Ryan Vickers was seventh on the grid and up against it in a wet, delayed, final BSB race at Brands Hatch, before one of the best starts of the season launched him into first place, where he remained at the chequered flag.
Speaking to British Superbikes after the race, the Honda Racing UK rider first addressed the weather, with all the riders keen to point out a lack of wet weather time on track in recent years, as they were hit with a deluge at the start of Race 3 having just narrowly missed the first heavy shower of the day, which arrived as the sprint podium finishers took to the rostrum:
“It’s fantastic. You know, it’s not been an easy season, but we’ve really come to fruition the last sort of half of this season, and finishing off in that way was fantastic.
Wet race, again, no-one’s really done too many laps. I’ve probably done a lot more laps that Kyle. Obviously, there’s been a few sessions where I’ve been out, and he hasn’t. But again, it’s just like - it’s not been full wet. That was the first full wet session we’ve had. The temperature was so low that it was again different. So it’s a bit of a gamble”.
It was impossible to discuss Vickers race without mentioning his start which saw the Honda rider around the outside of everybody to pop up in first, gaining six places immediately, which he never lost despite the gap back to second ebbing and flowing over the race:
“My starts have been good all year, but honestly I can’t wait to go back to the garage and have a look at the data. But I reckon that was like a 2.6 ‘cause I went from seventh to P1 - and I couldn’t believe that.
I got the lights out perfect, the jump was amazing. I was like, right, just got to commit to the outside and just, like, bang - around the outside. It was great!”
With P1 often risky in the wet, being the first to any changing weather or hazards, the number 7 was quick to point out that it also carried the advantage of not having to deal with spray form other riders bikes, allowing him time to learn the conditions and what to expect at the turns:
“Then, I was in the perfect place, you know, ‘cause it’s difficult following with spray and just set a decent pace. I didn’t want to go out there and set an almighty pace straight away and crash, or something like that.
So, I just built into it nice, defended where I needed to and then just got set and I sort of understood the corners where I had to be a bit careful. Had plus pretty much zero on my board the whole race”.
Though it was Kyle Ryde giving chase for most of the race, and closing on more than one occasion, including over the final laps where the championship winner put in a final push with a series of fastest laps, Vickers had convinced himself it was Scott Redding, winner of the first two races at the meeting, and was spurred on to win by the thought of denying the PBM Ducati rider a triple, something which Vickers has achieved himself at Brands Hatch, back in 2024:
“I thought it was actually Scott the whole race, I don’t know why, but I was thinking I can’t let him have a triple. I was like, I can’t do that, I got to go and win. So pushed all the way to the line and yeah, really happy to finish the season off in this way”.