Top Five Finish In Portugal For Bradley Ray

Lydd’s Brad Ray finishes the penultimate round of the Spanish CEV Moto3 Championship in fifth place after qualifying ninth.

Competing in his seventh race of the Spanish CEV Championship season, Brad headed to the Portimao circuit high on confidence.

The Friday test sessions, which do not offer official timing, saw the team working hard on the KRP/FAB-Racing FTR-KTM looking for the best set up for Brad to be able to push hard and produce the fast times required to compete against the world class field of 37 riders.

In qualifying Brad had the confidence in the set up to run at the top end of the time sheets with a 1:50.571 lap placing him 8th quickest. Q2 didn’t fair as well for the youngster as he dropped one place on the grid to 9th, just 1.7 seconds off pole man Fabio Quartararo's time after making changes to the setup.

Brad (28) looking for a tow during qualifying... 

The team reverted the changes ahead of morning warm up on the Sunday, which gave Brad confidence ahead of the 16-lap race.

As the start lights went out on Sunday the ‘Bard’ made a poor start, giving himself a lot of work to do. But after four laps he had worked his way up to seventh, and was on the hunt for the leading pack.

He worked hard to move up the standings, but with a gap of 10 seconds to fourth place Brad had a lonely ride to the flag, eventually crossing the line in fifth place. 

After the race Brad said: “I caught the second group of riders but it took too much time to pass them all and I realised that catching the leading group was not going to happen so I was happy to settle for 5th place and 11 points”

Brad now sits ninth in the Spanish CEV Moto3 Championship with just the final round of the Championship in two weeks time at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia, that has a 2 race format for the Moto3, where Brad will be hoping to round off 2014 with a heap of points.

Photography By: 

CEV

Tough End To 2014 For Bradley Ray At Brands Hatch

Brad Ray crashed out of his home round of the Motul British Motostar Championship at Brands Hatch after taking pole position in difficult conditions.

Brad came into the final round of the Motul British Motostar Championship on a high after his win at Silverstone two weeks ago, and confident he would end his year with a victory at his home round.  

That confidence was on show straight from the off on a wet circuit during Friday’s first free practice session, topping the sheets by four tenths from Moto3 rider Joe Irving. The circuit dried out for the afternoon session, and it was role reversal with Irving, the ‘Bard’ only five hundredths of a second behind in second place.

Just like the Friday morning the rain had closed in during the night and dampened the circuit off for the first of two qualifying sessions on Saturday. In Q1, Brad handled the tricky conditions well to finish in second behind Joe Irving by seven tenths of a second. The second session faired better for Brad, after the track dried he posted a 1:34.990 lap, half a second quicker than the second place man, meaning the ’Bard’ would start from pole position for Sunday’s 12 lap race.

Sunday morning saw Brad experience mechanical issues with the FAB-Racing EE125, which made him sit out of the warm up. The team worked hard to get the bike ready for the race, eventually deciding to change back to an old engine that was officially over its reconditioned mileage.

As the lights went out Brad got a great start and took the holeshot into Paddock Hill Bend and led from the front. After only three laps he had a five second gap in front of second position and felt good with the bike. But the very next lap he entered the Graham Hill Bend and lost the rear when he applied the power to his EE125, luckily he walked away uninjured.

A frustrated Brad said after the race: “The start of the weekend went well, we put a new engine in prior to the free practice two and it didn’t miss a beat through qualifying. But Sunday morning the crank broke and we reverted to the old engine with lots of miles on it for the race.

“I got into a little rhythm in the race, and I felt good and the bike felt good but then I crashed at Graham Hill Bend. I just tipped in, opened the gas and it slid away from me. Top three in the Championship is brilliant. Roberto’s happy, I’m happy so we can’t complain.”

Brad ends the 2014 Motul British Motostar 125cc Championship in third place, just reward after the hard work all year.

Photography By: 

Bonnie Lane

Battling Victory For Bradley Ray At Silverstone

Bradley Ray took his fifth win of the season on Sunday at Silverstone, setting a new lap record in the process.

After ending his Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup career with a podium last weekend in Aragon, Bradley Ray headed into the penultimate round of the Motul British Motostar Championship in a confident mood.

