Ray fights back after Glenn Irwin “dug in” for Donington treble

Bradley Ray had already eased to race one, and set the pace in the sprint to win the first two races at Donington Park, with a treble available in BSB race three.

The Yamaha rider did not have things as easy after a superbly entertaining catch-up job form Glenn Irwin saw him under pressure in the final race of the weekend.

• 2025 British Superbikes: Donington Park - Race Results (2)
• 2025 British Superbikes: Donington Park - Race Results (3)

It had once again been a lonely start to the race after getting the holeshot and a gap for Ray:

“It’s a long race - 20 laps around here is long , especially when you lead every lap - you've got nothing but your lap time and your pit board to sort of gauge what you need to do.

I set a good pace, a pace I sort of done in the sprint race, maybe a little bit slower, knew that I could do that pace and keep the tyre at the end.”

Ray showed a different skillset when Irwin gave chase - showing he was equally adept at running defensive lines, catching the Ducati man out with late braking over the closing laps:

“Got to a good lap felt like I controlled it well and then Glenn dug in, fair play to him, and started hounding me down, got down to basically plus zero, I had to find something, to respond”.

The race record lap time has been lowered several times over the weekend, and it was happening behind Ray again in race three, first by Rory Skinner, then Glenn Irwin as he recovered for a second shot at victory, as the riders behind looked for an answer to his consistently fast pace:

“I don’t know how or where we managed to find that lap time towards the end of the race but he kept me honest made me push on at the end which is what it’s all about - I had something, I had to dig deep and respond.

It was a tough, tough last few laps, just had to sort of control it, try not to make a mistake, hit my markers, and bring it home, the pace honestly today was outrageous really  controlled it well, didn’t think I had enough tyre at the end but managed to bring it across the line, but it bodes well.”

Ray was keen to show gratitude for his strong start to the season to his team Raceways Yamaha, who came in at the eleventh hour after the issues OMG encountered right before the season start, leaving the former champion needing a new home for the 2025 season at the eleventh hour, with Steve Rogers coming out of retirement to ensure Ray made the grid:

“The triple is nice - it’s good for the Raceways team and everyone involved. They deserve this massively, and it just puts us in good stead for the rest of the year. We’re strong at the start of the race, were strong at one lap pace, today we showed we can dig deep if we need to at the end of the race if we need to , to bring it home.”

2022 BSB champion Ray also spoke on his time in WSBK, which was tough - his best result was a character building eleventh, adding how he felt that time was playing a part in this season:

“I feel strong, I feel like I’ve improved since being away, I said that before coming into this year that although my results in world championship weren’t …great I feel like I learned a lot about myself and riding and being more on the limit, longer races out there, harder races just made me into a better rider, and more consistent, and more competitive - it’s nice to bring that back.”