Second Victory of 2026 for McAMS Yamaha and Ray at Oulton Park
The sixth round of the 2026 British Superbike Championship delivered a second race victory of the season for supported squad McAMS Yamaha and Bradley Ray – who secured a stand-out triple podium finish across the Oulton Park weekend.
McAMS Yamaha and Ray enjoyed a productive Friday at Oulton Park, making strong strides through Free Practice 1 and 2 to end the day top of the Pre-Qualifying standings with a fastest lap of 1:33.113. Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha’s Rory Skinner also finished the opening day inside the top ten to secure a spot in Qualifying 2, while Christian Iddon and Danny Kent ended in fourteenth and fifteenth respectively.
In the Quattro Group British Supersport Championship, Ben Currie and Harry Truelove showed encouraging speed on Friday, with Truelove finishing eighth in the combined times despite being unable to string together a strong fastest lap, his session repeatedly interrupted by traffic ahead.
Currie’s weekend ended early after a heavy crash at Old Hall Corner in Free Practice 2 brought out the red flag. The Australian was assessed and stabilised at the circuit by the BSB medical team before being transferred to Royal Stoke University Hospital for further assessment. He remained conscious throughout and was later confirmed to have sustained rib and lung injuries, with no treatment required.
Fast-forward to Saturday, and Ray carried encouraging momentum from a strong opening day, capping off the final Free Practice session in fourth and sitting third in the combined times.
In Qualifying 2, the McAMS Yamaha rider was at the top of the timesheets, trading lap-record pace with his rivals and setting a personal best at the Cheshire venue – a 1:32.826 that secured third on the grid for Race 1. Skinner was the second highest-placed R1 rider in eighth, with Iddon and Kent lining up in fourteenth and seventeenth respectively.
At lights out for the opening British Superbike Championship race of the weekend, Ray made a strong start to stay firmly within the leading group. Battling among the top three throughout a race run at blistering pace, the #28 rider quickly pushed through to second before attacking race leader Max Cook on Lap 8 to briefly take the lead.
Dropping back to second and shadowing new leader Storm Stacey, the pace at the front soon eased, drawing the chasing pack together into a five-rider battle by the end of Lap 10, with Kyle Ryde joining the fight. Continuing to trade positions, Ray briefly slipped to third before reclaiming the lead at the start of Lap 12. His overtake into Turn 1 proved decisive: he fended off sustained pressure over the following laps before an ongoing scrap behind allowed him to pull clear by over a second.
Ray went on to take victory – his second of the season – and followed it up with a pole position start for Sunday’s Sprint Race, setting a lap of 1:33.110.
Iddon wrapped up the race in ninth, with Kent fourteenth, and Skinner taking a DNF after a tip into the gravel towards the start of the race.
Riding solo for the McAMS Yamaha squad in British Supersport, Lincolnshire’s Truelove set his fastest lap of the weekend – a 1:37.222 – to secure sixth on the grid for Saturday’s Sprint Race.
In the opening stint of the weekend, Truelove mounted an encouraging effort from the second row – proving up for the fight throughout the duration to progress up to fifth at the chequered flag.
Come Sunday’s Warm-Up session, Ray produced an encouraging effort aboard the R1 to finish second overall, starting his final day at Oulton Park on a strong note.
Starting from pole position in Sunday’s 12-lap Sprint Race, Ray wasted no time getting up to speed, setting the pace through the opening stages and fending off increasing pressure from Redding in his wake.
Looking comfortable at the front, with the leading pair over a second clear by Lap 7, an incident further down the field brought out the safety car until the end of Lap 9, setting up a three-lap dash to the chequered flag.
A charging Ryde was the first to capitalise in the closer-packed field, passing Ray to take control of the race at Island Bend on the penultimate lap – an overtake that would prove decisive. The McAMS Yamaha rider crossed the line as runner-up, holding off pressure from Redding throughout the final lap.
Iddon rounded out the second race of the weekend in tenth, with Skinner just outside the top ten in twelfth. Kent’s race ended before it began, the team having encountered mechanical issues ahead of the start.
In the British Supersport Championship, Truelove was the innocent victim of a final-corner collision in Free Practice 3, leaving the McAMS Yamaha R9 crew with a sizeable job on their hands ahead of his final race of the weekend aboard the R9.
At lights out in the feature race, Lincolnshire’s Truelove made an encouraging start, sitting fourth throughout the opening lap before moving up to third to run with the podium contenders.
A battle for the final podium spot then unfolded between the R9 rider and Luke Stapleford, with the #44 ultimately slipping back to fourth. As the gap to third began to grow, Truelove held firm, answering pressure from behind to bring home a fourth-place finish and round off the weekend – he sits sixth in the standings heading into Thruxton in two weeks’ time.
In the final BSB race of the weekend, Ray, again starting from the front row, made the holeshot to lead the early stages. A pass from Ryde demoted the R1 rider to second on lap 5, before Redding came through later in the stint.
After 18 laps of racing, Ray brought home a hard-fought third-place finish to cap off a successful weekend for him and the McAMS Yamaha squad. Skinner secured his best result of the weekend with seventh.
Heading into Thruxton – a dominant hunting ground for the R1 over the last four years – Ray retains his spot in the top three of the championship standings as the leading Yamaha rider in the series.
Words and imagery courtesy of Yamaha Racing UK