Bradley Ray is looking to bounce back from a slightly disappointing round at Brands Hatch as the Bennetts British Superbike Championship rolls into Thruxton this weekend.
He started his home round at Brands Hatch GP circuit on fire, with pole position and victory in the opening race of the weekend. His best ever result at Brands Hatch.
The rest of the weekend unfortunately didn’t go to plan, with a crash in race two and a fourth place finish in race three after some issues with the bike prevented him challenging the front three towards the end of the race.
The championship leader is looking to put that behind him this weekend, and get back to winning ways at Thruxton and rebuild the chunk of points taken out of his championship lead.
Speaking ahead of the weekend, Ray said: “Brands Hatch was a very positive weekend for me. I got my first podium, my first win at Brands Hatch back at home. I had good pace, qualified on pole, set a new lap record in the race as well. I was fast, I was leading the first race and leading the second race but unfortunately made a small mistake and crashed out. It was damage limitations in race three, I had a few problems with the bike and I wasn’t able to maximise my pace, so I was fortunate to bring home fourth place.
“All in all, we lost some points in the championship, but the positives are there and we were fast at a track that I wasn’t normally fast or strong at in the past, so it bodes well for the rest of the year and for the finale at the end of the season.
“We found a good way with the bike and we’re getting stronger and stronger. I’m looking forward to Thruxton, it’s normally a good track for Yamaha and it’s a track I enjoy riding at as well, so looking ahead to that it’s going to be a strong weekend.
“There is a lot to focus on the tyres and making sure we’re strong at the end of the race. I’m feeling positive and I’m ready to get going, put Brands’ results behind us and look forward, keep riding the way we are. We’ve been fast all year, so we just keep working. We have a few small areas we can improve, and there’s some small ways to make it a bit better, but overall I’m happy, positive and ready to get going at Thruxton – we’re going to go and keep continuing the hard work as a team.”
Image courtesy of Colin Port Images – www.colinportimages.co.uk