Champagne Showers and Silverware for Yamaha at Brands Hatch
Round 5 of the 2025 Bennetts British Superbike Championship provided great success for Yamaha Motor UK’s R1 line-up. Bradley Ray and Kyle Ryde stormed to race victories, and Danny Kent clinched a season-best finish of second.
For Yamaha’s R1 trio, the Brands Hatch weekend kicked off in good spirits.
All three riders punched their ticket into Saturday’s Qualifying 2 session. They went on to secure strong grid spots ahead of the first race.
Ray secured his fifth consecutive pole position of the season with a blistering fastest lap of 1.24.418. Meanwhile, Ryde and Kent clinched second and fifth respectively. This set the stage for 20 laps of battle.
The opening race of the Brands Hatch weekend saw Ray take the holeshot from pole position. He led the pack into Paddock Hill Bend and immediately commanded control of the 20-lap race.
He settled into his rhythm. The 2021 Bennetts BSB Champion pulled a gap of over 1.5 seconds by half race distance.
He ran his own race up front and demonstrated unshakable pace.
The gap would eventually jump up to over two seconds. However, an issue on Lap 17 saw Ray lose almost a second to hard charger and victory hopeful, Scott Redding.
Despite losing time, Ray kept Redding at bay throughout the final laps. The #28 R1 rider clinched his tenth win of the season. He crossed the line ahead by 1.085 seconds.
Nitrous Competitions OMG Racing rider, Kyle Ryde, crossed the line 2.824 seconds behind to claim third place. He remained within podium contention having started from the front row.
Downfield, Kent and McAMS Racing hung onto an encouraging fifth place finish.
They were just 3.420 seconds behind Yamaha R1 counterpart, Ray.
Sunday’s Sprint Race saw Ray produce another impressive start from the line. He led from lights out to chase a second win of the weekend.
Meanwhile, Kent made a promising getaway aboard the McAMS Racing R1. He propelled himself into the top 3, having started from fifth.
Ryde had a challenging start to Sunday’s opening race. He slipped back to fifth. An incident on Lap 6 brought out the safety car. This played into the hands of the 2024 BSB champion. It brought the field closer together for the final five laps.
As the safety car rolled into pit lane, the pack scrambled for position.
Ray maintained command at the front, with Ryde pushing through to third. Kent moved down to fifth.
On Lap 9, hearts sank in the Raceways Yamaha camp. Ray crashed from the lead at Westfield. This marked the team’s first DNF of the season. It occurred after a spectacular streak of race wins and podium finishes.
While drama unfolded at the front, Kent refused to settle. He pushed past Christian Iddon to enter the top three yet again. His focus was on achieving a first podium finish of the year.
At the chequered flag, Ryde secured his second podium of the weekend.
He clinched second place behind Redding. Behind him, Kent held onto third. This presented the McAMS Racing squad with a season-first podium finish. They earned a healthy dose of points for the standings.
In the third and final race, Ray resumed position at the front and maintained the lead throughout the early stages. Meanwhile, a hard-charging Kent made moves into second place.
Yet another incident brought out the second safety car of the day on Lap 5. It bunched the field up with Yamaha’s R1 trio occupying the top three.
As the safety car returned to the pits, Kent wasted no time in getting past Ray and into the lead. Kyle also made a move on the Raceways Yamaha rider. He entered second place on Lap 9.
The 2024 Bennetts BSB Champion picked off Kent for the lead on Lap 14. Meanwhile, Ray found himself under constant pressure from Redding behind.
Ryde demonstrated great pace. He maintained the lead and dealt well with pressure from Kent throughout the closing stages of the race.
Ryde went on to claim his first victory of the season.
The 2015 Moto3 World Champion crossed the line 0.103 seconds behind in second.
In the final phase of the race, Ray became the target of a charging Redding. Redding picked the Raceways Yamaha rider off for the final step on the podium.
Despite missing out on a spot on the rostrum, Ray sits at the top of the championship standings heading towards Thruxton in two weeks’ time. Ryde holds position in second. Also, Kent progresses up to fifth in the standings.
In the Pirelli National Sportbike Championship, the Brands Hatch weekend saw Raceways Yamaha’s hopeful, Ash Barnes, lead the charge aboard the Yamaha R7.
A challenge-enduring weekend saw the Lincolnshire rider qualify at the front of the third row. This was ahead of Sunday’s one and only race of the weekend.
At lights out for the championship’s 12-lap charge, Barnes held his own in a packed leading group. He showed good pace but slipped back to eighth, where he took the flag. Importantly, he picked up crucial points for the championship standings.
Heading to the circuit of speed, Thruxton, in two weeks’ time, the #8 R7 rider sits seventh in the championship standings. He has sights set on climbing up the ladder. His aim is to mount a competitive weekend of on-track battle.
Bradley Ray – Raceways Yamaha
“All-in-all it was a positive weekend despite the negative of the DNF in Race 2. It was nice to come to Brands and take the step and be able to qualify strong and have good pace throughout the races. I made a mistake in Race 2 which led to a crash and honestly really annoyed me, but it is what it is and we were able to regroup to 4th in Race 3 despite a few little issues. Can’t grumble with a win and a fourth and the crash is all a part of racing.”
Kyle Ryde – Nitrous Competitions OMG Racing Yamaha
“It’s nice to get my first win under my belt. Everyone’s been riding really well, but I’ve just built up from Friday, my worse day, Saturday which was better and then a really good Sunday. I’m happy with how I rode in Race 3 and the team gave me a much easier bike to ride.”
Danny Kent – McAMS Racing
“It’s no lie we’ve had a difficult season up to now and this weekend we made the progress we’ve been searching for with the bike to give me the feeling I’ve been searching for. This weekend the results speak for themselves and it’s a real boost for me and the team moving ahead to Thruxton where we were also really strong at in 2024 and is historically a good track for the R1.”