Glenn Irwin seals runner-up spot as Tommy Bridewell toasts British Superbike Sunday double at Brands Hatch

Irwin put Bridewell under sustained pressure on the last laps as he tried to line up a pass, but the Wiltshire man refused to buckle and held on to wrap up a hard-fought victory.

The BeerMonster Ducati riders earned a one-two for Paul Bird’s team, with Bridewell prevailing by only 0.133s after 20 laps.

Ryan Vickers was only a tenth of a second further behind in third spot on the OMG Yamaha after an impressive ride to seal the final rostrum place ahead of Christian Iddon (Oxford Products Ducati).

Irwin said: “I set Tommy up, I thought perfect, but when I pulled out of the slipstream into Hawthorn – I don’t know if it’s the wind – but the turbulence you get dropping down there is mental.

“The move was made a few times but it is scary going down there. (You wonder) is the brake going to come into the bars, and it is your team-mate, so I’ll take a one-two.

“We lose two points to him but we gain a lot psychologically for myself. Now we can start and we try to claw back going forward.”

Danny Kent (Lovell Kent Racing Honda) and Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) completed the top six.

Pole man Bridewell – a hat-trick winner at the previous round at Snetterton – has now won six times this season following his first ever victories at the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.

He won Sunday’s opening race comfortably after hitting the front and pulling away from Iddon, who was 2.4s down at the finish. Kent was third ahead of Irwin, who started from 14th place on the fifth row.

Reflecting on race three, Bridewell said: “I could see Irwin was going to follow me and then try and pick my pocket on the last lap.

“I was so good on the brakes in a lot of areas I thought if he does pass me, there’s no way he’s going to stop.

“I thought about defending on the last lap but I just pushed on.

“Two wins here at Brands Hatch today and a one-two to finish the weekend for the team, you can’t ask for more.”

On Saturday, Vickers clinched his first BSB win in a wet Sprint race, which was red-flagged after seven laps due to suspected oil on the circuit from Leon Haslam’s BMW. Bridewell was sixth with Irwin ninth.

Bridewell now holds a 34.5-point lead over Irwin after six rounds of the 11-round championship, with Thruxton up next from August 11-13.

Dublin’s Jack Kennedy, who claimed the best BSB result of his career with fourth on Saturday, was 10th and 13th in Sunday’s races.

Donegal’s Rhys Irwin won the British Supersport Feature race from Ben Currie by 0.4s, with Eunan McGlinchey eighth on his privately entered Yamaha. Randalstown man Eugene McManus was 10th.

Cameron Dawson finished second in the National Junior Superstock class but there was more misfortune for Sam Laffins, who crashed out on the penultimate lap as he suffered a third DNF in a row.

Young gun Alexander Rowan was third in the first British Talent Cup race while Nikki Coates finished fourth in the main BMW Motorrad F900R Cup event.