Tommy Bridewell has admitted his relief at leaving Knockhill with a fifth, a third and decent haul of points after fearing a tough weekend in Scotland.

And although he may have dropped to second in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship standings this afternoon, the Oxford Racing Ducati man is just four points behind new leader Scott Redding and says his race two podium was a shock.

“Honestly, I’m over the moon, not even remotely did I think after Friday and Saturday that we’d manage this,” he said. “I really, really struggled this weekend to get feeling from the bike. It hasn’t really felt comfortable, it’s been really, really hard work. 

“The first four rounds have been nice and fluid,  but this weekend I’ve had to really dig and ride a lot out of my comfort zone which I didn’t really want to do but we managed to blag it somehow.

“I don’t know how, but to be fair, credit to the Oxford Racing Ducati team because they were permanently studying the data and in every session we made the bike better to allow me to go faster.”

Bridewell says he knew this weekend wasn’t going to be a walk in the park, but is feeling much happier as he begins the long trek home to Devizes this evening, safe in the knowledge he hasn’t given away too many points.

“The races were always going to be hard, I didn’t think I had the pace to run with these guys so I was surprised to be a strong as I was. This weekend was a bit of damage limitation for me.

“I just genuinely have not felt comfortable on the bike all weekend. I’ve really struggled to get my head around the circuit, the bumps, the barriers, everything.

“If I’m 100% honest, it’s days like today coming away with a fifth and a third that will put me in stead to hopefully win the championship. That’s the goal and that’s the target.”