Pre-season is complete! Ray tops the final test ahead of Oulton Park season opener

The Bennetts British Superbike Championship pre-season is over following the final R&G Official Test at Oulton Park as Bradley Ray and Raceways Yamaha topped the combined times ahead of the season opener in Cheshire on the Bank Holiday weekend (May 3/4/5).

The 2022 Champion set a blistering pace in the penultimate session to set the benchmark time after the two day test, with his fastest lap just 0.035s adrift of the all-time fastest lap at the circuit, which he set during his title-winning campaign.

Ray said: “I am very happy and it has been a good test. Yesterday was good to get back to Oulton Park and we made some changes overnight and I felt really strong this morning. I am super happy and we have also done some runs on some older tyres and have shown good pace so it has been very positive and we are looking forward to round one now.”

Glenn Irwin closed to within 0.330s in the final session with his best lap coming on his final run on the Hager PBM Ducati, just 0.287s ahead of Leon Haslam and the Moto Rapido Ducati Racing team, with the top three setting a pace within the existing lap record.

Reigning Champion Kyle Ryde ended the test fourth fastest overall despite a small crash at Lodge in the final session of the day as he prepares to kick off his title defence with the OMG Nitrous Competitions Racing Yamaha team in just nine days’ time.

Danny Kent completed the top five for McAMS Racing Yamaha just ahead of the AJN Steelstock Kawasaki teammates led by Max Cook, whilst Christian Iddon crashed out at Shell in the final session.

Rookie Scott Swann continued to impress on the Send My Bag Racing by IWR Honda as he edged out Charlie Nesbitt for eighth place to be the top Honda rider on the timesheets at the end of the test. Tommy Bridewell completed the top ten for Honda Racing UK ahead of the much-anticipated season opener.

Bennetts British Superbike Championship, R&G Official Test, Oulton Park, combined result:

1. Bradley Ray (Raceways Yamaha) 1m:32.983s
2. Glenn Irwin (Hager PBM Ducati) +0.330s
3. Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Ducati Racing) +0.617s
4. Kyle Ryde (OMG Nitrous Competitions Racing Yamaha) +0.682s
5. Danny Kent (McAMS Racing Yamaha) +0.931s
6. Max Cook (AJN Steelstock Kawasaki) +1.115s
7. Christian Iddon (AJN Steelstock Kawasaki) +1.284s
8. Scott Swann (Send My Bag Racing by IWR Honda) +1.303s
9. Charlie Nesbitt (MasterMac Honda) +1.341s
10. Tommy Bridewell (Honda Racing UK) +1.403s

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©Words/Images are from an official press release posted courtesy of www.britishsuperbike.com