Ryan Vickers absolutely dominated the annual summer Bennetts British Superbike Championship round at Brands Hatch.
No one could get close to the OMG Grilla Yamaha Racing rider as he pulled away in race one on Saturday and never looked back. In the two races on Sunday it was less comfortable due to the red flag in the sprint race, but he pulled away and in the five lap spring for his second win of the weekend.
In the final race of the day and the twenty lap feature race, once again he got the hole shot from the start and no one had any answer for him. He certainly deserved his Monster Energy ‘King of Brands Hatch’ title.
Speaking after the weekend, Vickers said: “There were a few nerves going into the last race when it’s on the line for the triple and you’re riding so well. So starting that last race I was fully focused, I just had to get a good start and I did again.
“I genuinely don’t think I missed an apex that [last] race so I’m extremely happy with that. I just rode to the limit, the same as Navarra. Towards the end of the race I backed off a bit and just managed the gap but it was really good.
“The team worked really hard, they gave me great information on the pit board as well, so that made life a lot easier. Thanks to the OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing Team, they’ve given me a fantastic bike this weekend.
“We’ve struggled with the bike the last few rounds and they’ve believed in me and what I need. To take that next step we needed to change a few things and we’ve done that this weekend and I really feel like I’ve got a race bike now.
“I really feel we’ve made a step with that and that fills me with confidence because it’s not just been a good weekend, we’ve figured something out with the bike so I think that’s going to put us in good stead for the rest of the season.”
Elsewhere Canterbury’s Tom Ward signed off his current BSB stint by winning the Pirelli National Superstock Championship race on Saturday afternoon, his first race win in the series.
He then followed that up with a second place in the Sunday afternoon race, although he couldn’t live with the blistering pace set by Luke Mossey, he held off the challenge of Davey Todd to sign-off in style before heading back to endurance racing.
Faversham’s Finn Smart-Weeden was on track at his home round in the Pirelli Sportbike National Championship. He qualified in seventh place and was looking for a strong weekend.
Racing as the penultimate race of the weekend it was a long gap between Saturday mornings qualifying and the race late Sunday afternoon. He would bring home the Definnitive Racing Aprilia in 8th place and a solid top ten finish after a couple of tough rounds.
Meanwhile in the Quattro Plant British Supersport Championship Jack Nixon from Folkestone rounded off his home round with a GP2 second place finish in race two on Sunday. It meant that it made up for his DNF in race one on Saturday.
Images courtesy of Bennetts British Superbike Championship