Ray Breaks Away at Knockhill BSB
B
radley Ray, on the Raceways
Yamaha, stretched out his
championship lead with a couple
of wins at the Knockhill round of
the Bennetts British Superbike
Championship, July 5-6. Ray
took two of three wins, taking
a 192-to-140-point lead over
Kyle Ryde (OMG Nitrous Com
-
petitions Racing Yamaha). Race
three winner Rory Skinner, on
the Cheshire Mouldings Ducati,
left Knockhill in third place tied
with Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido
Ducati Racing) at 122 points.
Ray was relentless in his
pursuit of victory in the opening
race on Saturday, as he came
under fire from both Skinner and
Ryde. He held on to win by 1.841
seconds over Ryde and 3.871
seconds over Skinner. Scott
Redding (Ducati) and Tommy
Bridewell (Honda) rounded out
the top five.
Ray won again in Sunday's
race two. This time, he had a bit
more breathing room at the fin
-
ish over Skinner and third-place
Bridewell.
Sunday's third and final race
was restarted twice, after the
first start was initially red-
flagged after three laps due to
climatic conditions, and then
stopped for a second time
when Blaze Baker crashed at
the hairpin on lap seven, leaving
contamination on the track.
Desperate to keep Ray from
sweeping the weekend, Skin
-
ner passed early leader Ray and
rode away with the win, 4.066
seconds ahead of Ray. TAG
Honda's Fraser Rogers finished
a distant third and was thrilled to
have finished on the podium for
his first time.
However, Skinner was even
more excited to get the win. "To
have a triple podium weekend
and be on the top step of the
podium in the last race, hon
-
estly, I'm quite emotional about
it all," Skinner said. "When I got
to the front, I felt strong and
confident, as I knew I could push
right away, so I put the hammer
down."
CN
Superbike
Race 1 (Top 3)
1. Bradley Ray (Yam)
2. Kyle Ryde (Yam) +1.841
3. Rory Skinner (Duc) +3.871
Race 2 (Top 3)
1. Bradley Ray (Yam)
2. Rory Skinner (Duc) +4.135
3. Tommy Bridewell (Hon) +8.528
Race 3 (Top 3)
1. Rory Skinner (Duc)
2. Bradley Ray (Yam) +4.066
3. Fraser Rogers (Hon) +8.683
WIND
IN THE
P44
Bradley Ray (28) was
a double winner at the
Knockhill round of the
Bennetts British Superbike
Championship.
