Kent’s Bradley Ray dominated the opening race of the Bennett’s British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park this afternoon.

It was a lights to flag victory for Ray as he dominated from the off having started from pole position. He was leading by 5.5 seconds at one stage and crossed the line with a two second victory having managed the end of the race under no pressure.

As statements go this was a marker in the sand from Ray, after two years away in the World Superbikes. It looks like Ray has set his stool out early to try and win back the crown he won in 2022.

Behind him there was an almighty scrap for the podium places, which ended with Glenn Irwin second and the former champion Leon Haslam in third.

It is shaping up to be a competitive season, with two races to come tomorrow, with Ray going from pole in the sprint race at lunchtime.

Speaking after race one, Ray said: “I wasn’t expecting that, I was expecting a little bit more of a tough race! It was difficult to know where everyone was at pace wise because obviously testing is different.

“I got a good start and I knew how good I was on new tyres so I just thought ‘you know what, I don’t know what the tyres are going to do towards the end so let’s just push to get a gap and manage what I need to at the end.’

“I had enough tyre, Glenn was closing in at the end but I saw L2 plus three and I thought that was enough to just bring it home. You can feel everything, everything was going through my mind and I was thinking about a lot of things, leading for 18 laps is difficult on your own. I’m just super happy for the team, and Steve and everyone.

“I was missing that winning feeling and being competitive, but I’ve got that back today. It’s going to be a long season for sure, but I’m just super happy for everyone involved and we’ll celebrate at some point.”