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.
No comments:
Post a Comment