Team NB’s Tommy Bridewell made a successful, welcomed start in his return to the British paddock at the fifth round at Snetterton of the Visk British Superbike Championship in which he is taking part in the cup championship.
After a disappointing start to his 2009 season in the European Superstock category Bridewell put together his own private family run team racing the GSX-R1000K6 used by his late brother Ollie.
After a troubled weekend Bridewell bounced back to take the race one win in the cup championship and a point in the main championship by finishing in 15th place.  In race two he was hindered by handling problems, but still finished just off the cup podium in fourth taking 20th overall.
“We've had a bit of a rough time on the racetrack over the past couple of seasons but to get a result like this is fantastic. We only decided to put this team back together a couple of weeks ago and we have worked like hell to make this happen. Thanks to mum, dad, my sister Charlotte and my friend Jason for their help, and of course Ollie.”
“It looked like we were not going to do very well at the start but we battled on and sorted the problems as best we could and here we are. Racing with Watanabe was great but his bike was so fast on the straights, it was unbelievable, and whilst we weren't planning on going to Knockhill, we'll have a copper up and see if we can make it somehow."
Prior to the races the team had a few more problems than expected regarding the setup and fuelling.  It wasn’t until qualifying that Bridewell started to do complete laps on the Suzuki as all the practice sessions were interrupted with issues.  The bike was also still setup for a European circuit completely different to the challenge he took on this weekend.
Originally Bridewell was on the look out for an additional ride with another team at Knockhill due to feeling that it did not make sense cost wise with the situation they were in.  Following the success of Sunday’s races, the amount of work achieved that has now changed.  Either way the team will definitely be entering the last five rounds of the championship.
After the sudden change of direction in his race career and talking about his future Bridewell said: “BSB was a bit of an easier option.  Last year was really to re-start my career and this year we had a bad start.  Coming here is much better travelling and cost wise.  As for next year we will see at the end of the year where we are and what situation we are in before deciding where we go.”