Bradley Ray topped the majority of the timed sessions at the Cadwell Park BSB, but didn’t win any of the races; on Monday, this was thanks to a defensive effort from Ryan Vickers.

Vickers made the holeshot in both Race 2 and Race 3. Ray had better pace than the Honda rider, especially in the 18-lapper, but was never able to find a way through.

Vickers himself spoke after Race 3 of how he used the strengths of his bike to hold off Ray, who felt he had more to give in the final race.

“I actually got a good start,” Bradley Ray told TNT Sports after BSB Race 3.

“Got the jump, I thought ‘Perfect’, then Ryan [Vickers] came across and I thought ‘Right, okay, it’s going to be the same as the sprint race’. 

“I was just trying to sort of put him under a bit of pressure in that race. 

“The lap times, I was looking at the dashboard and I could see 1:26.8, 1:27.0, and I thought ‘I’ve got much more’. I felt like I had much more and I was riding within myself. 

“But to be fair, Ryan just rode defensive, braked really late everywhere and didn’t allow me to go through. 

“So, fair play to him, but I felt like we could’ve done a bit more in that race.”

Ray’s best chances to pass seemed to be down the hill into Mansfield, where he’d passed Kyle Ryde for second in the early laps, or the corner after that, entering the chicane before the Mountain section.

“I lined it up [at the chicane],” Ray said of the last lap of Race 3, “but the trouble into there [is] you’re so deep anyway, and Ryan was deep in all the braking areas, to be fair. 

“If I went through it would’ve been an on-the-grass jobbie and back where I was. 

“I had to be smart. 

“Trust me, if there was a way through I would’ve found it, but unfortunately we didn’t.”