TOMMY Bridewell saluted the work of his Tyco BMW team for keeping his MCE British Superbike Championship title hopes on track after an eventful weekend at Oulton Park in Cheshire.

The Etchilhampton rider secured his place in the Championship's end-of-season Showdown with a gritty third place in the final race on Sunday, having been thrown from his bike in the preceding outing.

Bridewell was lying in second place when he suffered a mechanical problem in the opening race before suffering his fall while lying in a podium position in the next but he and teammate Michael Laverty will enter the final seven races of the year still in with a chance of claiming the overall honours.

The Wiltshire rider said: “This weekend is a massive credit to the whole Tyco BMW team.

"I’ve worked with a lot of teams in the paddock, but those boys did a superb job getting my bike ready for race three.

"It really was not in good shape at all after that crash. I just got on the gas too early and left the whole garage working to get the bike ready.

"That’s the sort of atmosphere we have in there, so I’m really happy to be working with those boys and that podium is for them.

"The bike might have had a few scratches here and there and a little dent in the tank, but the S1000RR worked perfectly. We have two riders in the Showdown, which no other team has done, so again that’s credit to the whole Tyco BMW team.”

Team boss Phillip Neil added: "Tommy was unlucky not to record a second race win at Oulton this weekend: he suffered an engine problem in race one and a crash in race two, when realistically he was in a strong position to challenge for the race wins.

“It was the performance in race three that really stood out however, as Tommy was stiff and sore from his big crash just a few hours’ earlier, although it was barely visible. He ran with the leaders for most of the race before settling for a very safe and sensible third place, earning him huge respect in the process.''