Bradley Ray extended his lead at the top of the Bennett’s British Superbike Championship as the showdown got underway at Oulton Park at the weekend.

It could have been even better for Ray but for tyre issues that hampered the end of the third restart of race two of the weekend and race three. 

With his rivals falling and getting caught up in incidents, Ray roared off into the distance in race one on Saturday and won by a country mile as he looked to continue his dominant form.

In race two on Sunday it looked as though things would follow the same route as he roared off before a red flag. At the restart again Ray was out of sight before another red flag. This time a change of tyres and on the restart he got away again but the tyres went away from him and his rivals closed him down and he has to settle for third place.

Race three followed a similar pattern as the end of race two, he got away but was realed in and ended up finishing in fifth place.

It means he goes into the races next weekend at Donington Park with a 40 point advantage over Tommy Bridewell.

Speaking after the weekend, Ray said: “Overall it was a positive weekend, we came here with a thirteen-point lead and we leave with a forty-point lead but not ideal losing so many points to Tommy Bridewell, especially in race three.

“It was a shame earlier with the two restarts, we had the win in the bag but we’ve no idea what happened with the tyre for the third restart, it left me with nothing to give for the win so that was a bit of a shame but overall, the positives are there, also we’re back safe and best wishes to Jason, Taz, Christian and Rory.”

Images courtesy of Ian Hopgood Photography