There was plenty of nostalgia in the air for round five of the 2026 British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch this weekend, not least when, on Friday, Bradley Ray's McAMS Yamaha squad rolled out a retro design inspired by the 1996 title winning YZF750SP campaigned by Niall Mackenzie.
A tribute to the iconic Cadbury's Boost sponsored machine which powered Niall Mac to the first three BSB titles between 1996 and 1998, Ray raced the purple R1 in all three races at his local Kent circuit, but hopes of grabbing a second title in the series' 31st year were handed a blow when he recorded his worst results of the season, with two eighth places bookending a fourth as Ducati riders Kyle Ryde and Scott Redding continued to stamp their dominance on the championship.
Ray travelled to Brands on the back of a win last time out at Snetterton, when he broke the Ducati men's unbeaten run. With the Ducati machines having their rev limits reduced by 250rpm, in a bid to balance the performance of the latest Panigale V4 R with the other machines, hopes were high that the R1 riders could fight back at a circuit where Yamaha riders won five of the six BSB races last year. It would prove to be a false hope, though, as Ryde became the first ever rider to set a sub 1:24 lap on his way to pole position.
BSB's pace has never been as high, with 2022 champion Ray riding faster than ever. Traditionally the R1 has excelled in hot conditions, as have been the case for most of this summer's rounds, but with a change of control tyre for 2026 and the new Ducatis and bimota taking things to a new level, Ray and the other Yamaha riders have been forced to ride harder than ever to keep up with the competition. As if to rub salt into the wounds, AJN Steelstock bimota's Max Cook took third in each race, consistently proving to be the best of the rest in what is proving to be a breakthrough season for the 23-year-old.
We spoke to Ray ahead of the round, when he explained how the differences between the way in which the Ducati and Yamahas are making it hard for him to fight for the wins. He told us: It's tricky. When I ride on my own I can do what I need to do to run my lines and get the lap times, but when I battle with the Ducatis because we make our lap time up in different areas Ð it makes it hard to fight. I need three or four laps to line up a pass, but then I do make a pass they get me back down the straight. It's frustrating, but I am riding well and we got our first win at Snetterton. All we can do is get our head down, keep working and keep taking the podiums when we can. Hopefully we can find that small bit we're missing.
In a weekend which both celebrated 100 years of Brands Hatch, as well as three decades of the British Superbike Championship, defending champion Ryde fittingly took the ITS King of Brands trophy as the top scorer of the round, extending his championship lead over Redding. The pair battled in all three races. Saturday's race was stopped prematurely following a nasty accident for Eugene McManus, the rookie breaking bones but thankfully avoiding more serious injury after jumping off his MasterMac Honda on the approach to Paddock Hill Bend, and that denied Redding an opportunity to attempt a race winning overtake on his Nitrous Coin/Nitrous Competition backed rival.
Sunday's 12-lap Sprint race was won by Ryde at a blistering pace, taking the win by over two seconds, before Redding finally got the upper hand in the 18-lap Feature race taking his Hager PBM Racing Team Ducati to a fourth win of the season as his rival complained of a small issue with his front brake. Despite the problem, Ryde maintained his 100% podium record in second and he leads Redding by 19 points, with third placed Ray a further 66 behind. It was a tough weekend for all the Yamaha riders.
Ray dropped back dramatically in both the longer races, with rear tyre wear dramatically impacting performance, while Danny Kent a winner at Brands Hatch last year had a best of ninth on his Cheshire Mouldings R1. His team-mate Rory Skinner was top Yamaha in the final outing, passing Ray late on to take seventh, but with a pair of ninths in his other two outings the Scot was as frustrated as the other R1 riders Ð as they try to work out just what they can do to break the Ducati domination.
Speaking after the race, Ray said: "Brands Hatch was a tough weekend for me and the team. We had the raw speed and showed glimpses of what we're capable of, but it just didn't translate into the results in the races. Leaving the circuit, we can confidently say we left everything out there on track.
There's work to do behind the scenes to find some stronger race pace aboard the Yamaha R1, especially on the used tyre. We'll dust ourselves off, regroup, and go again at Oulton Park it's a circuit where we've been strong before, so we'll be pushing hard to find that extra bit we were missing this weekend. Big thanks to the team for the effort all weekend, and for all of their work in getting the special edition livery ready too it was awesome to fly the flag in those colours."
The series takes a week off, before heading to Oulton Park on the weekend of 1-2 August. The Cheshire circuit was the scene of the opening round of the 2026 season, when Ryde took all three wins, and it will be interesting to see how the teams and riders have evolved at the halfway point of the campaign.
