British Superbikes: Bradley Ray held off Kyle Ryde by an incredible 0.087s at the chequered flag in Bennetts British Superbike Championship race one at Cadwell Park as the pair diced for the opening victory of the weekend whilst Andrew Irwin became the 13th different podium finisher of the season.
Ray had launched off the line to head the pack from Ryde and Tommy Bridewell at the start of the race, but the Honda Racing UK rider was pushing hard to move into second at Park on lap two.
It was a premature ending to Thruxton’s double race winner, Danny Kent’s charge when he crashed out unhurt on lap two at Mansfield, ending his hopes of a consecutive podium finish for McAMS Racing Yamaha.
At the front, Bridewell was pushing for a home podium for the team, but he crashed out of second place at the Chicane as he tried to reel in Ray ahead of him.
Ray was trying to make a break, but Ryde was closing and after having an advantage of over two seconds mid-race, it came down to nothing between them over the final laps.
On the penultimate lap, Ryde tried to make his move at Chris Curve and the pair touched, as the Nitrous Competitions Racing Yamaha rider was forced to back out of the move to avoid a crash.
At the finish Ryde was just 0.087s adrift as Ray returned to winning ways for Raceways Yamaha, but as the pair diced for the lead, the battle for third was also raging between Christian Iddon and Andrew Irwin.
Irwin was able to make his move on the penultimate lap to claim his first podium finish of the season and ease Iddon back into fourth place on the AJN Steelstock Kawasaki. The pair had also had Charlie Nesbitt for company earlier in the race, but the MasterMac Honda rider crashed out at Charlies on the 13th lap.
Storm Stacey completed the top five for Bathams AJN Racing BMW, holding off Max Cook, with Scott Redding the leading Ducati in seventh place for the Hager PBM Ducati team, with Leon Haslam salvaging eighth place for the Moto Rapido Ducati Racing team after his crash in Omologato Superpole put him 15th on the grid.
Rory Skinner was ninth after he was issued a long lap equivalent time penalty of two seconds after contact at Coppice with Billy McConnell on lap 18, which forced the C&L Fairburn Properties/Look Forward Racing Honda rider to run on and was forced to rejoin in 16th.
Glenn Irwin had his best result on the Nitrous Competitions Racing Yamaha to complete the top ten ahead of tomorrow’s two Bank Holiday races.
Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Cadwell Park, Race 1 result:
- Bradley Ray (Raceways Yamaha)
- Kyle Ryde (Nitrous Competitions Racing Yamaha) +0.087s
- Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing UK) +7.914s
- Christian Iddon (AJN Steelstock Kawasaki) +8.806s
- Storm Stacey (Bathams AJN Racing BMW) +14.127s
- Max Cook (AJN Steelstock Kawasaki) +14.528s
- Scott Redding (Hager PBM Ducati) +16.794s
- Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Ducati Racing) +19.241s
- Rory Skinner (Cheshire Mouldings Ducati) +20.810s
- Glenn Irwin (Nitrous Competitions Racing Yamaha) +24.819s
Bennetts British Superbike Championship standings:
- Bradley Ray (Raceways Yamaha) 278
- Kyle Ryde (Nitrous Competitions Racing Yamaha) 250
- Rory Skinner (Cheshire Mouldings Ducati) 174
- Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Ducati Racing) 171
- Danny Kent (McAMS Racing Yamaha) 170
- Christian Iddon (AJN Steelstock Kawasaki) 151
- Tommy Bridewell (Honda Racing UK) 134
- Max Cook (AJN Steelstock Kawasaki) 124
- Josh Brookes (DAO Racing Honda) 119
- Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing UK) 99
BRADLEY RAY
RACEWAYS YAMAHA
“To be honest the pace was phenomenal, the first few laps were in the 25s and I was comfortable with that and I thought I’d just keep pushing on at the start but the lap times were stupidly fast and the gap wasn’t really growing, I think it was about 2.1 seconds and Kyle (Ryde) started to reel me in towards the end.
“I was pushing on and I think the start of the race hindered the tyre and the last three laps I backed off to save something for the last lap of the race.
“I defended really well, and I knew it was hard to pass, so I just had to do the best I could up the back straight and defend as best as I could in the areas where I knew he could pass and bring it home.
“We have a few things to improve for tomorrow. I haven’t been back here for a few years since 2022, so it was an important race with a lot of data gained and we’ll have another crack at it tomorrow.”
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