British Superbikes Donington Park: Ray win stops Sykes treble

2 Oct 2022

British Superbikes had seen Tom Sykes back to his best but it was Bradley Ray who edged nearer to the 2022 title with the final win of round ten at Donington Park.

In a race that will be remembered for it’s huge crashes and Glenn Irwin’s missing footpeg, it was hard to stand out at the front, but Bradley Ray got his head down to pick up the full 25 points to add towards his championship tally.

The red flag and safety would have put many off but Ray was ready to use the restart as a chance to improve and hit the front after Tom Sykes had started in the lead, lining him up for a triple at Donington Park.

The Rich Energy OMG Yamaha rider Stated “The race was strange, obviously the safety car, the red flag at the start, was a bit of a shame but we got the restart done and the safety car came out - Glenn [Irwin] actually did a really good job of getting that fast corner and pulling a small gap that I had to close down a little bit”.

Undeterred by Irwin’s great start as the safety car left, Ray still felt like the race was worth chasing. His patience behind was rewarded when the unfortunate Honda rider lost his footpeg, allowing him to re-take the lead.

“[I] got to the lead of the race. Felt quite comfortable, then Glenn went past me againso I assumed he had better pace than me and , to be fair, in sector one I was a little bit stronger but in the rest of the track he was a little bit quicker than me so I was happy to sit there, but unfortunately for him, he lost his footpeg coming out of the Foggy Esses and I knew at that moment that I had to pull out a few clean laps to pull enough of a gap to manage it towards the end”.

Lowering the lap record helped and Ray crossed the line 2.226s ahead of an Irwin, but it was brother Andy in second.

The Synetiq BMW Motorrad rider had one of his best race this season, helped by a first crash free weekend to make it back to the podium for the first time since the opening round at Silverstone.

Irwin credited his team and all the hard work they have put in for him this season:

“I think the team have transformed the bike. We started off good then we went, I think, a funny direction, it definitely didn’t work - and now we’re back feeling confident and comfortable”.

‘Like a stiff Michael Rutter the last few laps’

The heroic ride by his brother, foot on the exhaust without a peg to lean on was one of the big talking points of the race, not only because he managed to finish, but brought the Honda home on the podium.

After the bad luck at breaking the footpeg, he was due a little good and a wobble from Tommy Bridewell who had just rocked up behind as he struggled to pull out a pass on him, was window enough to go back through and block all the way to the chequered flag.

Irwin said of the incident:
“The footpeg snapping will probably be the talking point, but like I said there’s so much positive to take.

I had to find another place to put my foot, I don’t ride like Bradley or Andrew with the elbow to the ground, but it doesn’t hinder me too much - I was certainly like a stiff Michael Rutter the last few laps there, I tried everything I could . If the front is going to fold, then the front is going to fold, because I couldn’t do anything to help, my centre of gravity was so high.

Off the podium

That left Oxford Products Ducati rider Tommy Bridewell in fourth, with the pair still in with a slim chance of the title.

Danny Buchan made the most of the restart to put both of the Synetiq BMW Motorrad bikes inside the top five.

Kyle Ryde was a much improved sixth on the second Rich Energy OMG Yamaha bike - Lee Jackson was next to finish in seventh, ruling him out of the title with Cheshire Mouldings FS-3 Kawasaki.

Ryan Vickers (FHO RAcing BMW with Attis Sports) was eighth - his best result of the season.

Buildbase Suzuki’s Danny Kent and VisionTrack Kawasaki rider Leon Haslam completed the top ten, an improvement for both on the previous race.

Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW) faded back to eleventh, with Storm Stacey (Team LKQ Euro Car Parts Kawasaki) twelfth, equalling his second best result of the season.

Charlie Nesbitt improved again on his third replacement ride, sitting in for Christian Iddon at Buildbase Suzuki.

Honda riders Tom Neave and Takumi Takahashi were 14th and 15th.

Tom Sykes was named rider of the round for his double wins in the first two races.

Injury update

Sykes didn’t finish the third race after Jason O’Halloran couldn’t get his bike stopped and ran into the back of the former World Champion, sending himself flying into the air. Sykes retired into the pits.

His crash at the Melbourne Haripin brought out the safety car. The #22 was released from medical care shortly after the race. He took a knock to his thumb, ankle and face to add to his injury woes and visited Sykes to apologise for his error. Dean Harrison also retied from the race.

The situation regarding the first accident, which brought out the red flag remains more serious. That was for the crash of Chrissy Rouse, who fell exiting Goddards Corner after one lap.

Rouse sustained a significant head injury so was stabilised and put in a medically induced coma by the BSB medical team. He was transferred to Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham.