Skinner celebrates first victory for Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha as Ray crashes out. 

Rory Skinner celebrated an impressive victory in the opening British Superbike Championship race at Cadwell Park, his first of the season for the Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha team, breaking Kyle Ryde and Leon Haslam at the front as Bradley Ray and Storm Stacey crashed out of the leading pack.

At the start of the race, Skinner got a perfect launch off the line into Coppice for the first time with Ray in close contention on the McAMS Yamaha and Stacey holding third place as Ryde dropped outside the top five.

It was a hectic start to the race, with Ryan Vickers pushing to make his way through the order. However, a mistake at Park on lap two saw him run wide and take to the grass and when he re-joined he was in 11th place as the team debuted their special anniversary livery.

Skinner and Ray were locked together at the front of the pack, with Ray attempting to make a move for the lead at Park on lap four but he couldn’t make it stick, whilst Haslam fought his way into third place ahead of Stacey.

A lap later and there was disaster for Ray when he attempted another move on the brakes at Park, the McAMS Yamaha became unsettled and he couldn’t save it for a second time and he crashed out of second place. Stacey meanwhile also went down on the same lap just after Ray in a separate crash.

Vickers had been making up lost ground after his earlier moment and he had soon closed down on the pack chasing Skinner for the podium, led by Haslam, Ryde, Joe Talbot and Jason O’Halloran. Vickers was soon pushing Talbot for fourth place, but he crashed out at Park and took Talbot down with him.

Skinner then had a margin over the chasing pack, as Haslam continued to hold off Ryde until lap ten when he moved ahead, before fighting hard to hold off his Moto Rapido Racing rival until the chequered flag.

Meanwhile, Scott Redding had put in a determined ride and had moved ahead of O’Halloran and Lee Jackson to claim fourth place for the Hager PBM Racing Team.
Max Cook was seventh on his return to action ahead of Danny Kent, whilst Josh Brookes and Ilya Mikhalchik completed the top ten.

British Superbike Championship, Cadwell Park, Race 1 result:

1.    Rory Skinner (Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha)

2.    Kyle Ryde (Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing) +2.346s

3.    Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Racing) +3.237s

4.    Scott Redding (Hager PBM Ducati) +7.257s

5.    Jason O’Halloran (Honda Racing UK) +9.171s

6.    Lee Jackson (DAO Racing Honda) +9.341s

7.    Max Cook (AJN Steelstock bimota) +11.162s

8.    Danny Kent (Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha) +16.662s

9.    Josh Brookes (DAO Racing Honda) +23.137s

10.    Ilya Mikhalchik (ROKiT BMW Motorrad Superbike Team) +27.519s

British Superbike Championship standings: 

1.    Kyle Ryde (Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing) 364

2.    Scott Redding (Hager PBM Racing Team) 313

3.    Bradley Ray (McAMS Yamaha) 257

4.    Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Racing) 237

5.    Ryan Vickers (Honda Racing UK) 199

6.    Rory Skinner (Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha) 191

7.    Max Cook (AJN Steelstock bimota) 181

8.    Christian Iddon (Sencat Racing Yamaha) 123

9.    Glenn Irwin (Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing) 111

10.    Lee Jackson (DAO Racing Honda) 111

For more information visit www.britishsuperbike.com

Rory Skinner – Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha:

“I didn’t actually expect to get off the line as well as I did! So to get a good jump and holeshot it, I was very happy. I’m always quite happy in the race, like I said at Thruxton, I’m happy to sit up front and set a good pace and I did a lot of my laps over the weekend on my own. So I got my head down!

“Brad had a look past me, but I got back past him again and then the second time he had a look at me he went down so I came back around and saw a gap on my pit board and thought ‘okay, I just need to keep this going’.

“I watched the gap grow and with like seven laps to go I saw the gap go down by point eight and I thought ‘right I need to get myself going again and make sure I keep this gap.’

“Kyle looked good and put up a good fight, but I managed to hold it and I’m really happy. The boys did an excellent job. It’s the third different manufacturer in three years I’ve won on, and me and Stuart my crew-chief have worked really hard to make the best of what we’ve had and I think it’s fair to say I’ve just done that.”