Bank Holiday Success for Yamaha at Cadwell Park
Round 7 of the 2025 Bennetts British Superbike Championship was a fruitful outing for Yamaha Motor UK. R1 title-contenders Bradley Ray and Kyle Ryde stormed to separate race victories across the Bank holiday weekend. It ended with the Nitrous Competitions rider at the top of the series standings.
The Cadwell Park weekend kicked off in strong spirits for Yamaha’s R1 riders. Ryde led the way with an astonishing lap of 1:25.497, just 0.04s shy of the lap record.
Ray ended Saturday as runner-up, with Kent also showing confidence. He set a new personal best lap time of 1:25.856. On the #2 side of the Nitrous Competitions Racing garage, G. Irwin ended the day in 12th.
Sunday’s track action played host to the first Omologato Superpole session of 2025. The 1-lap-format qualifying session saw Ray set an all-new lap record around the 2.18-mile Lincolnshire venue. He clocked a flawless 1:25.392 to bag pole position for the opening race.
For Ryde, a lap of 1:25.524 landed him in second, with Kent just behind in fourth and G. Irwin further back in 14th.
At lights out for Race 1, it was the Raceways Yamaha rider who made the holeshot. He took command of the race from early on, setting the pace at the front.
With the current championship leader settling into a strong rhythm, consistently clocking lap times in the 1:25 bracket throughout the first nine laps, Ryde slipped down to third. However, an off from Tommy Bridewell promoted him back into second place.
Demonstrating spectacular pace, Ray stretched his gap at the front to just over two seconds. The reigning champion, Ryde, refused to settle. He clocked back-to-back lap times in the 1:25s to narrow the gap down to just 0.1 seconds as they began the penultimate lap of the race.
A dramatic attempt on the lead saw Ryde hold the inside line under Ray as they approached the entrance to the Gooseneck. It was an attempt that narrowly escaped disaster.
The #28 R1 rider held his racing line, narrowly avoiding contact with his Yamaha counterpart on corner entry.
0.184s was all that separated them as the final lap of 18 began. Answering pressure from Ryde at Park to maintain the lead, the Raceways Yamaha rider held firm.
It was a battle that went right down to the line, with Ray eventually taking an 11th win of 2025. Ryde crossed the line just 0.08s behind.
Further back, his Nitrous Competition teammate, G. Irwin, rode to a personal best finish aboard the R1, finishing amongst the top 10. Despite showing promise in the build-up to Race 1, McAMS Racing’s Kent took a trip through the grass on the second lap at Mansfield.
After setting the fastest lap in the opening race of the weekend, Ray held onto his first-place grid spot for Bank Holiday Monday’s 12-lap Sprint Race, with Ryde also on the front row in third.
As the lights dropped, Ray wasted no time in pulling the pin, clocking a 1:30.510 lap time from a standing start.
However, on lap 2, the #28 rider, determined to maintain ambitious pace, crashed from the lead at the Gooseneck.
Two separate incidents on the same lap brought the safety car out. This backed up the field, with Ryde leading the R1 charge in third place.
As the safety car pulled in to begin Lap 5, the tension rose at the front. By the end of Lap 7, the leading trio of Ryde, Bridewell, and Andrew Irwin had broken away from the pack, 1.7 seconds up the road.
The order remained the same all the way up until the final few corners. An impressive move from Ryde at the hairpin promoted him into second place, where he eventually took the flag after 12 laps of action.
After starting from tenth on the grid, McAMS Racing and Kent rode a composed and consistent race, bringing home a top 10 finish. Nitrous Competition’s G. Irwin finished in 13th across the line.
Proving to possess pace in the 12-lap Sprint, Ryde sat as the lead R1 on the grid ahead of Race 3, third on the grid with Ray and Kent in seventh and tenth respectively.
As the lights dropped, Ryde made an attack on the lead. He passed A. Irwin at Park on the opening lap to set the pace of the charge.
It was a lead that lasted from start to finish, with the Nitrous Competitions Racing rider clocking consistent 1:26 lap times to keep a victory-hopeful A. Irwin at bay.
By the end of Lap 10, the leading duo were ahead of the field by close to three seconds. A. Irwin was glued to the rear of Ryde’s R1, looking eager to make a pass.
The ongoing pressure was answered by the reigning champion as the race entered its final stages. The Nottingham-based rider set his fastest lap of the race on Lap 14 with a 1:26.146. He went on to pull a gap of 2.7 seconds by the start of the final lap.
Ryde took the flag to claim his second victory of the season, earning 18 points. This propelled him to the top of the championship standings, by a narrow margin of two points.
Further downfield, McAMS Racing’s Kent and Raceways Yamaha’s Ray finished a trying race in 11th and 12th respectively. They started further downfield and struggled to make up ground around the narrow and demanding Cadwell Park layout.
G. Irwin ended his second weekend aboard the Yamaha R1 in 13th after another productive meeting getting acquainted with the R1 superbike.
Ryde, Ray, and Kent sit first, second, and fourth respectively in the 2025 Bennetts BSB standings.
As the series enters the final four rounds, they are all still in championship contention. The Donington Park battleground will play host to the next round of the season.
The Yamaha R7’s efforts in Round 7 of the Pirelli National Sportbike Championship ended in unfortunate style. Victory hopeful, Ash Barnes crashed from a front-running position in the opening stage of the race.
The Lincolnshire rider demonstrated exceptional pace in the lead up to the one and only race of the weekend. He secured pole position in Sunday’s Qualifying session by beating his personal best lap with an impressive 1:31.288.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be for the home rider. His race hopes ended early, despite fighting hard and maintaining his lead after a strong start from the line.
Kyle Ryde
Nitrous Competitions Racing
“Yeah, it’s been a great weekend. Long, hot, and tough. That last race was really demanding, but it felt good to put in twelve solid laps on the bike. I had great speed and stayed in control without any big moments. With three or four laps to go, I still had enough left to push, open up the gap, and that made it feel like the perfect race. The last two laps were really difficult, though – I tried to back it off a bit and nearly crashed three times, so it wasn’t easy. I’m just glad to get it done. We’ve worked hard all weekend, and being able to repay the team with a win feels fantastic. I thought maybe we could’ve taken two races this weekend, but to finish with a victory – the last one of the event – is special. Taking King of the Mountain too makes it even sweeter. I used to hate this track, but now I love it. So yeah, overall, an amazing weekend.”
Bradley Ray
Raceways Yamaha
“Cadwell Park was a weekend of two halves for me and Raceways Yamaha. We’d been fast all weekend, qualifying on pole with a new lap record, and I felt really good on the bike. We managed to take our 11th win on Sunday, but unfortunately, I crashed out of Race 2 from the lead, and a few issues in the final race meant we couldn’t be as competitive as expected. It was just one of those weekends – we’ve had a run of them lately – but we’ll stay positive, regroup, and come back strong at Donington Park.”
Danny Kent
McAMS Racing
“Coming into the weekend, there were a lot of question marks after our performance here last year. Cadwell Park has always been a tricky circuit for me, but this year we were able to turn that around significantly. I improved my best lap time by over a second and found a really good feeling on the bike. A crash in yesterday’s opening race cost us a lot – Cadwell is so narrow and difficult to overtake on, so starting in the mid-field made it hard to make progress. Overall, it’s been a positive round. We dropped to fourth in the standings but are still within ten points of third. Up next is Donington Park, where the Yamaha R1 has been really strong in the past, so I’m excited to get back to work”