Bradley Ray back on song with two strong second places
Suzuki star returns to sharp end in style at Cadwell
Bradley Ray put the misery of the last few rounds behind him with a solid resurgence at Cadwell Park at the weekend. The young gun, who stormed to a sensational double victory in the first round of the year at Donington Park, returned to the podium for the first time since the second round at Brands to mark the end to a difficult period for the Buildbase Suzuki squad. While Ray hasn’t lacked pace at recent rounds, for whatever reason things just haven’t come together for the 21-year-old, leading to him scoring zero points in five of the eight races prior to Cadwell.
In the first eight rounds he’d gone from leading the championship to being on the brink of losing his place in the top six, meaning he came to the Lincolnshire circuit focused on scoring solid points to secure his Showdown spot. There or thereabouts throughout practice, even Ray himself seemed shocked when he bagged pole position on Saturday after biting the screen and hanging it out for one quick lap. However, the former Red Bull Rookie had more than one-lap pace, as he showed by sitting comfortably in the lead for two thirds of both races despite series leader Haslam breathing down his neck.
“The plan was to come here and do the best job we could to take some solid points ahead of our Showdown rivals,” Ray told MCN. “I thought I might be in with a chance of a podium but I didn’t know how my pace would compare to the other boys.
“I’d say Dixon and Haslam had the edge over me towards the end of race two but equally I was playing it safe a bit. My target for the weekend was to strengthen our Showdown position and I was sitting in third with ‘plus six seconds’ on my board so there was no need to do anything silly.” The secret to Ray’s resurgence lay in two key areas. A lot of his problems during the first half of the season had come as a result of a strange feeling from the front end; the cause of which was finally revealed during a test at Cadwell before the Thruxton round. It was caused by an issue with his Suzuki’s engine mapping. And while the fault was fixed for the last round, it took a little longer for Ray’s confidence to return. “We got our bike back at Thruxton and from there my confidence has started to build again. When you have a few bad rounds you really start doubting yourself but now I feel as good with the bike as I ever have.”
With both his renewed confidence and a 40-point boost, Ray can now start to look at things in a more positive light and while he admits it’s a long shot, he hasn’t completely given up on the idea of being competitive with Haslam in the Showdown.
“Once you’re in the Showdown, you’re in it and the worst you can finish is sixth no matter what happens, so you just go out and give it 100%,” Ray added. “If I get in the Showdown I’ll give it my absolute all and go for it right until the end of the last race.”