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Month: July 2024

TRIPLE TREAT FOR VICKERS!

by admin

KING OF BRANDS!

Ryan and the OMG GRILLA Yamaha team were heading to ‘Round 6’ at Brands Hatch in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, a special place for Ryan as he took his first win there in the wet in 2023.

Friday’s conditions were perfect. Excited to start his weekend, Ryan got off to a strong start by setting the fastest time at the beginning of the first session. After making some adjustments to his R1, Vickers went back out on the track and improved his time to 1:26.561, finishing the first part of the session in the lead.

In FP2, the team made some changes, trying some new settings with the rear allowing Ryan to break the 1:25 barrier ending the day in P3 overall but straight into Q2 the following day. 

Saturday’s qualifying session went to plan as Ryan showed his intention, holding the provisional pole in the early stages. An amazing 1:25.061 confirmed back-to-back pole positions after smashing to the top spot in Snetterton a round prior.

Starting from pole position in Race One, Ryan held the lead into Paddock Hill bend and instantly found his groove. An unfortunate crash for Kent behind left him clear at the front of the pack and he continued to extend his lead lap-by-lap. Ryan, the only rider to consistently lap in the mid 1:25s up until lap 18, and with a comfortable nine-second lead, he brought his Yamaha R1 home +7.334 seconds clear of the field, marking his first victory since Navarra at the start of the season.

In Race Two, Ryan started battling with Bridewell and Iddon. He fell behind the two before making a fantastic double pass into Hawthorn’s bend to regain the lead. He continued pushing ahead on the clear track until the race was temporarily stopped due to an accident involving  Hedger. Despite this interruption, Ryan managed to make another strong start from pole position, securing his second win of the weekend he crossed the finish line +1.188 ahead of his rivals.

In Sunday’s final race, Ryan once again took the lead into Paddock Hill bend, leaving the rest of the group to chase after him. He continued to increase his lead with each lap and crossed the finish line to secure another impressive victory +3.073 ahead, completing an incredible hat-trick at Brands Hatch.

Ryan and the OMG team will enjoy a short break before heading to the fastest circuit on the calendar, Thruxton, for Round 7 of the 2024 Bennetts British Superbike Championship.

Ryan Vickers
Race 1 : 1st  | Race 2: 1st | Race 3: 1st
Championship: 6th (146 points)
“It’s been a fantastic weekend at Brands Hatch! I started the weekend strong on Friday, winning on Saturday and then winning two races on Sunday. There are not many riders who’ve done the treble here, so it’s nice to be included in that list! Thank you to the team, because they gave me an amazing bike this weekend. 

I go away not only with the three wins but named ‘Rider of the Round‘ and ‘King of Brands‘ so I’m going home a very happy guy!”

Mixed weekend at Snetterton

by admin

Ryan and the OMG GRILLA Yamaha team were looking forward to Round 5 at Snetterton, Ryan’s home race in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship. 

 

On Friday, he was eager to get out onto the 2.9-mile circuit for his first run in Free Practice 1. Ryan wasn’t happy with how the bike felt so the team made some changes ready for FP2. His confidence grew setting 3 laps under the 1:48 mark, with his fastest lap at 1:47.734. 

 

Ryan made his mark in qualifying on Saturday, setting a 2m:05.868s lap time +0.199s ahead of nearest rival Billy McConnell in very wet conditions. 

Starting Race One in P1, Ryan got a mega start, running full wet tyres, but with a drying track, the riders behind, with different tyre strategies, started pulling him back in. The race was red-flagged due to an incident on lap 9 when Skinner crashed out. 

On the 5-lap restart, Ryan had wheelspin as he went to shift to second gear and ended back in 15th by turn 1. Finding it hard to see the riders around him due to the spray, he kept focused and moved back up to P9. 

On Sunday, the day started dry and during the morning warm-up, Ryan was in the zone and had the settings where he wanted. 

In the sprint race, Ryan got away well and moved up to 3rd place. However, another red-flag incident and light rain halted his progress and he didn’t get such a good start in the restart and got pushed back into a pack of riders. He could not make his way forward as effectively as he did earlier, finishing P7. 

In the last race, he kept up himself at the back of the leading pack until half-race distance when a small mistake whilst defending his line against Irwin cost him a place, frustrating, but more points on the board for Vickers.

It wasn’t quite the homecoming race weekend that Ryan had hoped for, but it was three strong rides to secure his first points since Oulton Park.

Ryan Vickers
Race 1: 9th | Race 2: 7th | Race 3: 8th
Championship: 8th (92 points)
“It’s been a tough weekend really for me at Snetterton. I had hoped for a little bit more but three top tens were all I could get this weekend. Race 1 I was unlucky with the red flag and then had the wheel spin off the line on the restart. Today I just struggled a bit too much when the tyre dropped off which is a bit frustrating. But, I gave it my all and left everything out there and we’ll come back stronger with the lessons learnt here this weekend at Brands Hatch in two weeks.”