Rich Energy ONG Yamaha’s Bradley Ray earned a confidence boosting fourth victory of his 2022 British Superbike campaign at Cadwell Park on Sunday.
Second in the series standings, with his place in the Showdown already booked, Ray made no mistake at the restart of a much delayed first race of the weekend in a lights-to-flag win, to lead home FS-3 Kawasaki’s Rory Skinner and Synetiq BMW’s Danny Buchan, the latter securing his first podium of the year with a punchy run to third.
The full race took place more than an hour after its scheduled time after a horrific crash involving Lee Jackson and Dan Jones led to a lengthy clean-up operation.
Triggered by Jackson - who was running in third place - losing his Cheshire Mouldings FS-3 Kawasaki on landing from the Mountain leap, it left his stricken ZX-10RR unsighted beyond the crest of the hill and on the racing line. Though most of the field managed to swerve around it, Kyle Ryde and Takumi Takahashi both clipped the bike before iForce BMW’s Jones struck it head on.
Prompting an immediate red flag, Jones was tended to by medical crews in the aftermath before being airlifted to hospital with MSVR confirming he remained conscious both when he was tended to at the scene and when he was transported. Jackson, who slid away from the bike after his crash, was unhurt.
Having just lost the lead to Skinner prior to the red flag, Ray made the most of the full restart to get the holeshot from pole position at turn one and control the pace from there.
Indeed, though Skinner made in-roads into the comfortable margin towards the flag, he was unable to get close enough for a shot at victory, settling for second in a result that will assure him as the third Showdown qualifier.
Buchan produced his best result of the season in third having gotten remarkably lucky with the restart call. The Synetiq BMW rider sent both himself and Tom Sykes off track while running fourth and third during the first getaway after clipping the MCE Ducati in a bungled overtake attempt at the Hairpin, sending both down the order.
However, having been promoted to third on the grid in Jackson’s absence, Buchan made the most of his second chance, pulling off one of the race’s few overtaking manoeuvres with a pass on Jason O’Halloran.
A rare lacklustre race for McAMS Yamaha - having won ten of the last eleven races between O’Halloran and Tarran Mackenzie - the Australian faded to a distant fourth place, while the latter could only manage eleventh after getting bottled up in a train of riders.
Oxford Products Ducati’s Tommy Bridewell pulled off the fastest lap - and therefore pole position for race two - en route to fifth place to improve his chances of clinging onto his eighth and provisional final Showdown spot, ahead of FHO’s Peter Hickman and Synetiq’s Andrew Irwin, the latter getting the better of VisionTrack’s Leon Haslam for seventh in the closing stages.
Honda’s Glenn Irwin and Ducati’s Josh Brookes rounded out the top ten, the pair helped by Buildbase Suzuki’s Christian Iddon taking himself and Sykes out of the running with contact while attempting to overtake at Mansfield.
Having gotten his damaged Yamaha back to the pit-lane after being caught up in the earlier red flag smash, Kyle Ryde came home in 12th with Ryan Vickers, Tom Neave and a recovering Iddon completing the points’ paying positions.
