Bathams Honda rider Tommy Bridewell's MCE British Superbike race-one chances were dealt a big blow this afternoon when the Thruxton qualifying session was cancelled because of heavy rain.

Bridewell and his team struggled during the practice sessions, and the Devizes native was hoping to improve on his performance during qualifying. But when the rain came down Bridewell realised that he would be starting from eighteenth on grid tomorrow.

"Obviously it is a bit of a bummer for me, because we struggled in free practice, but it is one of those things. Being eighteenth on the grid is going to be good fun for race one, and for safety it is the best thing to call today off," said Bridewell, speaking to bikesportnews.com at the track.

"Hopefully the sun is out tomorrow and we can have a good day. We all sort of knew the weather was going to be bad, but we did not realise how bad it was going to be, so we did not have much choice but to call it off. To be honest I just sat in my garage eating Haribos and drinking hot chocolate so I knew it would be called off. All I could do is sit and wait for the final decision."

In the past when qualifying has been cancelled the grid positions have been decided by championship points. But the grid this weekend has been made up of the combined times from the practice sessions. This has not benefitted Bridewell in anyway, but the rider is taking it all in his stride.

"Normally the grid goes off championship positions, but this time it is not, so that is a bit of a shame. But that is the way it goes sometimes. If they had gone by championship points I would have been tenth on the grid.

"But I am not too worried to be honest because I quite like the number eighteen. I have my goals set for tomorrow and hopefully I will have a good race one, and I will try and get up the grid for race two."