Brad Ray Tightens Championship Gap at Weather-Interrupted Oulton Park
The penultimate round of the 2025 Bennetts British Superbike Championship saw Brad Ray and Raceways Yamaha tighten the gap in the series standings. They secured a race victory and second place finish in Sunday’s two races.
The tenth round of the year began well for Yamaha riders and title rivals, Ray and Kyle Ryde. Both riders showed pace in challenging conditions to head directly into Saturday’s Qualifying 2 session.
The Raceways Yamaha rider punched in a fastest lap of 1:45.269 to sit fourth on the grid for the opening race of the weekend. Ryde, clocking a best lap of 1:45.565, sat seventh with Glenn Irwin further back in 14th.
Race 1 at Oulton Park played into the hands of championship leader Ryde.
He opted for hard wet tyres in damp but drying conditions of a race restart. At the initial start, the reigning champion showed an almost instant intention to push forwards, picking off title rival Ray at Turn 1 of Lap 3. This put him into podium contention.
An incoming patch of heavy rain soon brought the race to a halt. A 14-lap restart was announced with riders going from original grid positions on a damp circuit.
Continuing previous form, the Nitrous Competitions rider dug in to regain his spot in the top 3. He held onto third to bank 20 points for the standings and extend his championship lead to 43 points.
On the other side of the coin, title hopeful Ray and the Raceways Yamaha team endured a trying opening race. The #28 rider finished in ninth to add eight points to his title fight.
Ryde’s Nitrous Competitions teammate, Glenn Irwin, retired early to make for an unfortunate end to a hopeful day.
Ahead of Race 2 on Sunday, Ryde and Ray would sit seventh and fourteenth respectively.
At lights out for Sunday’s 12-lap Sprint race, Ryde shone above the rest to quickly claim a spot at the front. An oil spill further down the field delivered a red flag stoppage.
A re-scheduled 8-lap charge would later get underway at 15:40, with riders occupying previous grid positions.
In an act of brilliance, Ray, aboard the Yamaha R1, cut through the pack with intention from 14th on the grid. He entered the podium fight by the end of Lap 5.
Setting a blistering fastest lap of 1:34.063 and fighting to keep his title hopes alive, he joined the leading duo of Leon Haslam and Christian Iddon. He set his sights on securing his 12th victory of the season.
A nail-biting final lap of the race saw Ray take Iddon for second at Island Bend. An exceptional dive up the inside of Haslam at Knickerbrook promoted him to the lead. Holding firm, the R1 took the chequered flag to secure 25 critical points for his efforts.
This narrowed the championship gap to fourth-place finisher Ryde to 36 points.
Ahead of a highly anticipated final race of the weekend, the Raceways Yamaha rider found himself in a perfect position. He lined up on the grid in pole position, with Ryde sitting in second.
The early stages of the race saw Ray hold firm, fending off a victory-hungry Ryde with a confident pace. The Raceways Yamaha rider set back-to-back fastest laps, maintaining the lead for almost the first half of the race.
While Ryde slowly slipped down the order to fifth by the chequered flag, Ray ran firm. A brief slip back to fourth on Lap 15 didn’t shake the momentum. The Raceways Yamaha rider quickly reinstated himself in the top 3.
Eventually capitalising on a mistake from Haslam to take second place across the line.
Heading into the 2025 Bennetts BSB Championship Finale, Ryde and Ray sit 30 points apart. It’s all to play for in the final trio of races this season.
In the Pirelli National Sportbike Championship, Rossi Banham held onto his spot as the highest-running R7 rider in the series. A weather-interrupted weekend saw the RB-Racing rider line up on the grid in 13th.
Come lights out for Sunday’s race, the R7 rider pushed through the field and into the top ten. He took the flag in seventh after ten laps of battle.
Banham and Yamaha’s remaining R7 riders also head to Brands Hatch in two weeks’ time. They are ready to get stuck into the final round of the year.
Bradley Ray
Raceways Yamaha
“After a difficult start to the weekend, it was great to be able to turn things around with today’s success. I feel really pleased to have brought home a win for the team, the last couple of rounds haven’t been easy, so it’s nice to pay them back for all of the hard work. I’m feeling happy with our performance this weekend; we took some points away from Kyle in the championship standings, and that’s what matters. We’ll head towards Brands Hatch with the aim of replicating today’s form in an attempt to put up a hard fight for the championship crown.”