Bradley Ray Wins A Dominant Ebay Sprint Race, As The Showdown Fight Continues.

The Bennetts British Superbikes are at the Norfolk circuit of Snetterton for round eight of the championship. This all-important round will decide the eight showdown contenders for the 2022 championship.

Suzuki’s Christian Iddon was on pole position for the first time this season, Kyle Ryde put in a strong performance during Q2 to take the second-place spot on the grid, Ducati’s Tommy Bridewell was in third place. Jason O’Halloran was starting way down the grid in 19th position, the Australian hadn’t had the best start to round eight with suffering technical issues. Rory Skinner chose not to take part in the race as the young Scottish rider had a slight neck injury from his crash during qualifying.

There was a two-minute silence held before the start of the Ebay Sprint Race in memory of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Kyle Ryde got the holeshot into Riches, Brad Ray got into third place. Danny Buchan, Ryan Vickers and Josh Owens all crashed at Agostini’s which brought the safety car out. Brad Ray had passed Kyle for first place just before the incident, was this the moment Buchan missed out on his chance to get into the showdown?

The safety car pulled in on lap three, Brad Ray was leading the way followed by team-mate Ryde. Haslam had a lightening start and got up to tenth place from his 19th place grid position. Iddon was third and fighting Ryde for second place, Bridewell was in fourth.

Brad Ray started to pull a gap on lap five, Iddon got the better of Ryde to take the second-place position. Ryde looked to be losing a bit of momentum as Bridewell took third place from the Nottinghamshire rider. Haslam was now into eighth place; the Derbyshire rider was fighting for a showdown place. On lap six Bridewell took second place from Iddon, Kyle had slipped back to sixth place, Tarran Mackenzie was in fifth place whilst his team-mate was in 13th place.

Bridewell had to pull over on lap eight with a mechanical issue! He managed to restart the bike and rejoined the race at the back of the field. Mackenzie made his way up to second place, Iddon was third, with Ryde in fourth place. Brad Ray was riding a perfect race at the front, team-mate Ryde slipped underneath Iddon to get back into third place.

Brad crossed the finish line to take his fifth victory of the 2022 season, Mackenzie was second, Kyle Ryde won the battle for third place, Iddon was fourth, Haslam finished in fifth place. Lee Jackson and Glenn Irwin are now confirmed for the showdown.

Featured Images: Olithephoto.