Kent’s Bradley Ray had a weekend of battles at the latest round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship last weekend.

It was a trio of fourth place finishes for Ray at his home round of Brands Hatch on board his OMG Racing Yamaha.

As the opening race unfolded it became a battle for third as Brad Ray held firm in third before a hard-charging Tommy Bridewell edged the Kent rider for the final podium place to leave Ray in fourth place.

Sunday’s temperatures rose further and the atmosphere in the garage was one of determination to close the gap on the lead riders across the day’s two longer races.

Race two looked to repay that determination as Brad led early before the two McAMS Yamahas made their decisive moves. An epic final few laps unfolded with the hometown hero trying everything he knew to haul his Yamaha R1 onto the podium but once again it was agonisingly close at the flag as Bridewell made a repeat of the sprint race.

The final BSB race of the weekend was almost a replay of race two as once again Brad Ray found himself in the podium mix but this time keeping Bridewell at bay in the fight for third place finish but this time it was Glenn Irwin who held on to third place to thwart the efforts of the Lydd rider.

Speaking after the weekend, Ray said: “I feel like this weekend I’ve ridden as hard as I have all year so to come away with three fourths is a little bit frustrating but it’s points on the board and points for the showdown.

“Obviously, podium credits are the main thing for me, but we need to just find out what we’re missing against the other two Yamahas at the minute and take the fight to them as best we can.”

Ian Hopgood Photography