French WorldSBK Sunday “took everything” from Tommy Bridewell after Race 1 crash

Two red flagged WorldSBK races at Magny-Cours and both the result of crashes for Tommy Bridewell, who was left “exhausted” after the first one.

Bridewell’s turn 14 crash in WorldSBK Race 1 saw him diagnosed with only a lip abrasion at the circuit medical centre, but the pain across his body was already high on Sunday morning before the 10-lap Superpole Race.

He finished that well in sixth, but then crashed in Race 2 on the penultimate lap.

The Race 1 crash came as he was trying to make his way through the pack from the back of the grid, Bridewell getting “greedy” as he braked for turn 15.

“The yellow flag infringement and then putting me last on the grid, it hurt us, but I’m not going to whine about it, I take it on the chin and it is what it is,” Bridewell said in a video posted to his Instagram page.

“It just made it hard to come back through the pack. 

“I knew what pace I had, but I just couldn’t get through as strong as I wanted to. 

“I was trying to be patient, but ultimately I got caught out, I got greedy into that left-hander: I was 100 per cent throttle, snapped the throttle shut, grabbed the brake, and down I went. Hit the deck at 165mph, end over end, hit the air fence – luckily – and was able to go again today. 

“But ‘second hand’ for sure is an understatement.”

Bridewell continued, saying he was already “exhausted” after the Superpole Race, and that the Superbike Advocates team had encouraged him to pull in if he felt he needed to in Race 2. 

“The sprint race this morning was obviously only 10 laps and we had a good ride, a good result, finishing sixth, but it took everything out of me, I was absolutely exhausted after that, my body is drained. 

“Got quite a sore shoulder, a lot of swelling on my hand. 

“So, I knew the second race was going to be tough. The team basically said, ‘Look, if you’re struggling then don’t be too proud to pull in’, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. 

“I just kept digging deeper and deeper. 

“Frustratingly, had a small issue where I had quite a lot of chatter from early on in the race, which was becoming hard to manage, and then with two laps to go it just caught me out into turn three and lost the front which was a shame because we were on for a decent result.”

Bridewell was keen to focus on the positives of the weekend, which he feels are a result of the good work being done by the first-year Superbike Advocates team.

“I think the progress we’re making and have made in World Superbike this season for a brand new team and me still learning, I think we need to be really proud of what we’ve achieved and we need to just keep building on that,” he said.

“We’ll take the positives from the weekend, I’m all good, beaten and bruised a bit but we’ll regroup, get ready for Cremona in a couple of weeks. Superbike Advocates, shoutout to them, exceptional work as always and can’t thank the team enough.”