Bradley Ray would come up just short in his bid to break a 22-year record for consecutive wins in the British Superbike Championship [BSB] but two victories and a podium still sees him pull important ground in the fight for this year’s title.

The Raceways Yamaha extended his streak of consecutive BSB wins to eight with successes in both the dry and damp conditions of races one and two, but was forced to play second fiddle to Rory Skinner in Race 3, held in heavier rain.

It meant Ray would have to contend with ‘only’ equalling Shane Byrne’s 2003 record for eight straight victories.

Nevertheless, he was delighted to prove his advantage in the dry could be replicated when the weather changes.

“Races like that [Race 2] are super tricky, rain conditions are always hard because you have to be so focused every corner, every lap. 

“Mentally it is hard. I got the hole-shot, I wasn’t sure I was on the pace but the faster I got, the more confident I got so I just kept pushing on. Happy to get a win in those conditions.”

“It was a tough third race, we had three restarts. I knew Rory’s strategy at the start, I knew he’d want to attack straight away after this morning’s race. He looked strong but first two starts I was able to sit with him in a good rhythm, so I was happy, but the third restart he found something and was strong.”

Accepting that Skinner was pushing to a limit in Race 3 that he wasn’t so keen on pursuing, Ray was nonetheless more than content with the points for second.

“He just crept away from me. I could see from behind the amount of risk he was taking so I tried my best to stay with him but I saw I had a five second gap to third, so he was risking it to win it or crash, so settled for second and important points.”

With closest BSB rival Kyle Ryde coming away from Knockhill with an indifferent set of results, Ray’s triple podium sees him multiply his overall advantage at the head of the standings from 30 points to a new peak of 52 points.