Ryan Vickers claimed his first Bennetts British Superbike Championship race win at Brands Hatch on Saturday’s afternoon in the BikeSocial Sprint race as the LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha rider held off Danny Kent before a red flag for track contamination.
The race was not restarted and half points were awarded as two-thirds race distance had not been completed.
That meant Vickers became the sixth different race winner in 2023 Bennetts BSB with Kent and Iddon sealing podiums for the first time this season, making it nine different riders to score top three finishes so far this year and the first in the series for the Lovell Kent Racing Honda team.
In race two, Bridewell got his day off to a winning start as he fought to the front of the pack and then pulled the pin in the closing stages to have an edge of 2.406s at the chequered flag.
Kent had initially hit the front of the pack ahead of Christian Iddon, Vickers and Jason O’Halloran. However, the lead changed on the second lap as Iddon grabbed the advantage with a move down the inside at Paddock Hill Bend.
Bridewell then made his charge, breaking the pack whilst behind it became an intense run to the finish with five riders fighting for the final two podium positions.
It was Iddon and Kent who held the advantage to secure consecutive top three finishes backing up their podium finishes in the wet yesterday with a repeat performance in the dry with Glenn Irwin fighting through to fourth ahead of Vickers and O’Halloran.
Race three became an intense five-rider race-long fight for victory in the final action of the weekend, with it coming down to the final lap between Bridewell and his BeerMonster Ducati teammate Irwin and BikeSocial Sprint Race winner Vickers.
On the last lap, both Irwin and Vickers were hunting Bridewell but it wasn’t enough to deny him the double victory with just 0.237s covering the top three at the chequered flag.
As Bridewell claimed a second win, Irwin fought back to finish on the podium for the first time this weekend, whilst Vickers ended the event on a high with third place.
Iddon held off Kent to take fourth place with O’Halloran completing the top five for McAMS Yamaha. In the closing stages, Lee Jackson was able to get ahead of Leon Haslam on the ROKiT BMW Motorrad with rookies Charlie Nesbitt and Max Cook completing the top ten.
Bennetts British Superbike Championship standings:
1.Tommy Bridewell (BeerMonster Ducati) 258
2.Glenn Irwin (BeerMonster Ducati) 223.5
3.Kyle Ryde (LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha) 181
4.Josh Brookes (FHO Racing BMW Motorrad) 177
5.Leon Haslam (ROKiT BMW Motorrad Team) 172
6.Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) 158.5
7.Christian Iddon (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) 143
8.Lee Jackson (Cheshire Mouldings Kawasaki 142.5
9.Ryan Vickers (LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha) 138
10.Danny Kent (Lovell Kent Racing Honda) 100
