Ryan Vickers: Honda “not able to close the gap at all” at Donington BSB

Two rounds down for Ryan Vickers as a Honda Racing UK rider in BSB and the former race winner hasn’t finished better than seventh, and he feels no closer to the front of the championship after the second round than after the first.

Vickers left Oulton Park with a best result of seventh at round one, and after the Donington BSB he has been unable to improve on that, retiring from Race 1 before going 12-8 on Sunday.

The results aren’t what Vickers was hoping for, but nor were they a surprise to him.

“I was realistic, also, coming off the [Donington] test,” Ryan Vickers told Crash.net.

“I kind of knew – we were P4 at the test where we had no Ducatis, and there’s [now] four or five of them, so that puts us eighth. So, actually, it’s probably where I thought we were going to be. 

“Unfortunately, we’ve not been able to close the gap at all, the gap’s probably bigger. It’s not easy. 

“We’ve got the same issues: we’ve got no grip, we’ve got vibration, and they’re the issues we’ve got and that’s what all of the Hondas have got. 

“We’re in a bit of a sticky situation. 

“We’re trying, and tried, everything that we can, not really seen any improvements at all. So, we’re just riding round.”

There are now five weeks until the next round as BSB pauses while the Isle of Man TT takes place, but Vickers doesn’t necessarily see this break as an opportunity to improve, partly because his Honda team itself will be heading to the Isle of Man.

“We might be able to bring something to Knockhill,” he said.

“I don’t know how much, or what. But we’ve got to see because the team has got a busy time because they go to the TT, so makes it difficult to do anything. 

“I won’t be doing the Knockhill test, which I’m not too worried about because I don’t think we’d have anything to test there. 

“We’ve got to hope, I’ve given the team some ideas, some targets to try and meet with some new parts coming, and now I’m kind of relying on them to bring it. 

“So, let’s see if we can do that and they can put that together for me and, if so, hopefully we can make a step.”