British Superbikes Brands Hatch: Win for Irwin not enough as Ray takes title
Bradley Ray only needed on race at Brands Hatch to secure the 2022 British Superbike title as Glenn Irwin did all he could to try and keep the championship running to the final day with a race win.
The final round of the championship saw it’s first day of race action end with a championship win for Bradley Ray, with Glenn Irwin leaving it all on track as one of only two people who could have stopped the man from Kent as round eleven got underway at Brands Hatch.
Glenn Irwin secured pole earlier in the day with a well timed lap before rain saw qualifying grind to an early halt.
Thay left the race as a bit of an unknown as no rider was really sure if their rivals had shown their full potential.
‘It’s all I could do’
Glenn Irwin and his Honda truly had. Working together perfectly as they did when he took his triple at Silverstone, the #2 got off to a flying start and was first to the first corner and after some early pressure from Peter Hickman and his brother Andrew, Irwin dug deep and pulled out almost a three second lead which he managed all the way to the line to win by 1.374 seconds, though Irwin acknowledged that it was too late saying:
“It’s all I could do… It’s not enough to win the championship but let’s be realistic, Bradley has out-performed me the majority of this season. In the past few rounds we were probably on a par in terms of pace, which has been a huge step up for Honda.
If anything it’s given me more for next year, but it’s a little too late for this year, hats off to him he’s a very deserving champion”.
‘Every BSB race is difficult nowadays’
Behind Peter Hickman was trying to keep in touch and, at least for the first part of the race, gave Irwin a run for his money, in part thanks to a good start when the lights went out:
“Every BSB race is difficult nowadays, it doesn’t matter if you win or finish 15th they’re all rock hard ‘cause everyone’s so, so fast!”
Hickman continued to elaborate on what got him ahead adding: ‘made a good start - my starts have not been brilliant this year for some reason - and I actually made a nice, clean one. Glenn just beat me to turn one, I was quite happy to follow Glenn to start with.
From mid-distance onwards we just don’t quite have enough rear grip - nearly crashed at Druids trying to stick with Glenn on the exit and that’s what let Andy have a go at me at the bottom of Graham Hill - Andy style he gave me a little nudge on the way through as well.”
Hickman managed to keep his FHO Racing bike ahead of fellow BMW rider Andrew Irwin, who was having a lack of confidence on his Synetiq machine:
“I didn’t feel very confident or very comfortable to be honest, qualifying was probably quite similar, I didn’t feel like I had a lot of speed.
I got a good start and just gritted my teeth. The first half of the race we had the back of Glenn - once his [Hickman] bike started sliding and so did mine, I think we both needed to find a bit more grip for later on in the race.
Off The Podium - Ray Takes Title
The first off the podium position went to Tommy Bridewell for Oxford Products Ducati. Also in with a mathematical chance at the title before the race his position fighting with Ray on track meant he would not be in contention while Irwin could only wait to see what played out behind.
Ray had been sat in fourth but could not make up the gap, not that he needed to -the rider was well aware that seventh if either Irwin or Bridewell won as low as seventh was enough to still take the title.
It took Bridewell two attempts to get past - the first time he ran wide at Surtees allowing Ray back through and a gap but chased the Rich Energy OMG Yamaha down again.
‘It wasn’t easy, let me tell you’
Ray has had no luck at his home round of Brands Hatch, never finishing on the podium there on the GP layout used for the BSB race.
Today wasn’t any different but a top three was not needed - fifth brought a unassailable 52 point gap handing Ray the BSB crown after he kept clear of the number 46.
Reflecting on his first win, Ray was beaming:
“It wasn’t easy let me tell you! I approached the start of the race like I would any other, dug in at the start, tried to get as far up the field as possible and started having a few moments and a few slides and, to be honest, I settled into fourth - tried to catch Andy and Pete but couldn’t manage to do it, so I was happy to sit where I needed to.
When Tommy passed me I had plus four seconds and I was fifth so I knew I’d be safe on the last few laps because seventh is what I needed to get if Glenn won it, so I settled into the race, I wanted to give more but I had to bring it home for the championship.
Ray went on to thank his family and friends while all the riders dedicated their performances to Chrissy Rouse and his loved ones.
