Tyco Racing rider Tommy Bridewell endured a difficult meeting as the penultimate round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship was held at Silverstone in wet conditions.

Aboard the Quay Garage Team Honda CBR1000 Fireblade, 22 year old Bridewell from Etchilhampton near Devizes in Wiltshire suffered a big crash during Friday's second free practice session which substantially damaged the machine and left Bridewell nursing a knee injury and bruised ribs.

After an overnight rebuild, Bridewell battled to a fourth row start in the Swan Combi Roll for Pole and was hopeful of a good result, especially as he'd raced at the track as a World Superbike wild card last month.

Changeable conditions in race one saw Tommy challenging for the top ten when a machine problem ended his bid halfway through the race and as conditions deteriorated in race two, he did well to salvage a twelfth place finish in a shortened race.

The result sees Bridewell drop a place to twelfth in the points table but he'll be hoping to end the season in style at the final round of the series which takes place at Oulton Park in two weeks time.

On a more positive note, it was announced at Silverstone that Bridewell will be part of a two-rider team in the 2011 British Superbike Championship aboard this year's ex-HM Plant Honda Fireblades whereby the team will compete under the Tyco Racing banner.


Tommy Bridewell:

"Silverstone hasn't been kind to me this weekend and following my World Superbike rides I was hoping for much better. The crash put us back on Friday and whilst things were OK on Saturday, today has been very tough. The mechanical problem that we had in race one was unfortunate for us and then the conditions in race two meant I couldn't get in a good rhythm so a twelfth place finish was the best I could do. Hopefully we can bounce back at Oulton and end the season in style."

Ian Woollacott, Team Owner:

"It's been a tough weekend for us as we had to totally rebuild the bike overnight on Friday and from then on we were playing catch up. That's the first engine problem we've had all year but we changed it for race two and Tommy did the best job he could in those conditions. It's been a hectic weekend what with the Tyco announcement about next season, which we're all excited about so I hope we have a good and safe Oulton Park as we get prepared for 2011. It will be a bit emotional for us, however, as we'll be retiring the "old girl" which has served us so well over the past couple of years."