Josh Brookes wins Race 3
• Race 3 sees a VisionTrack Ducati 1-2 finish
• Christian Iddon finishes on the podium in every race with 3 successive 2nd place finishes
Race 1
Christian Iddon made a great start to Race 1 on Saturday to move up from 8th on the grid to 5th on his opening lap. His VisionTrack Ducati teammate Josh Brookes had lined up beside him in 9th, but wasn’t able to make as many moves forward.
Iddon gained a place each lap before taking the lead on the 5th lap, a position he held all the way until lap 14 when Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) pushed Iddon back to second. Iddon immediately retaliated and set the fastest lap of the race on the penultimate lap but ultimately finished his first race of the weekend on the podium in 2nd place. Brookes crossed the line in 8th to better his grid position by 1 place.
Oxford Products Racing’s Tommy Bridwell had been struggling with setup and like Brookes only bettered his grid position by 1 place, going from 15th at the start to finish Race 1 in 14th.
Race 2
Iddon started from 2nd on the grid and momentarily lost a place at the start, but held on to 2nd for the majority of the race eventually crossing the chequered flag just 0.214s behind race winner Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha).
Brookes had a sensational pace during Race 2 on his VisionTrack Ducati. He started from 8th, had made several passes to catch the leading trio of O’Halloran, Iddon and Danny Buchan (Rapid Fulfilment FS-3 Kawasaki) by half race distance. But Brookes was unable to make any further progress and finished his race in 4th.
Tommy Bridewell continued to struggle with setup on his Oxford Products Racing Ducati, and finished his race just outside the Top 10 finishers.
Race 3
Polesitter Josh Brookes wheelied his Panigale V4 R off the line and took the holeshot as the third and final race of the weekend at Oulton Park got underway. Brookes’ VisionTrack Ducati teammate Christian Iddon slotted quickly into 3rd behind O’Halloran after starting from 5th on the grid.
On Lap 8 Iddon passed O’Halloran to take 2nd behind Brookes with the VisionTrack Ducati riders keeping that formation as the race progressed. Iddon looked like he was going to make a move on his teammate but in the final stages of the race he ended up having to defend from O’Halloran and Lee Jackson (Rapid Fulfilment FS-3 Kawasaki) rather than attack for victory.
Brookes went on to take the chequered flag and claim his 2nd BSB win of the season, with Iddon taking his third 2nd place of the weekend to complete a fantastic VisionTrack Ducati 1-2 finish. Jackson just nicked 3rd across the line from O’Halloran to deny him a third podium finish.
Tommy Bridewell started from 14th and had moved up to 11th by the end of the race, but it was a disappointing weekend for the team who are chasing a setup that will allow them to challenge for race wins once again.
Brookes and Iddon leave Oulton Park 3rd and 4th in the championship with 168 and 166 points respectively, while Bridewell sits in 5th with a total of 134 points.
British Superbikes returns to action next month for the triple header at Donington Park from the 16-18th October.
Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati #25) – Race 1, 9th – Race 2, 4th – Race 3, 1st
“It’s been a difficult weekend. The team are obviously always trying as hard as they can to give me all the support they can. But it’s just been tough. We’ve been working hard to try and make the right changes and that race was just brilliant. At the start I was actually really worried. I was on pole and the setup form the last race was good for a lap time, but we changed it a little bit. And straight away at the start I knew I didn’t have the pace. But fortunately, the bike was better over the race distance. I was still doing the same speed at the end of the race as I was at the start. So, it turned out to be the better bike after all. Just really pleased to get a win again. I’ve had a lot of wins in BSB but this one was particularly enjoyable.”
Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati #21) – Race 1, 2nd – Race 2, 2nd – Race 3, 2nd
“Different rider in front of me that race, my teammate. I felt quite a lot stronger than him actually in the middle part of Race 3. Josh actually slowed the pace down a little, I don’t know if he meant to or if he was struggling a little bit. I made a right mess up of the race, just when I should have been attacking, I ended up defending. My mistake, I felt like I had a bit more pace and I could have gone, and I didn’t. No one but myself to blame for that. Make amends at the next round hopefully. It’s game on now. It’s been a really good weekend. Big thank you to the PBM VisionTrack Ducati squad. The bike has been really, really good all weekend. As always, us riders are never perfectly happy so there’s more to come. But chuffed enough.”
Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing #46) – Race 1, 14th – Race 11th, 2nd – Race 3, 11th
“Work in progress, and we can but keep trying and the team are working hard as ever to find a solution.”
