Seventh place for Bradley at the 12th round of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup after a tough weekend at the Grand Prix of San Marino
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| Forever relaxed before the race |
After his dominant weekend at round nine of the Motul British Motostar
Championship at Donington Park, Bradley “The Milky Bar Kid” Ray headed into the
penultimate round of the Red Bull Rookies Cup in high spirits and confident of
a good result, to boost his already high status.
Throughout Friday the weather caused issues for most of the riders,
including Brad who worked with his team on the set up of his Red Bull KTM RC250
during the first two free practice sessions, run with constant rain washing
over the circuit on the Adriatic coast. He used both sessions to find grip on
the very wet track, and learn where he could push hard.
The weather didn't dampen the spirits of Ray, who continued to work hard
with set up ahead of the Friday afternoon qualifying session. At one point the
17 year old sat in pole position but was finally pushed back into third after a
minor slide off lost him some laps. He was able to re-mount to rejoin the
session, too late to make any improvement on his time as the session was red
flagged on the following lap, leaving Brad in 5th place and the middle of the
second row for the race.
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| Brad (28) fights hard to get to the front... |
Under sunny skies on Saturday, the 12th round of the Red Bull Rookies
Cup got under way and, after a good start, Brad was running with the front
group after the first couple of a laps. After some laps Brad noticed some
issues with his bike causing a lack of speed and acceleration and, with no dry
track time throughout the weekend, his suspension set up wasn’t so good but he
fought hard till the end of the race to take the flag in 7th position.
After the race a seized chain was found to be the cause of the lack of
performance and with the rear wheel actually difficult to turn, it was fortunate that
it hadn't broken.
Brad said: “I just couldn't hold them on the straights,
and this time, unlike Silverstone, the bike setting wasn't right so I couldn't
make up for it all in the corners. I did try.”
Brad still sits fourth in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup standings on
127 points, and will now move onto round ten of the Motul British Motostar
Championship, at the TT Circuit Assen in Holland this weekend.
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