British rider Tommy Bridewell overcame  problems to score points on his debut in the Superstock  1000 FIM Cup with a battling 13th place  finish in the opening round at Valencia  today.

Aboard the  Lorenzini by Leoni Yamaha R1, the 20 year old from  Devizes in Wiltshire suffered a heavy crash in testing  last week which badly damaged his hand meaning Bridewell  had to battle through the pain barrier throughout the  weekend.

With handling  problems hampering the Italian team's machine during  practice, Bridewell could only manage 22nd  place in the single qualifying session meaning a row  five start but with some radical changes going into the  race, Tom was hopeful of a good race.

Gradually making  his way through the field after a mediocre start,  Bridewell eventually made his way up to 13th  place to score his first ever world championship points  at the end of the thirteen lap race around the technical  Spanish track, much to his relief after a few  heart-stopping moments duing the race.

"I think  I was out of the saddle more than I was in it but I'm  both delighted and relieved to have scored a few points  which was the aim this weekend. Like most teams, we  struggled to get a good set up in the time we had  available and we were still making changes on the grid  which wasn't ideal. I got lucky with a few people in  front falling down but now we know what we need to do to  the bike, we can start to make improvements,  hopefully," he said.

Bridewell will test the bike at Misano later this week in readiness for  the opening round of the Italian Superstock Championship  which he is also contesting, which takes place at the  Adriatic coastal track on April 19th before  the next round of the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup at Assen  the week after.