WSBK: Ryan Vickers Revealed Secret Behind Thruxton Race Success

Alex Harrington | Aug 10, 2024

Ryan Vickers / British Superbikes

At the British Superbikes Championship at Thruxton, Ryan Vickers orchestrated a remarkable performance, overcoming early setbacks and utilizing a strategic masterclass to secure a podium finish. Coming off a triumphant spree at Brands Hatch where he claimed pole position and three race wins, Vickers faced a fresh challenge at Thruxton, struggling initially and barely making it through Q1 to start in fourth position.

Vickers entered the race with a calculated approach, opting to conserve his tire rather than start aggressively.

“The race - it went as planned, you know - I just sat in the pack, didn’t rush, you know. People coming past me, but I just didn’t stress - I just knew I just needed to save my tire and not use any extra effort to pass anybody, so that was my plan and it went perfectly, um almost - except for one position! I could see the gap wasn’t increasing, so I just kept my cool and focused on riding the bike properly and not spinning the tire, so yeah I was really, really happy,” Vickers explained.

As the race unfolded, the movement within the pack were influenced by Jason O’Halloran's decision to slow the pace, a tactic that coincided with Vickers' strategy. The race intensity escalated in the final laps.

Vickers recounted:

“It was an absolutely wild race, probably the best race I’ve ever been a part of, so yeah it’s super cool to be on the podium in a race like that. Coming onto that final lap in second and then losing loads of places and then coming into Church in like fifth, sixth - and I was run outside and managed to get an amazing drive out of Church, and the same as Jason just said - I did have loads of tire at the end and I think if I was able to get through and get a clear lap on my own I might have been able to pull a bit of a gap.”

Vickers continued, noting the significant impact of slipstreaming, which made it tough to break away from the back:

“I think the maximum I went back to - about tenth maybe something like that, eleventh and I still imagined there was more people behind me - it just seemed like a never-ending train of riders, so when you’ve got a group like that, the slipstream effect is so great, its very difficult to break away.”