British Superbikes: Ray claims victory in intense Snetterton opener
British Superbikes: Bradley Ray claimed his first victory in the 2026 ZYN British Superbike Championship for McAMS Yamaha in the opening race of the weekend at Snetterton with a 0.272s advantage over Scott Redding at the chequered flag.
Ray had been setting an incredible pace throughout the weekend and in an intense opening race he was able to keep calm under pressure, first in the early stages with six riders in contention at the front, before maintaining an edge over Redding to secure the victory.
The race originally got underway with Ray getting a lightning start to hit the front of the pack ahead of Max Cook and Storm Stacey, but the race was red flagged after Graeme Irwin, Charlie Nesbitt, Glenn Irwin and Rory Skinner were involved at a crash at Wilson.
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Following the first lap incident at Turn 2 (Wilson), Charlie Nesbitt sustained a fracture to the second metacarpal in his right hand and has been declared unfit. Glenn Irwin has pain in his pelvic area and was transferred to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital for further assessment and scans, and is also declared unfit.
On the 14-lap restart, Ray made it a repeat performance to grab the lead into Riches for the first time ahead of Cook, Stacey and Leon Haslam with Kyle Ryde completing the top five.
Cook was pushing to get to the front for the AJN Steelstock bimota team and he made a move at Riches on the fifth lap to grab the lead, however Ray was strong and he moved back ahead four laps later with a dive down the inside at Wilson.
There was heartbreak in the leading pack though with Max Cook forced to retire from second place on lap 11, whilst Storm Stacey was forced out of the battle for third when the Bathams AJN Racing Ducati began smoking heavily at the end of the Bentley Straight on lap five.
At the front Redding was pushing to close in on Ray, but at the chequered flag it was Ray who had the edge, with Ryde elevated from fifth to third with the retirements of Cook and Stacey ahead of him earlier in the race.
The reigning champion had been embroiled in a fierce battle with Moto Rapido Racing’s Leon Haslam, with the pair swapping positions throughout the race. The Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing rider was able to make his move finally stick on lap eight, with Haslam claiming fourth place.
Ryan Vickers scored another impressive top five finish for Honda Racing UK, with Joe Talbot in sixth to score his best result of his rookie campaign so far, ahead of Australian contenders Josh Brookes and Jason O’Halloran. Ilya Mikhalchik scored his best result of the season in ninth place for the ROKiT BMW Motorrad British Superbike Race team and Lee Jackson completed the top ten.
ZYN British Superbike Championship, Snetterton, Race 1 result:
- Bradley Ray (McAMS Yamaha)
- Scott Redding (Hager PBM Racing Team) +0.272s
- Kyle Ryde (Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing) +3.514s
- Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Racing) +6.282s
- Ryan Vickers (Honda Racing UK) +8.453s
- Joe Talbot (AJN Steelstock bimota) +14.280s
- Josh Brookes (DAO Racing Honda) +15.751s
- Jason O’Halloran (Honda Racing UK) +1 lap
- Ilya Mikhalchik (ROKiT BMW Motorrad Superbike Team) +1 lap
- Lee Jackson (DAO Racing Honda) +1 lap
ZYN British Superbike Championship standings:
- Kyle Ryde (Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing) 168
- Scott Redding (Hager PBM Racing Team) 149
- Bradley Ray (McAMS Yamaha) 125
- Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Racing) 120
- Max Cook (AJN Steelstock bimota) 93
- Rory Skinner (Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha) 78
- Ryan Vickers (Honda Racing UK) 72
- Storm Stacey (Bathams AJN Racing Ducati) 67
- Glenn Irwin (Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing) 61
- Christian Iddon (Sencat Racing Yamaha) 53
Bradley Ray
McAMS Yamaha
“I tried to push early on in the first part of the race, but Max [Cook] was keeping me really honest at the start and we were setting reasonable lap times.
“Max tried a few times to pass me into turn one and I could see there was a group of six of us battling. I set quite a good pace to be honest, but I could see that at some point he dropped a couple of tenths per lap and that was my time to try and get back through.
“It’s easy enough to be in second place and end up in fifth on a lap and then it’s much harder to get back through, so I tried to attack early and get into a rhythm.
“I could see on my board that when I was pushing that the gap was still coming down as Scott [Redding] had that dog in him and wanted to fight on that last lap but it would’ve been a ding dong that’s for sure.
“I’m super happy to get the win for the boys, it was a tough race but I’m looking forward for tomorrow.”
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British Superbikes:
For more info check out our dedicated British Superbikes News page
Or visit the official Bennetts British Superbike Championship website www.britishsuperbike.com
©Words/Images are from an official press release posted courtesy of www.britishsuperbike.com
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