Saturday round up from BSB Round 11 at Brands Hatch

2022 British Superbike Championship
Round 11 – Brands Hatch – Saturday

Images Dave Yeomans

British Superbike Race One

Bradley Ray sealed his first Bennetts British Superbike title with a fifth place in the eBay Sprint Race at Brands Hatch, celebrating the championship victory for the Rich Energy OMG Racing Yamaha team at his home round.

Glenn Irwin claimed a commanding race victory in the opening race action of the weekend, pushing hard from the start to bridge a gap over the chasing pack as he bids to end his campaign on a high for the Honda Racing UK team.

Glenn Irwin had a 1.374s advantage at the chequered flag, but behind there was a battle between Peter Hickman and Andrew Irwin as the pair diced for second place.

Hickman had the edge at the finish as he moves ahead in the Bennetts BSB Riders Cup battle with a second place as Andrew Irwin claimed his third podium finish of the season for SYNETIQ BMW.

Ray had only had to finish in the top seven to claim the title and he was forced to relinquish fourth place to Tommy Bridewell when the Oxford Products Racing Ducati made his move with three laps remaining.

Ray’s eventual fifth place was enough to claim the title, just ahead of Jason O’Halloran and Danny Buchan.

Danny Kent scored his best result of the season in eighth place ahead of Kyle Ryde and Tom Sykes who competed the top ten.

Josh Brookes’ race was over before it began with several riders coming together at the first corner. The end result was that two riders crashed out with Josh pushed wide in the melee and heavy contact from another rider damaged the bike too much for Josh to be able to continue.

British Superbike Race One Results

BSB Qualifying

Glenn Irwin claimed the final Bennetts British Superbike Championship pole position of the season at Brands Hatch as the Honda Racing UK rider timed it right to set the fastest lap before a shower halted any further improvements.

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Glenn Irwin had moved to the top of the times with seven minutes to go and despite some changes for the chasing positions, the conditions meant that he would remain on top.

Peter Hickman returned to the front row for the FHO Racing BMW team ahead of Tommy Bridewell as the Oxford Products Racing Ducati rider bids to overhaul Glenn Irwin with the pair separated by a single point.

Kyle Ryde will head the second row on the leading Rich Energy OMG Racing Yamaha ahead of Danny Buchan and championship leader Bradley Ray.

Andrew Irwin started seventh for the Bennetts BSB eBay Sprint Race, just ahead of McAMS Yamaha’s Jason O’Halloran and MCE Ducati’s Josh Brookes.

Danny Kent completed the top ten for the Buildbase Suzuki team as he nudged Cheshire Mouldings FS-3 Kawasaki’s Lee Jackson to eleventh.

British Superbike Race Combined Qualifying

British Superbike Championship

Bradley Ray celebrated his first Bennetts British Superbike Championship title victory at Brands Hatch on Saturday afternoon, finishing the eBay Sprint Race in fifth place to secure the Rich Energy OMG Racing Yamaha team a debut title.

Ray headed into his home round on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit with a 66-point lead, knowing that a seventh place would be enough to claim the crown for the first time. Ray’s fifth place in the eBay Sprint Race means he has an unassailable 52-point lead ahead of tomorrow’s final two races of the season.

The 25-year-old contender from Lydd made his Bennetts BSB debut in 2017, but it has been this season where he has delivered an imperious performance with a total of nine race wins and a further 14 podium finishes to consistently stay ahead of his title rivals.

Bradley Ray
2022 British Superbike Champion

“It wasn’t easy let me tell you! I approached the start of the race as I would any other – I dug in at the start and tried to get as far up the field as possible. I started having a few small moments and a few slides, and to be honest I settled in and then into fourth and tried to catch Andy and Pete, but I couldn’t do it, so I was happy to sit where I needed to. I had to just carry on doing what I was doing.

“When Tommy passed me I had plus four seconds and I was fifth, so I knew that I’d be safe for the last few laps because seventh was what I needed to get. I wanted to get more, but I had to bring it home for the championship. I’m a little bit speechless but I’m sure it’ll sink in tonight over a nice glass of vino. I’m super proud.

“It’s super special, it’s something I used to dream of as a kid, becoming British champion. This is the closest I’ve ever been to doing it, so we had to dig in into the Showdown and do everything we could to be close enough coming into Brands Hatch.

“It was nice to come here with such a lead and it took a bit of pressure of my shoulders to perform, but it means the world to me to my close family, my close friends it’s a dream come true.

