Rich Energy Ducati’s David Shoubridge started the season in fantastic style dominating the opening round of the Ducati TriOptions Cup with a double win.

After being fastest throughout free practice and qualifying, Shoubridge led from start to finish and was never challenged when the the race ended abruptly on lap thirteen. Connor Rossi Thomson (Thompson Haulage/CRT Race Team) crashed out with a water leak bringing out the red flag. Second place went to series debutant and BSB regular Tom Tunstall (Motorcycle Race Parts), who finished 4.8 seconds adrift of Shoubridge.

Race one’s main fight was for the final podium place between Matt Jones (Dragon Racing), Max Lofthouse (JDF Racing) and Adon Davie (JDF Racing). Lofthouse looked secure in third, but some consistently fast laps saw Jones take it at the flag. Fourth place eventually went to Lofthouse with Davie fifth and Michael Tustin (AH Performance/Breckland Utility Solution) in a lonely sixth place.

Race two played out in completely different style, however, with two red flags curtailing the action.

Pole-sitter once again, Shoubridge launched from the initial start and soon began to pull away before the red flag came out on lap seven. The riders lined up for the restart and this time it was Lofthouse who got off to a flyer, leading for three of the six lap sprint race.

With Shoubridge hot on his heels, the lead swapped on lap four as the Rich Energy rider pulled out a healthy lead to the chequered flag. Although Lofthouse came over the line in second, he was later disqualified due to a tyre infringement promoting Tunstall, with another series rookie Mark Bridger (Moto46) grabbing a podium in his debut BSB weekend.

Tustin improved on his race one performance to take fourth with Jones in fifth. An impressive result for Paul Gallington (TRU7 Racing), a series newcomer grabbing sixth position and Ducati TriOptions Cup veteran Peter Hasler grabbed tenth to finish with two top ten finishes.

"A very long-awaited win,” Shoubridge said of his opening victory. “We've not had a race win since 2019 at Cadwell, despite being at the front for the last couple of years, so this win was very much needed to keep the momentum going, so it was a golden start to the new season. We look forward to keeping the form and grabbing as many wins as we can this season.

It's nice to have a couple of guys come up from BEMSEE, Glenn Walsh and Phil Baker. When they get to grips with the Ducati, they'll be up there so it'll be interesting to see their journey.
It was so nice to be back in the Ducati Tri-Options Cup for another year dicing with our friends."

"What a race! Where do I start?” He continued on Sunday’s action. “I wanted to get my head down at the start of the race and pulled out a bit of a lead. I wanted to try and test myself to get a quicker lap time but after a couple of laps I had a nice gap to second place, so I didn't want or need to push on. Then the red flag came out and what a restart!

“A six-lap dash, I made it hard for myself running too deep in to Brooklands, not intentional on the first lap and it was great to see Max take the lead. It gave me a chance to use my race craft and think about where I was stronger. He took the fight to me and made it difficult to pass him.

“I loved every minute of it and well chuffed to come away with the double on the Rich Energy Ducati. It was also good as my secondary sponsor Expell was there to see it too. Let's take it on to the next round and see what we can do."