Oxford Racing Ducati’s Tommy Bridewell ended his 2019 Bennetts British Superbike season in third place, took three podiums at Brands Hatch and was made to work hard in the final clash by Josh Brookes.

Bridewell and Brookes had pulled away from eventual champion Scott Redding, who only had to finish fifth to claim the title, and it was a two-horse race for the final win of the season.

“It was a great race, I really enjoyed it but it was hard, I have to be honest, I was blowing out my ass for many laps,” said Bridewell, speaking at the track.

“The bike was phenomenal. When Josh was out in front, I sat there, watching my pitboard, and I could we were gone, trounced them. It felt hard but comfortable.

I was hoping Josh might make a mistake but when he would make a mistake, I was never in a position to capitalise on it. Then, with three laps to go, I had to start looking to force a pass.

“Every time I make a pass I try to make it clean, I don’t want to make a pass and then not stop for the corner. It’s something I need to work on as sometimes you can run wide and hold the position.

“Then if I was absolutely on his back wheel at Hawthorn or up through Stirlings, that was where I was going to make a lunge.

“I could see that Scott was third so the championship was done but I didn’t want to make any rash moves. I was set to make a pass but luckily for Josh the yellow flag was out - but he covered my line, bit naughty, but the sort of thing I would do.”