The fifth round of the 2026 British Superbike Championship got underway for McAMS Yamaha this weekend, with the team wheeling out a stunning special edition livery across the weekend’s races aboard Brad Ray’s R1 – inspired by the original colours of the Cadbury’s Boost YZF750.

The team’s weekend at the Kent-based venue was highlighted by a best result of fourth for Ray in the second charge of the weekend, an additional podium for R9 prospect Ben Currie in the Quattro Group British Supersport Championship, and encouraging top 5 finishes for Lincolnshire’s Harry Truelove.

The Brands Hatch weekend got off to a strong start for the crew – ending with Ray finding an improved feeling throughout the day – clocking a fastest lap of 1:24.749 in Pre-Qualifying to secure a spot directly through to Qualifying 2 on Saturday. On the R9 side of the operation, Currie and Truelove rounded out Friday with an encouraging feeling found, sat fourth and eighth respectively in combined times.

Currie carried that pace directly into Saturday’s Qualifying, putting the McAMS Yamaha R9 on pole position once again with a best lap of 1:27.454, while Truelove also featured in the mix, qualifying fifth. Ray, meanwhile, secured a fifth-place grid start in Saturday’s BSB Qualifying 2.

Saturday’s curtain-raiser marked the on-track debut of the eye-catching Cadbury’s Boost-themed McAMS Yamaha R1, with all eyes on how the striking new colours would fare over 20 laps. Ray lined up on the second row, hopeful of banking a solid haul of points to kick things off.

He made a clean start, slotting into fifth before working his way past fellow R1 rider Christian Iddon for fourth by Lap 4. From there, though, the race began to slip away from him – dropping to sixth by the halfway point before losing two more places across Laps 12 and 13.

Ray crossed the line eighth to close out the opening race, leaving the team with plenty to address before Sunday.

Race 1 of the British Supersport Championship turned into a battle at the front for the McAMS Yamaha pair, who found themselves locked into a tight leading group from the drop of the lights. Currie, starting from pole, got the jump he needed and held station inside the top three, refusing to give his title rivals an easy inch.

Running in third and closely followed by Truelove in fourth, it was Currie who ended on top – banking his sixth podium of the season, while his Lincolnshire teammate carried the R9 home in fourth.

Fast-forward to Sunday, and overnight adjustments to the R1 paid off, with Ray and the team looking sharper in warm-up, going third fastest and serving early notice that a fightback was on the cards for the Sprint.

Lining up sixth for the 12-lap encounter, he wasted no time making his intentions clear, slotting into the top three during the opening lap before settling back to fourth as the race unfolded.

Ray kept the pace honest with a string of 1:24s, eventually crossing the line just shy of the podium. It was a determined ride that yielded a fastest lap of 1:24.446 and, crucially, earned him a front-row slot for the weekend’s final race.

Starting from the third row for the final race of the weekend, Ray made the holeshot to lead the pack through the early stages of Lap 1. He soon slipped to fourth, holding position until a Safety Car bunched the field on Lap 6.

From there, the #28 rider struggled to regain momentum on used tyres, dropping back several positions despite every effort to push on, ultimately taking the flag in eighth to round off the weekend.

Heading into the next round at Oulton Park in two weeks time, Ray retains his spot of third in the championship standings.

Sunday’s finale in the British Supersport Championship began well for Currie, who nailed the holeshot from the front row and led the field through the opening exchanges. What followed was a four-way scrap for the lead, with the Australian going wheel-to-wheel against championship contenders Jack Kennedy, Oli Bayliss and Luke Stapleford.

That fight came to a head at Druids, where Currie found himself running an inside line against Stapleford and was forced wide to avoid contact, a moment that had knock-on effects further back, catching out teammate Truelove in the process. Neither rider let it derail their race, though. Currie dug in to salvage fourth, still eyeing a route to the podium until the chequered flag, while Truelove kept his head down to bring the R9 across the line in fifth.

The results leave Currie second in the championship standings heading into the summer break, having chipped the deficit to the series leader down to 30 points, with Truelove now up to sixth overall. Attention turns next to Oulton Park, host of round six in a fortnight.