Tommy Bridewell took a superb win in the second Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park on Sunday, the Oxford Products Ducati rider destroying the field to bring himself right into title contention.
His lead was more than eight-seconds at one stage before he eased back on the final lap to take the win from Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati) and Bradley Ray (RichEnergy OMG Racing BMW) but there was more drama for the McAMS Yamaha pairing of Jason O’Halloran and Tarran Mackenzie.
O’Halloran crashed out of a lowly eighth place and Mackenzie received a three second penalty for an incident with FS-3 Racing Kawasaki’s Lee Jackson which dropped him from third to fifth but he now leads the championship from his team-mate by just two points.
It was Bridewell who, for once, made the best start and he immediately opened up a gap over the chasing pack which was led by Brookes from Danny Buchan (Synetiq BMW), Mackenzie, Jackson and Glenn Irwin, and the leader’s advantage was an impressive 1.3s going into the second lap. Championship leader O’Halloran was in ninth, the same position he’d started from.
Going into lap three, Bridewell had added another second to his lead due to a stunning lap of 1’34.031 and the running order behind him remained the same, O’Halloran yet to make any kind of impression.
Bridewell was setting a phenomenal pace at the head of a field with a lead of almost three-seconds after just three laps, Brookes still holding onto second from Buchan, Mackenzie, Jackson and Christian Iddon who’d gained two places on the second VisionTrack Ducati.
As the race wore on, there was no let up from Bridewell and he continued to lap seven-tenths of a second quicker than anyone else, Brookes clearly focussing on keeping Buchan at bay rather than closing the gap to his fellow Ducati man.
After six laps, Bridewell led by an astonishing 5.1s but the battle for second was a lot closer although the order remained Brookes, Buchan, Mackenzie, Jackson and Iddon. O’Halloran, who’d gone for the harder SC0 rear tyre, was still stuck in ninth, although he did gain a place when he found a way by Irwin.
However, he was now over a second adrift of seventh placed Ray and it looked to be a damage limitation exercise for the Yamaha-mounted Australian.
At half race distance, Bridewell’s lead was up to 6.5s so most eyes were focused on the six-rider battle for second which Brookes still led although Mackenzie had now overhauled Buchan for third. The BMW man suffered further next time around and dropped to sixth with both Jackson and Iddon overtaking him.
With rain drops falling, Mackenzie was doing his utmost to get up to second and take advantage of O’Halloran’s relatively lowly position and that became even more relevant on lap 12 when the latter crashed for the second time in the weekend, this time at Cascades.
Bridewell’s pace at the head of the field refused to slacken and at two-thirds race distance, his lead was up to an unheard of eight-seconds and, at the same time, the battle for second continued to rage between Brookes, Mackenzie, Jackson, Iddon and Ray.
Jackson dived up the inside of Mackenzie at Shell on lap 14 and Iddon did the same at Druids. However, Mackenzie retaliated at the next corner, Lodge, only to make contact with Iddon, putting the unfortunate Ducati rider into the gravel trap. He rejoined back in 15th.
Brookes then had a huge moment coming out of Old Hall but he continued to hold on to second as the race entered its final two laps, Jackson briefly getting ahead at Shell before immediately running wide.
Drama then followed as the Kawasaki man and Mackenzie went fairing to fairing for a couple of corners, the end result seeing Jackson crash out at Old Hall, the incident coming under immediate investigation and subsequently seeing Mackenzie hit with a three-second penalty.
Out front, Bridewell duly cruised past the chequered flag to take his second win of the day with Brookes taking second from Ray and Peter Hickman, Mackenzie dropping back to fifth as a result of the incident with Jackson.
Buchan, Glenn Irwin, Andrew Irwin, Gino Rea and Rory Skinner completed the top 10 with Iddon salvaging 11th.
