Ray storms to maiden BSB win at 2018 opener

Click here for full BSB race one results at Donington Park

Bradley Ray has shocked the 2018 Bennetts British Superbike championship field to take a maiden victory in the series at the season opener for Buildbase Suzuki at Donington Park.

The British rider bolted past early leader James Ellison on lap six going up the inside at Redgate before building a useful lead over the chasing pack in cold conditions at Donington Park. In a shortened 18-lap race, Ray maintained a lead before a tense final lap when Ellison and Shane Byrne reeled in the youngster.

On the last lap Byrne nipped underneath Ellison at the Melbourne hairpin but with Ray blocking the inside line the 20-year-old used the power of the Suzuki GSX-R1000 to stretch ahead around Goddards to claim an historic first BSB win.

With the defending BSB champion Byrne taking second place ahead of Ellison, Dan Linfoot lead the chasing field in fourth place for Honda Racing ahead of JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Luke Mossey.

Glenn Irwin bounced back from a nasty FP1 fall to claim a strong sixth place for Be Wiser Ducati ahead of Honda’s Jason O’Halloran who suffered a messy final lap while Peter Hickman came home in eighth place for Smiths Racing BMW.

Pole-sitter Leon Haslam suffered a huge drop in pace by mid-race distance to go from second down to ninth place on the JG Speedfit Kawasaki as Tyco BMW’s Michael Laverty completing the top ten.

Jake Dixon secured 11^th place for RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki ahead of McAMS Yamaha’s Josh Brookes and FS-3 Racing Kawasaki’s Danny Buchan as Christian Iddon (Tyco BMW) and Taylor Mackenzie (Moto Rapido Ducati) rounded out the points places.

Kyle Ryde and Tommy Bridewell were the only non-finishers in the 2018 BSB opener after being involved in a crash together on lap three.