BSB wonderkid Bradley Ray on why he’s here to stay
Young gun fights for race one win and continues to lead series Shakey takes victory to close in on Suzuki starlet
Bradley Ray proved his Donington double was no one-off with a stunning ride to second in Sunday’s opening encounter. The Buildbase Suzuki rider beat reigning champion Shane Byrne to pole on Saturday before leading 28 laps of the dry first race. Despite the intense pressure, Ray maintained control before a small mistake at Paddock Hill bend towards the end allowed Byrne through. There had been speculation going into the weekend as to whether the wild-haired 20-yearold could really challenge for this year’s title. But Ray showed he’ll be a force to be reckoned with by taking second and seventh to lead the series by a healthy ten points. He said: “After Donington I think some of the top boys thought I might be a one-hit wonder, but we’ve now shown we’ve got good pace in all conditions.
“To come to Brands Hatch and lead for 28 laps on Shakey’s home turf while pulling away from the rest of the field was really good for us as a team. It’s nice to prove we can do well at different tracks.” Ray is also showing signs of growing maturity. Despite being way down in 17th after Friday practice, he refused to panic and set about putting things right. “I was concerned but I tried not to dwell on it,” he explained. “We were scratching our heads a bit, but after working a few things out we weren’t far off at all. As soon as we switched to the softer tyre the lap times came.”
While it’s clear Ray doesn’t want to say too much about the BSB title at this stage, opting to settle for seventh in race two suggests a cool head will bring consistency and a steady haul of points. And he’s already shown that when things go well, he’ll fight for wins. “It’s early, but you can lose a championship at this point. In those conditions today I could very easily have lost points so I used my head a bit. It would have been so easy to crash by pushing a bit too far and for us it’s not about that.” But Byrne also showed at Brands that he won’t give up his BSB title without a ferocious fight.
He said: “The Indy circuit is a scratchy little track and our bike really doesn’t like that – we’ve often struggled here. This year, however, we’ve been fast and left with a good points tally.” Byrne’s team tried a new swingarm from Ducati Corse at Brands which is understood to have helped corner grip. He added: “The bike was good but we need to understand why, whether it’s the set-up or the new swingarm. We’ve got a test coming up at Oulton where we’ll assess it better.”
After visibility issues in the wet second race, Byrne settled for fourth and moves to second in the championship standings, setting up an intriguing third round at Oulton Park on May 7.