More power to the passers
One of the things I absolutely love about Bradley Ray is that he can pass people. He’s got proper fire in his belly. You get some riders who struggle to do that – James Ellison is blisteringly fast out in front but sometimes gets stuck behind people and Tom Sykes suffers in the same way. Just compare him with Jonathan Rea and Chaz Davis with the new WSB race two rules (where the faster riders start further back on the grid). Those two carve through the field and Tom struggles. I think some riders have a natural flair for making brave passes – they don’t need everything to line up exactly to have a go. I never used to use braking markers, I just used to brake when I thought I should, which meant I could almost always out-brake people because I wasn’t regimented and could push it in the heat of the moment. I really like seeing that in riders, the ones who aren’t afraid to make a move, even if they end up running wide. And I get frustrated with the ones who come in after following someone for the whole race and say they couldn’t get past. Or maybe I’m just a grumpy old man!