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Etchilhampton rider Tommy Bridewell scored his first win in three long years when he took a sensational victory in today's Castle Combe Grand National meeting in front of a bumper local crowd.
Riding the 1000cc Naturally Best Suzuki the 19-year-old Wiltshire rider followed up a battling fourth place in the opening leg with a fantastic victory in race two to send the local crowd home happy.
Battling with rear suspension problems throughout the weekend and still struggling with a leg injury sustained in Italy earlier this year, Bridewell was confident lining up for the 15-lap feature race.
Despite a mediocre start, Bridewell closed in on the leading bunch as he set his sights on victory in the latter stages. Lying in third place with three laps to go, Bridewell made his move on race leader Victor Cox and second placed Barry Burrell and took the lead whereby he held on to the chequered flag amidst emotional scenes to box off a very popular win.
"I wasn't sure that I could have pulled this off today as we really struggled with the rear suspension and also I'm still struggling with my leg injury. But I really wanted this win so badly and I said to myself half way through the race 'I've got to win this', so I set about closing the leaders down and I knew that once I had them within my sights I could do it. This is a new chapter in the Bridewell story and it's fantastic that I've had all my friends and family around to share this success and now that I've won this race I plan on going and winning a load more."
For Wayside Racing team owner Marcus Bridewell, who had to make a dash back to the team headquarters to get a replacement tyre at the last minute, it marked a sensational return to Castle Combe for his son. A couple of years ago eldest son Ollie just missed out on the Castle Combe title but Marcus was obviously delighted for Tom to lift the crown this year. "We really struggled to set the bike up and at one point in time we nearly thought about putting it in the back of the van and going home. But we're Bridewells and we don't give up so we did the best we could and it's paid off for us. It goes without saying that this one's for Ollie and I'd also like to thank Rodney Gooch and his team at Castle Combe circuit who have been simply magnificent."
An announcement regarding Tommy's next race will made imminently once all details have been finalised.
Castle Combe Grand National Result
1, Tommy Bridewell
2, Victor Cox
3, Barry Burrell
Photographs attached courtesy of Paul Korkus.
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