Tommy Bridewell heads for Brands Hatch in confident mood as the opening round of the 2011 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship roars into life over the Easter weekend.

The 22-year-old from Etchilhampton near Devizes in Wiltshire will be aboard the championship winning Honda Fireblade as ridden by Ryuichi Kiyonari last year and having remained with the Tyco Honda team for this season, both bike and rider will be a formidable combination.

Last year at the Brands Hatch opener, Bridewell put in a stunning performance in both races as he ran with the lead bunch only to crash out at Graham Hill Bend in race one which was followed by a clash with another rider in race two which also saw him denied a result.

However, this season will be Bridewell's best chance after a couple of seasons in BSB riding elderly machinery and despite not as much testing as he would have liked, Tom is confident of a successful season ahead.


Tommy Bridewell:

"This is a fantastic opportunity for me and I'm really looking forward to the season starting at Brands Hatch this weekend, I'm feeling very confident. The couple of tests we did were very good but I didn't get as much time on the bike as I'd have liked, so we still have a bit of work to do but my first impressions of the bike are great, I can now understand why Kiyo passed me so easily last year! I'm aiming for two strong finishes at Brands Hatch and hope to be challenging for a podium but I'm under no illusions it's going to be easy with the strongest field assembled for many years. I'm hoping a few sponsors will be coming along at the weekend and we can put on a good show for them."

Qualifying takes place on Easter Sunday at 15.20 with both of bank holiday Monday's races getting underway at 13.05 and 16.30 and televised live on British Eurosport. For further information, please visit http://www.tommybridewell.co.uk.