“That Honda is fast”: Bradley Ray left helpless in Thruxton BSB last lap battle

Bradley Ray remains without a Thruxton BSB victory to his name despite two podiums from three races last weekend, coming out second-best to Ryan Vickers in the last race.

Ray trailed Vickers going onto the final lap of BSB Race 3 last Sunday, but passed at the first chicane and tried to escape in the last three-quarters of the lap.

Heading into Church for the final time, Ray looked to have a good enough lead to hold on going into the final chicane, but he was ultimately overhauled by Honda’s Vickers on the back straight, and couldn’t do anything to out-drag him to the line.

“It was a good race,” Bradley Ray said of Race 3 at Thruxton, speaking to Crash.net.

“It was a good Sunday, a good weekend, to be honest. The pace was there all weekend. 

“I tried in that last race to lead the last lap. I knew if I stayed behind Vickers on the last lap that Kyle [Ryde] would’ve passed me down the back straight.

“I had to box clever, get through sector two really good and try and pull enough of a gap to sort of hold him off. 

“But that Honda is fast and just managed to get us. 

“But overall, happy; we did the best job we could and I think [Race 1] would’ve been a podium as well, just got cut short. Today I just made sure we were in the top-three in case two-thirds distance came out.”

Ray admitted that the nature of the battles at Thruxton, especially heading into the final chicane, are “scary”, with multiple bikes slipstreaming each other.

“It’s just that back straight,” he said. “Around the first part of the track, everyone’s in control, there’s some passes and lunges going everywhere.

“But it’s that back straight, when you get sucked back and sucked along, you’ve got people coming left and right, you sort of hit the brakes but don’t stop quick enough – it’s quite scary.

“But when you’re riding with them sort of people all the time, you have a little bit of trust in what each other is doing. So it’s interesting, it’s good. I enjoyed [Sunday’s] races.”

Ray had also been in contention for the victory in Race 2, but ended up battling back from the rear of the lead group to come back to the podium on the final lap after a pass from Leon Haslam cost the pair of them time.

“Sort of had the devil in me after that [Haslam move],” Ray said.

“It annoyed me because he ruined sort of his race and he ruined my race as well. 

“So, whenever I got to someone I just made sure I passed them, passed the next one. 

“I didn’t think I’d be able to get to the podium, but just left it all out there, slipstream, went past Kyle around the outside of the last turn, and drove to the line.”

Still no Thruxton win

Heading into the Thruxton weekend, Yamaha hadn’t been beaten there since 2019. Of course, the 2026 edition didn’t feature a single Yamaha victory, but Ray himself has never won at Thruxton, despite taking seven podiums there in three BSB seasons with Yamaha.

“It’s one of them,” Ray said on his lack of a Thruxton win.

“It’s sometimes how the ball rolls for you. You can be third into the last lap and end up winning if you get a good slipstream.

“It’s just sometimes the ball doesn’t roll for you in that way. 

“But we tried our best, that’s what we’re out there doing, trying to get wins, but wasn’t possible today. 

“The boys done a mega job, gave me a good bike. I felt like in the middle of that race [Race 3] I could’ve maybe set my pace and pulled a little bit of a gap, but as soon as somebody got to the front the next person wanted to attack and slow the pace up.”