Ryan Vickers a “disheartening” second - “Danny had a slightly better bike underneath”

Ryan Vickers lead the early part of the opening race of the Brands Hatch finale after a strong launch from pole, but met his match in Danny Kent in the damp, tricky conditions.

The OMG Grilla Yamaha rider revealed he was a little disappointed not to have won at a track where he runs well, but was happy with his performance overall:

“Pretty happy, you know. It’s always a bit of a disheartening one when you don’t win, and obviously that’s what we’re here to do. So, um it’s one of those, but Danny had a slightly better bike underneath him, and was able to get a little bit more out of it than I was.”

• 2024 British Superbikes: Brands Hatch (Showdown Finale) - Race Results (1)
• 2024 British Superbikes: Brands Hatch (Showdown Finale) - Qualifying Results

The aim had been to get away out front, which initially went to plan, but the treacherous conditions - qualifying had seen two red flags, with more in the support races, leading to caution - meant riding on the limit:

“I got away nice and sort of made a mistake on the first lap - I managed to keep the lead, I could tell that I’d pulled a bit o a gap straight away. I guess that I just didn’t hear many bikes behind me except from lap one, so that was mission accomplished in the sense of just get away, get out of trouble and just try and find a really good rhythm.

It was so difficult - the track is so difficult at the moment - the grip level changes so dramatically between the new tarmac and the old tarmac, so yeah, we’re just trying to figure out where the limit is -

I did that - I was on the limit, you know, but I had just two corners where Danny was a lot stronger than me, especially the exit, the last corner.”

For much of the rest of the race Vickers was assured second. Several riders struggling in the conditions lead to the backmarkers needing to be lapped and cleared, which brought Kent back into his sights briefly, but also allowed Tommy Bridewell a chance to close in:

“It was a really good race happy to bring home P2, was a bit worried when Tommy was climbing back midway part through that race. I was thinking, well, he’s obviously riding really strong and I noticed at the end that we was just a little bit stronger, so we managed to pull the gap back out to three seconds on the last lap and I could chill out, Danny was gone so I just maintained the gap to him”.

Though Vickers is no longer in the title hunt himself, his teammate Kyle Ryde retains a small lead - now a point, so the #7 has offered to be a wingman where possible for the final round. Race one saw him able to place higher than Bridewell, saving valuable points difference for Ryde, who came straight to Vickers to tell him of his climb to fourth at the chequered flag behind:

“Really happy Kyle said to me on the night he got P4, so that’s a good job from him, those conditions are so tricky, so easy to make a big mistake and I wouldn’t want to be in that position, in doing a race like that when you’re fighting for a championship. It would make it a lot more risky!”