“I’m excited about tomorrow now; I will be going for the wins. The pressure is off so we’ll just go out, have fun and enjoy it.”

Rider Quotes

Glenn Irwin – P1

“I did all I could, but it wasn’t enough to win the championship this year. But we have to be realistic Bradley (Ray) has outperformed me for the majority of the season and it’s probably only during the last few rounds where we have been on a par pace wise. But hats off to Brad, he’s a very deserving Champion, he’s a young lad who has a big future in this sport!

“The Fireblade was faultless today, I said to my team after the race that I could have done another 100 laps out there! I think the final few laps I did a 25.2, just to make sure I had a nice gap ahead on the last two laps. It was a thoroughly enjoyable race from start to finish and it’s always nice to look behind and see your younger brother on the podium, I definitely prefer looking behind and seeing him on the podium than looking ahead!

“But for Pete (Hickman) to finish second as well, we have a different kind of respect we’re road racers and it’s nice to show we can do both in BSB and on the roads. I want to do the exact same in tomorrow’s two races, I do expect a different fight though as Brad with the pressure now off will give it his all. We also have a good chance of securing second in the championship, so I’m looking forward to getting stuck in tomorrow.”

Tom Sykes – P10

“I got unlucky in qualifying today as I was on a good lap when the rain came down at the far side of the circuit and that meant my starting position wasn’t as good as it could, and should, have been. I had a better feeling with the bike than what I did when we were here in July but was still finding it difficult in some areas. That was obviously frustrating as we had a couple of places where we were really strong, but we did what we could today and will look to make a few changes ahead of tomorrow’s races to end the season on a positive note.”

Josh Brookes – DNF

“The pace has been pretty good this weekend and things have been going well at a circuit I have a strong affinity with and although qualifying could have been better, the rain came at the wrong time. I didn’t string the lap together as well as I could but still had high hopes of a good result only to be victim of a first corner melee. People were being pushed wide and another rider ploughed into the side of me which damaged the bike with the gear lever bent right up against the motor. It was impossible to change gear and impossible to continue, which was obviously disappointing, so we’ll aim to end the year strongly tomorrow.”

British Superbike Championship Points

British Superstock Qualifying

Billy McConnell starts his challenge for the runner-up spot from pole after setting a best lap of 1min 26.641s, 0.386secs clear of Dan Linfoot.

FHO Racing with Kobelco’s Alex Olsen rounds out the front row, as Tim Neave heads the second row, just ahead of Tom Ward.

South Australian Levi Day hit the deck hard in FP2, the impact breaking his collarbone and doing some ligament and tendon damage which has ruled him out of the remainder of the weekend.

British Superstock Qualifying Results

British Superstock Championship Points

British Supersport Race One / Sprint

Bradley Perie stormed to the win by 4.951secs over Richard Cooper in the final Sprint race of the year.

After dominating the weekend, the Appleyard Macadam Racing rider cleared off at the front as the big battle became for second place.

Eventually, it was Cooper who held off Rhys Irwin to take second, as Lee Johnston was fourth just 0.095s behind and Jaimie van Sikkelerus was fifth.

Mason Law was the winning GP2 rider as he crossed the line 10th, with second place going to Jake Archer and third to Cameron Fraser.

British Supersport Race One/Sprint Results

British Supersport Championship Points

GP2 Championship Points

British  Junior Superstock Race One

Australia’s Jacob Hatch took pole ahead of the opening British Junior Superstock race of the weekend but unfortunately the youngster high-sided himself out of the race on the warm-up lap after hitting a wet patch at turn four.  As he didn’t set a lap time during the race for Sunday’s second race he will have to start from 39th on the grid.

Franco Bourne won race one ahead of fellow Kawasaki rider Lewis Jones while Aaron Silvester rounded out the podium.

British Junior Superstock Race One Results

British Junior Superstock Championship Standings

British Junior Supersport Race One

Mikey Hardie took victory by just 0.052secs over Charlie Atkins, as James McManus took the title.

Jack Roach finished third, with Gus Rodio fourth and Joe Ellis fifth as McManus crossed the line seventh to claim the crown.

James McManus

“It’s been an amazing season from start to finish, I just can’t thank the team and sponsors enough. It’s amazing and I can’t describe how happy I am. It’s hard to celebrate with Chrissy passing away and my thoughts are with the Rouse family and the Steeman family too.”

British Junior Supersport Race One

British Junior Supersport Championship Points