The team here at Shield Batteries group were all cheering Tommy Bridewell and the Oxford Products Ducati team on last weekend at Thruxton. It was a hot one and the guys worked their socks off; here’s the full race report – next stop Cadwell Park.
The Oxford Products Ducati Racing Team had done their homework going into Thruxton Circuit this weekend as the track has not been favourable to them in the past. However, the team and Tommy Bridewell worked exceptionally hard to secure some positive results with two tenths and a seventh place. He is a Showdown contender currently sitting eighth place in the Championship standings.
With the extraordinary heat this weekend and track temperature at 40 degrees it was always going to be important to find a good setting on the Ducati that worked well with the tyre from Pirelli. The team worked hard on Friday to quickly find something that worked at Thruxton that could complete the race distance, which secured Tommy a spot in the Superpicks 12 qualifying session.
Qualifying proved tougher than expected and the team were working towards a race setting as opposed to a one lap setting and Tommy had to start race one from 15th. He got a steady start but soon found a good rhythm and started to work his way up through the pack, his lap times got stronger, and he was able to finish in 10th.
Up a place on the grid for race two to 14th, he lost a couple of places off the start but once again soon settled down and conserved his tyres well to make moves through the pack, another tenth place and some more solid Championship points.
Starting 22nd for race three was tough. This was a big ask for Tommy and the team and they really had their work cut out. A flying start saw him gain several positions on the opening few laps, he had fantastic pace and really found his feet having one of his best rides of the season. Tommy gave everything he had to come through and finish in an amazing seventh place.
Tommy Bridewell – “All-in-all it was a good strong weekend. My riding style is not completely suited to Thruxton, so for me it was a big learning curve, we learnt a lot about how we can conserve tyres and like I say my riding style improved all weekend.
Thruxton for me and the team is always about consolidating as many points as we can so to get two tenths and a seventh it was a good, positive weekend, and we got faster as the weekend went on was always the target and that’s what we managed to do.
The last race to be in the group where we wanted to be, was a big bonus, so all in all a good weekend and looking forward to going to Cadwell and moving forward with good momentum.”
Iain Hopcroft – Team Manager – “The team and Tommy performed really well over the weekend finishing seventh in the last race keeps us within the top eight for the showdown as we head to Cadwell Park. We are looking forward to the remainder of the season now hoping for some strong results and podium credits before we get into the showdown to fight for the title again.”
Kind Regards
Iain Hopcroft
Team Manager
Oxford Racing Ducati
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