During the free practice sessions on Friday, Brad set his stall out by posting a 2:21.264 lap, six tenths quicker than the Moto3 rider Joe Irving. In hotter conditions for free practice two, Brad improved his time by 2.2 seconds and posted a 2:19.0 lap, sending him into qualifying in high spirits.

Ahead of qualifying on Saturday the team made the decision to change the engine in the EE125 machine, giving Brad a better chance of heading the pack for Sunday’s 10 lap race.

But the weather took a turn for the worst ahead of the first qualifying session, forcing the riders to head out on wet tyres with constant rain during the 20 minutes. Brad only completed five laps, due to a mechanical problems with the FAB-Racing EE125, but was still able to post a 2:41.322 lap, only 0.317 off Joe Irving in pole.  The team was forced to revert to the older engine for race day.

Qualifying two was cancelled due to the rain delaying the timetable, which saw Brad starting Sunday’s race in second place on the grid.

During the morning warm up session on a dry circuit, Brad made a slight mistake and dropped the bike but hit his hand badly on the tarmac causing bleeding to his knuckles. After a trip to the medical centre, and a bandaged hand, he was was cleared to take part in the race.

After making a poor start, Brad worked his back to the front and begun his race long battle with Moto3 rider Joe Irving. As he forged his way past the ‘Bard’ set a new lap record around Silverstone, posting a 2:18.757 lap. After swapping places with Irving, Brad took the flag early due to a red flag stopping the race, as the first man across the line, and also the first 125.

After the race Brad said: “Today we went into the race with a positive attitude, the first few laps the bike felt good and I felt good and pushed hard. I had to catch Joe Irving as he had a two second gap, I passed him but I just couldn’t pull away.   I stuck behind him for a few laps and then got past and was still there as the red flag came out so we got the win.”

Brad will now have to wait two weeks before getting out on his bike again, which see’s his first weekend off for eight weeks, before he travels to his “home” round at Brands Hatch and the final round of the Motul British Motostar Championship.

 Photography By:

Bonnie Lane

Podium Finish At Aragon For Bradley Ray

Bradley Ray took a third and sixth place finishes at his final Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup race at Aragon last weekend, setting a new lap record in the process.

After three successful seasons in the Red Bull Rookies, Brad travelled to the Spanish circuit in a buoyant mood, and confident he could bow out of the feeder series with a podium and more silverware, to add to his already growing collection.

And during the Friday free practice sessions, the 17 year old set blistering lap times. Finishing the first session two hundredths of a second behind session topper, Bo Bendsneyder. He went slightly quicker in the afternoon session, setting himself up well for the one and only qualifying session, late on Friday afternoon.

Qualifying saw Brad take the last slot on the front row of the grid, after posting her best lap of the weekend. The team give the youngster a good bike set up, and were confident ahead of the two races on Saturday and Sunday.

Race one saw Brad get off to an unusual bad start on board his KTM RC250, and by the end of the first lap he had his work cut out, crossing the line in seventh. But he made his way back to the leading group, after being dropped for a second time, and went in pursuit of the frontman, Joan Mir. Brad posted a new lap record of a 2:05.9 on lap 10 as he reached the back of the front three. But two laps before the end, an issue with the bike forced Brad to slow, and eventually he crossed the line to take seventh place, subject to a photo finish which saw Brad loose out by one thousandth of a second.

After the race, the team discovered water in the belly pan of the bike but they worked hard to get the machine ready for the final race of the season.

Sunday’s race two, Brad’s final Rookies Cup race would take place on a damp circuit, after rainfall during the earlier MotoGP race. And like the pervious day, Brad got of the line sluggishly and ended the first lap in sixth. But by the end of the eighth lap, he had worked his way into a podium position in tricky conditions. Ray rode well and took the flag in third place, ending his glorious Rookies Cup career with silverware. 

The boy done good…

After race two a jubilant Brad said: “Not a good start at all and it took a while to get past the guys in the early laps. Once I did get into third I could see the leaders ahead and I was closing the gap a bit but I realised that it just wasn't happening quick enough and knew that I had to settle for third rather than have something silly happen.”

With only a week to regroup, Brad now has his focus turned to Silverstone and the penultimate round of the Motul British Motostar Championship next weekend. 

Photography By: 

Bonnie Lane