'How racing should be' – Is British Superbikes motor sport's most exciting series?

Few other championships have a selection of circuits like the UK. From the natural bowl of Brands to the flat-out blast at Thruxton, the undulating Knockhill and beautiful Oulton Park, Redding says the venues are a natural attraction.

“The circuits have got character, [each track is] a proper race track. You’ve got your Jerez and Barcelona, and I’ve been an’ experienced them all. It’s nice [on a grand prix circuit], but it can get boring very quick.

“There, you’re chasing the limit of the tyres on your bike, but in BSB you’re trying to chase the limit of the circuit and your capability, because you’ve got no electronics, but you’ve got bumps, jumps, you got downhills, uphills.

“I’ve never experienced any of that at any world championship circuit I’ve been on, and I got all of that here at Brands! It changes the whole concept of the race.

“I wouldn’t say Cadwell Park is one of my favourites, because it’s just so gnarly – I love it – but it just scares me every single lap multiple times.

“Marc Márquez crashes a lot. You can’t get away with riding like that on these circuits. If you bring a lot of foreign riders here, they’ll be like: ‘I ain’t riding that!’ But BSB boys, you grow up on it.”

“It just makes people want to come watch and see the jumps and see our superbikes go around this skinny little track,” agrees Ray.

With such thrills comes inevitable danger though. BSB was struck by tragedy earlier this year, when Owen Jenner and Shane Richardson were killed in a first-lap pile-up  when competing in the British Supersport Championship support series at Oulton Park.

Deaths are more of an unfortunate reality in motorbike racing than in cars, particularly at tight circuits on the UK calendar. Is it something which plays on the mind of these riders?

“You can’t really say that’s anything to do with the championship, because you get that happening all around the world – you’ve had it in MotoGP as well,” says Redding.

“It’s not something any of us want to happen, but it is a risk in the sport. Could it improve? Yes, I’m not going to sit here and go: ‘Oh, they’re the safest tracks in the world’, because they’re not.

“You’ve got to put in your head that there are some places on the track you can’t go to the limit. If you want to risk it and go to the limit, so be it.

“But you have to make that choice when you have freak accidents happen or something on the first laps. It’s just luck of the draw, man.

“They are developing to try and make it safer and better, and changing bikes and tyres, they’re working all the time. It’s something that maybe people don’t see as much on the outside as you see on the inside, but we are doing a ****ing dangerous sport.”

This weekend though fans will be looking forward to another bonanza of great racing, with the stars prepared to express themselves to the fullest on and off-track.

“I feel I bring a nice character to BSB and I think that also inspires other riders to do similar things,” says Redding. “We are entertainers, and we need to entertain. Our main job is racing, but there’s a lot more to it.

“I should have been born 30-40 years ago, and that would have been my era, but I feel here is the closest I can get to it.

“That’s the beauty of it. You don’t know who’s going to win the championship.”