Bradley Ray’s rich vein of form continued at Oulton Park on Monday with the Rich Energy OMG Racing Yamaha rider taking his second Bennetts British Superbike Championship win of the weekend. He led from start to finish with Lee Jackson (FS-3 Racing Kawasaki) taking a strong second and Leon Haslam charging through to third on the VisionTrack Kawasaki.
Ray grabbed the holeshot off the line and he led the field round at the end of the opening lap, team-mate Kyle Ryde in second followed by the FS-3 Racing Kawasaki pairing of Jackson and Rory Skinner, Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Ducati) and Josh Brookes (MCE Ducati).
The latter was soon relegated a place by Haslam who was showing good pace whilst championship leader Glenn Irwin (Honda Racing) was again finding the going tough down in 11th. It was even tougher for brother Andrew as he came off the Synetiq BMW at Shell Oils third time around.
Back at the front and Ray had opened up a lead of almost half a second with a new lap record of 1’33.620s. Team-mate Ryde was still in second with Jackson six tenths clear of team-mate Skinner. It looked like the young Scot would lose fourth to Bridewell but he lost the front at Lodge on the fourth lap and crashed out.
The front four were now more than two seconds clear of Haslam with Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW), Brookes, Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) and Christian Iddon (Buildbase Suzuki) disputing sixth. Glenn Irwin was up to tenth with Tom Sykes now in 14th on the second MCE Ducati whilst Conor Cummins (Milenco by Padgetts Honda) was another faller.
By lap seven, Ryde was keeping Ray honest with the gap between the two still only half a second and Jackson was going with them. Skinner had been dropped though and was now more than two seconds adrift of the top three whilst Haslam was now under severe pressure from Hickman. The same lap saw Luke Mossey (TAG Racing Honda) come to grief at Druids and that brought out the safety car for three laps.
It also meant the pack bunched back together but when racing resumed, Ray immediately reasserted his authority and had pulled six tenths of a second over the rest of the field at the end of the 11th lap. That became almost a second a lap later and Ryde and Jackson looked to be edging clear of Skinner and Haslam.
However, whilst Ray was comfortable in the lead, the battle for second hotted up in the closing stages and Jackson overhauled Ryde at Knickerbrook on lap 15. Haslam was also on the move and two laps later took Skinner at Old Hall.
Jackson opened up a gap to take a clear second and it was Haslam who came through to third ahead of Ryde and Skinner with O’Halloran just holding off Iddon and Hickman for sixth. Glenn Irwin took ninth with Brookes in tenth and Sykes 13th.
