TOMMY Bridewell claimed a brace of top 10 finishes in the fifth round of the MCE British Superbike Championship at Snetterton, recovering from a difficult qualifying to take eighth and 10th in the two races on board his Bennetts Suzuki GSX-R1000.

A tricky qualifying session saw the Etchilhampton rider start the opening race from the fifth row of the grid but a strong start allowed him to climb to as high as fifth at one stage, before tyre wear curtailed his charge and eventually saw him cross the line in eighth.

Race two started with Bridewell moving up to ninth but he struggled to maintain his early race pace, and was awarded 10th place when the red flags came out, bringing the race to a premature end.

Bridewell said: "It's been a bit difficult this weekend. I tried a bit too hard in Q2 yesterday and went slower as a result, so it made race one a bit trickier, having to come from 15th on the grid.

"But I got a good start and got up to fifth at one point. Unfortunately we suffered with a little bit of chatter from the rear this weekend, and it hampered our races a little bit.

"It's frustrating as it's prevented us from being where we know we can be, but everyone in the team is working hard to find the right setting to allow us to get back amongst the podium fight."