Scott Redding silenced his critics as he stormed to his very first Bennetts British Superbike race win with almost a second to spare.
Be Wiser Ducati’s lone finishing rider dropped off the front pack at the start, but battled back to the front with a few laps to go as he beat joint championship leader Tarran Mackenzie to the line by 0.824s.
Pole-sitter Josh Brookes got the strongest start, but behind him team-mate Redding fell to fourth as O’Halloran and Mackenzie slotted into second.
But by the end of the first lap, Bridewell out-braked Redding at Roberts to move into fourth before making the same pass on Mackenzie a lap later to take third.
And the Devizes rider wasn’t done there as he ignored O’Halloran’s dangling leg and once again stuck a pass at Roberts to take second from the Aussie.
Meanwhile, Honda Racing’s Xavi Fores moved through into fifth as Redding dropped another place, into the sights of OMG Suzuki’s Mossey.
Back at the front, Bridewell hit the lead as he found a way through on Brookes on lap five while Mackenzie moved ahead of team-mate O’Halloran to slot into third before laying a pass on Brookes at Redgate to move into second.
But Brookes’ hopes of continuing his win streak were put to an end at the start of lap eight as the Aussie was thrown over his Be Wiser Ducati when the rear came around on the exit of Roberts.
In the battle for the lead, Mackenzie had sneaked through on Bridewell, but Bridewell powered back past on the Starkey’s Straight as the duo began to break away from the pack.
Two seconds further back in the battle for the final podium spot, Redding got the better of Fores as the race crossed its half-way point and the former MotoGP man then put the hammer down to close the gap to the front-runners and join the winning battle.
Mackenzie and Bridewell’s scrap at the front allowed Redding to nip at their heels and get a sniff of victory as he followed Bridewell through past the diminutive Scotsman with five laps to go.
It was just another lap before Redding passed Bridewell at Redgate to lead his very first BSB race and while he eked out a small lead over Mackenzie, Fores stuck a pass on Bridewell to take over third.
But it was elation for PBM’s surviving Ducati as Redding secured his maiden British win and his first victory since the 2013 Moto2 Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Mackenzie took a lone runner-up finish while Fores held off Bridewell to snatch the final rostrum spot.
Aussie O’Halloran bagged fifth ahead of stand-in Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Hector Barbera and the Tyco BMWs of Christian Iddon and Keith Farmer.
Glenn Irwin and Smith’s BMW man Peter Hickman rounded out the top 10.
