British Superbikes - Snetterton: Sprint race goes Ray’s way

Round eight got it’s racing under way in the dry after a slow wet qualifying which left a lot of riders miles away from their plans for the weekend. Bradley Ray soon righted that with a dominant win of the sprint race on Saturday at Snetterton

Taking a fourth sprint race win this seaon was against the odds - Ray had qualified down in fifth. The Rich Energy OMG rider wasted no time in hitting the front. Christian Iddon soon faded back from pole and Ray passed his team-mate Ryde after just a couple of corners of the first lap.

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Ray knew he had the pace to lead and break if he could make it to the front:

“ Going into the race I sort of knew I had a real good pace after the second free practice on the Friday . I knew I had to try and get to the frontand sort of set my own pace and lead my own race.

If I got in with people and started battling I knew it would hinder my lap time so I was really aggressive at the start, I managed to get from fifth to first on the first lap and then unfortunately the safety car came out”.

“I didn’t know if it was going to last to the end of the race!”

Issues with his Yamaha did nothing to dent the pace of the championship leader as he managed his mechanical issues to the end of the race to lead over the line by 2.437s, controlling his gap, albeit carefully, from the front:

“Unfortunately I had a few issues with the bike, I didn’t know if it was going to last to the end of the race, which I was quite worried about, but I tried to be gentle with it and it got me to the end of the race.”

Ray had a lot of contenders for second behind him over the duration but it was Tarran Mackenzie who took the position at the line after fighting back from a poor start. Mackenzie explained why he initially went backwards:

“Just completely sleeping on the line - we have red lights where you can get your optimum start and I just couldn’t get it to settle it kept going up and down and up and down and I just missed the lights basically, so I went for sixth back to eighth, I think and then Hickman came past after the safety car so I was back to ninth.

The McAMS Yamaha rider did plenty of passing to make up the places but was also helped by some more unfortunate riders ahead having issues with machinery or crashing.

“I knew I had the pace for the podium but I knew I had to pass a lot of people”

After working his way back to the leaders the #1 plated rider was helped along by Glenn Irwin running wide and dropping back, while Tommy Bridewell gound to a halt and needed to restart his bike, having been sitting in second. By that point in the race Mackenzie had already picked his way through all the other riders he had found in front of him, so inherited the position.

“I was riding real aggressive, I was trying to make way - I knew I had the pace for the podium but I knew I had to pass a lot of people… it felt like I went from ninth to second within a few laps.

‘I had a lot of confidence for that race’

Kyle Ryde came into the weekend styled as a ‘marked man’ - holding the eighth and final Showdown spot he was the man to beat if not already in one of the title fight progression positions.

After a lacklustre few rounds following a strong start to the season the #77 picked the right time for a renaissance and, after faltering slightly, staged a comeback of his own to make sure he was ahead of all of his rivals for position and bag the final podium spot - his first since he was a race winner on a high at Donington Park.

His performance gives him a buffer back to ninth in the standings but the Rich Energy rider, completing an all Yamaha podium as the manufacturer continues to dominate BSB this season, di not have getting a gap on his rivals as a main focus:

“The buffer was not so much my focus, it was just the opportunity cam to try and get a podium.

It was so nice to have a good Friday yesterday and obviously a good qualifying in the mixed conditions. I had a lot of confidence for that race - even though I had a few little issues with the front end of the bike I still managed to finish third.

Off the podium

Fighting back from his bike problems meant polesitter Christian Iddon was made to settle for fourth for Buildbase Suzuki.

Leon Haslam made up two places on his 21st place qualification from non-starters and kept moving forward, finishing an evental and very impressive fifth for VisionTrack Kawasaki.

Lee Jackson’s sixth brought enough points home for the Cheshire Mouldings FS-3 Kawasaki rider to secure his podium spot. Glenn Irwin also claimed his despite his excursion onto the grass on the Honda, which dropped him to ninth.

Both Tom Sykes (MCE Ducati) and Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW) finished ahead of him in seventh and eighth.

Danny Kent was back in business follwing his qualifying crash, which left him 18th on the grid, bouncing back to put both Buildbase Suzuki’ inside the top ten.

Takumi Takahashi continued his better form in eleventh for Honda, just ahead of Jason O’Halloran, who luckily has no points worries as the first man to qualify for the showdown - his trying qualifying time continued into the race where he was raced back to twelfth on the second McAMS Yamaha.

Josh Brookes was 13th for Ducati, Tom Neave came from the back of the grid after not setting a time in Q1 dor 14th for Honda while the final point on offer went to Storm Stacey ( Team LKQ Euro Car Parts) in 15th.

Several riders failed to make it to the end of the race, but the most notable was Danny Buchan. Off the back of a double win at Cadwell Park last time on hopes had been high to keep the momentum running and attack the Snetterton 300 layout for more points and keeping the hope of reaching the showdown alive. Those hopes took a blow right at the start of the race - a three-way collision between the Synetiq B<W Motorrad rider, local man Josh Vicersand Joah Owens saw race one finish off track and in the gravel.

That crash brought out the safety car so that debris from their bikes could be cleared from around the track.