Ray secures triple race win, Race of Aces crown | BSB Snetterton Race Results

The final race of the Snetterton race weekend for British Superbikes ended with a third race win of the weekend for Bradley Ray, despite a time penalty.

After two race wins in the first and second races of the weekend in Snetterton, BSB points leader Bradley Ray was clearly the rider to beat in the third and final race of the final weekend of the regular season, before the Showdown begins in Oulton Park. 

But it was Tarran Mackenzie who started from pole position - and who pushed Ray all the way in race two - after breaking the race lap record in the second race earlier on Sunday afternoon, and the reigning champion made the holeshot ahead of Ray and Andrew Irwin.

Ray hit the front before the end of the first lap, but there was no early sign of a single-rider breakaway. The front two, though, already had an advantage halfway through the second lap. 

A mistake from Ray at turn two on lap five saw Mackenzie reclaim the lead, but, just as Ray, Mackenzie was unable to break away. On the contrary, the pace of the front two was such that the factory Honda of Glenn Irwin was able to start inching back towards the two Yamahas.

Just as Mackenzie started to up the pace (he set the fastest lap of the race on lap nine), the safety car was deployed for a mechanical failure for Storm Stacey's Kawasaki. That of course bunched the pack up, and when the race got back underway at the beginning of lap 11, there was everything to play for with six laps to go.

It was Ray who took the early advantage, passing Mackenzie for the lead at the end of the back straight on lap 11. It got worse for Mackenzie at the start of lap 12, as he ran wide on the way into turn one and dropped to third place behind Glenn Irwin. The battling behind allowed Ray to escape, and he had over one second in advantage with four laps to go. 

Mackenzie was eventually able to establish himself in second place ahead of Irwin, but was unable to do anything about Ray, who took his third race win of the weekend, the 'Race of Aces' trophy, the first triple-win of his career, and ensured he has a 13-point lead over Jason O'Halloran going into the Showdown. 

That was despite a penalty of two long-lap equivalent time penalties that came as a result of Mackenzie going too early on the restart. The same penalty was applied to Mackenzie, who crossed the line second but finished third, and Glenn Irwin, who crossed the line third but finished fourth. It also meant that Peter Hickman was promoted to second place after the flag, for his first BSB podium of the season. 

Behind, Jason O'Halloran and Leon Haslam completed the top six, while Tommy Bridewell was seventh, ahead of Kyle Ryde, Andrew Irwin and Lee Jackson, who rounded out the top 10. 

Full BSB race three results from Snetterton are below. 

2022 British Superbike Championship (BSB) | Snetterton 300 | Race 3 Results