Tommy Bridewell took his fifth win of the season in the second British Superbike Championship [BSB] race of the weekend at Brands Hatch, the series once more displaying his title favourite credentials with a dominant victory.

Despite a mid-race safety car period, the BeerMonster Ducati rider enjoyed a 2.4secs winning margin over Christian Iddon (Oxford Products Ducati) who scored his best finish of the 2023 BSB season, while Danny Kent (Lovell Kent Honda) notched up his second podium of the weekend in third.

From the lights, it was Kent who grabbed the hole-shot from Iddon on the plunge into Paddock Hill Bend, the 2015 Moto3 World Championship holding sway at the head of the field round to the conclusion of lap one.

He was chased by Ryan Vickers (LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha), Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha), Jack Kennedy (Mar-Train Racing Yamaha) and Bridewell, while the latter's Paul Bird Motorsport team-mate Glenn Irwin ascended from 14^th to ninth

With Iddon nosing into the lead at the start of lap two, it was a position he'd maintain until lap seven when Kent scurried ahead just prior to the safety car being deployed to clear the wreckage of Dean Harrison's DAO Racing Kawasaki following an off at Paddock Hill Bend.

He wasn't the only rider in trouble with a number of riders - among them Leon Haslam, Danny Buchan, Josh Owens, Tom Neave, Franco Bourne and Tito Rabat - already out of contention before the half-way point.

Kent had nosed ahead of Iddon at Hawthorn just before the safety car came out, but as racing resumed on lap nine, both BeerMonster Ducati’s made a move, Bridewell moving up to fourth and Irwin sixth. Bridewell then took third from Vickers at Hawthorn with Iddon reclaiming the lead from Kent.

As the race clicked over into the second-half, Bridewell hit his stride, needing just two laps to dispatch of both Kent and Iddon to assume a lead he'd extend and hold to the chequered flag.

His fourth win in five races, Bridewell's victory helps him put more daylight between himself and Irwin, the Devizes rider now 32.5 points clear at the head of the standings.

Iddon held on for second place in a dash for the line to claim his first podium of both the 2023 BSB season and for the Oxford Products Ducati team, just 0.057s and 0.106s ahead of Kent and Irwin respectively.

Behind Irwin, Race 1 winner Ryan Vickers led the LAMI OMG Yamaha challenge in fifth place, ahead of Jason O'Halloran and Kyle Ryde, while Lee Jackson, Josh Brookes and Jack Kennedy rounded out the top ten.