Ryan Vickers and Honda on the back foot in BSB: “We’re pushing beyond the limit, but I’ve turned a corner”

A bike that doesn’t deliver as much as it should, ridden consistently beyond the limit, yet almost never on the ground. Ryan Vickers ends his comeback year in the British Superbike Championship with what he himself calls a personal turning point.

After putting his one-season stint in the World Superbike Championship behind him, the Honda Racing UK rider finished the championship in fourth place, with five wins to his name, establishing himself as one of the leading riders not on a Ducati.

The only rider ahead of him in the standings was Bradley Ray, who had made a stronger start to the season on his Yamaha. In the second half of the year, though, Vickers was almost always faster, and the win tally says it all: five for the Honda rider, two for the Yamaha rider.

The statistic Vickers is proudest of is his consistency. In the past, injuries and missed races had taken their toll on his BSB performances. None of that happened this year: no serious physical problems and no absences. "I genuinely feel like I’ve made a huge breakthrough as a person. I’m not making any big mistakes," he told Crash.net after the final race at Brands Hatch. The retirements are easy to count: "I crashed in one race this year, I think, got taken out in another and had a mechanical issue. So three DNFs, and only one was my fault. That’s not bad at all—it’s very consistent."

The point is clear: just a few crashes all year, despite a bike that performed below expectations and forced him to push "way beyond the limit" just to get results. That’s why Vickers says he is "really proud" of both the team and himself, convinced he also helped Honda make progress. According to the Briton, the experience he gained in the World Championship, along with his past BSB experience on a Yamaha, enabled him to provide useful feedback to improve the package. "And they believed in me, which is the most important thing," he added.

The final round at Brands Hatch was a snapshot of his season. Vickers ended the year with a win and took two podiums from three races, but in Race 2, the shortest of the weekend, he had to settle for fifth. The problem was the same one that had dogged him all season: the bike’s tendency to wheelie on corner exit.

"In Race 2, I think everyone else took a step forward, and we lose too much time on acceleration because of the wheelies. The Ducati is very good in that respect, and the Yamaha is better too—it doesn’t wheelie as much," he admitted. However, comparing this weekend with the July round at the same track shows just how much the package has improved: back then, he finished sixth twice and fifth once. "Much better than at the start of the year. We’ve reduced the problem and improved the bike in a few other areas," Vickers explained, wrapping up enthusiastically: "Race 1 was fantastic. Two podiums from three races and a win—simply mega."

With a bike that still needs work on acceleration and a rider who feels he has found his maturity, the foundations for next year are already in place: if Honda can tame the wheelies, Vickers can aim higher than fourth.

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