchased) advance race day, advance weekend or advance family tickets will be automatically entered into a free prize draw to win a unique and exclusive pillion ride around the track on race day. Terms and conditions apply.

For further information or to buy tickets, visit thruxtonracing.co.uk/racing/bsb or call 01264 882222.

For more information on Thruxton’s race meetings and driving experiences, visit www.thruxtonracing.co.uk