Brands BSB: First title ‘super-special’ for Ray

Coming into the final round at Brands Hatch with a 66-point lead, Bradley Ray only needed to finish in seventh place in Saturday’s opening Bennetts British Superbike Championship race and fifth place duly saw him and the Rich OMG team clinch their first BSB title.

Seven wins and 19 podiums prior to the Showdown put the Lydd man in the driving seat and he never took his foot off the pedal, taking full advantage of his own high standards of riding and misfortune of others to continually pull away. Two wins and another two podiums in the first six races of the Showdown made it practically a formality ahead of the final round and he duly delivered on Saturday to ensure the championship didn’t go to the final day. “Being called British Superbike Champion sounds alright, doesn’t it??!!,” a jubilant, and emotional, Ray said afterwards. “It’s what the team, myself and my family have all been working for.

“We’ve dug in all season and did what we needed to do at the start of the championship and then, coming into the Showdown, we knew we had to try and do the best job possible to secure the championship.” “It was nice to come to Brands with such a big advantage. That took a bit of pressure off me but no, honestly, I’m super proud and super happy to get the championship done and dusted on the Saturday so I can now enjoy Sunday a little bit more.” “It means so much to myself, my family and the team to do it here at Brands Hatch with all my close friends and close family here so, yeah, it’s super-special.”