Positive Weekend For Bradley Ray In Brno

Focused on the task ahead

Bradley Ray enjoyed two fourth places at round nine of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookie Cup, at the picturesque Brno circuit in the Czech Republic this weekend. After battling hard in difficult conditions in race one and fighting till the death in race two

The weekend got off to a great start for the youngster after topping the first free practice on Friday morning, and finishing half a second behind Manual Pagliani in FP2, which set him up well for qualifying on Saturday. 

Brad pushing hard in race one

Brad left it late in qualifying to head to the second row after a last lap dash on his own, around a circuit in which a tow is preferred to improve your time. But after suspension changes, Ray was down in ninth position before pulling the pin and jumping to fourth, with a time of 2:11.800, only six tenths off pole position.

Prior to race one on Saturday, the weather took a turn for the worse with the rain coming in as the riders sat on the grid. The officials took the decision to delay the start and reduce the race to nine laps. With the race being declared wet, and due to the Red Bull Rookies rulebook, each rider must use the wet tyres. But as the lights went out to signal the start of the race, the circuit started to dry.

Brad got off to a great start and ran in second for most of the race, but with grip level deteriorating and with only two laps to go, he forced his way to the front and led on the final lap. As Brad exited the penultimate chicane he lost the crucial drive up the hill, after battling with Italian rider Stefano Manzi, and was pushed back to fourth place as he took the flag.

The second rookies race followed the main MotoGP race on Sunday and thankfully the sun shone, but Brad didn’t get off to the best of starts. He sat in 5th for most of the 14 lap race, but with four laps to go he started to pick his way through the group of riders ahead. Brad led the race on the final lap, but the following trio of riders used Brad’s slipstream to get ahead on the final sequence of corners. As they pulled out of the penultimate chicane he couldn’t close the gap to the group ahead and took the flag once again in fourth, only six tenths of a second off the race winner.

Speaking after the race, Brad said: “I tried, I got to the front and pushed to get away but it is just too easy for the guys to slipstream past me and that is what they did. 

“The good thing is that we moved forward with the bike setting on the front forks and I think we can do even better for Silverstone so we'll see what we can make of it there.”

Brad now moves up to fifth position in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup standings on 94 points as he heads into his home round at Silverstone in two weeks time. But before that, he will attend the eighth round of the Motul British Motostar Championship at Cadwell Park, over the Bank Holiday weekend. 

Photography By:  Bonnie Lane

Written and Distributed by:

Michael Burton

PaddockChatter Interview

Brad recently did an interview with PaddockChatter about 2014.  Here it is in full:

In the end Brad Ray’s ninth place finish at the third round of the Spanish CEV championship at Aragon didn’t tell the full story of his efforts. The recently turned 17-year old rode through the field to compete in a manic nine-rider battle for third place. At one point he had a debut CEV podium within his grasp but a small mistake pushed him back to ninth, just 0.8 seconds from third.

It has been a promising season so far for the young British hopeful. Riding for the KRP set up, he has stepped up to challenge established names in the series on factory bikes. Like 2013, the Kent-based rider is also competing on three fronts  – the CEV, Red Bull Rookies series and Motostar British championship events.

To show he is developing a level of consistency Ray was involved in a similar scrap, this time for second place, involving six riders in Le Mans, the first time the series held a round outside Spain three weeks ago. Again some small mistakes just prevented him from finishing higher than seventh but the experience of racing with the cosmopolitan Moto3 field on alternative machinery is standing him in good stead. As he says, “we’re up at the front all the time now.”

We caught up with Brad to talk briefly about his experiences in the CEV, his FTR KTM and the Red Bull Rookies series.

First of all Brad, you finished ninth in the Moto3 CEV race at Aragon on Sunday, yet you were just 0.8 seconds from standing on the podium. Are you happy with that?
I’m very happy with that. We were up with the front bunch and fighting for the podium which was really good. I got up to third at one point but you’re always at 110 percent through the race and I made a few little mistakes and dropped back. It’s so close. If you make one mistake you drop back two or three places. It was very clean. It’s good riding with other people from around the world because you then know how they ride, where they’re fast, where they’re not. There are so many fast riders in there like Migno and Rodrigo. They’re all fast and they’re all on factory bikes.

In some ways Aragon was similar to the race in Le Mans. You fought through the pack to join a group with the leading riders…
Le Mans was a good race for us because nobody had been there, it was a new track for everyone. We thought it’d be a hit or miss round in terms of being up at the front but we proved it wasn’t and we’re up at the front all the time now.

You’re riding the FTR KTM machine this year, a bike none of the other top riders are using. How are you finding it?
The FTR KTM is a really good bike. We’re the only people riding it and you obviously have to do your own data and work around problems on your own. Whereas if we were on a factory KTM we would go to a bigger team, look at their data and compare it to ours. But we’re on our own and we have to do it ourselves and make do. It’s a really good chassis. It takes a while to set it up but when it’s set up it’s really smooth, handles really well and does what you want it to do.

Does that go some way to explaining why you seem to come strong on Sunday afternoon?
Yeah, definitely. If you haven’t got as fast an engine as the front boys you can make it up in the corners. If they are five or six ks quicker down the straight then you have to brake ten or fifteen metres later to catch them back up again. But if you have a fast bike with good handling then you’re winning.

Does it take you some time to adapt to the FTR chassis after you have been riding the KTM machine in the Red Bull Rookies series?
It’s not too bad. It is a bit different. The KTM has a different suspension and different chassis. It’s got a trail frame, not a solid frame. It doesn’t take too long, maybe three or four laps to get back to your usual bike. But you get back on and you think, ‘I’m on an FTR KTM’ and then you go back to the Red Bull KTM. You just gel with it.

Do you feel you would benefit from longer races in the series?
Definitely. If you’re only doing ten laps if the CEV was only a ten lap race and you move onto GPs next year and do 26 laps then you’re definitely going to be knackered. You’ve got to do long distance races to be prepared for the future races definitely.

How do you feel the Rookies series has been going so far? You’re twelfth in the championship but that doesn’t really reflect how quick you have been this year.
The first two races in Jerez were sort of a misunderstanding through suspension with the suspension guys. So we sat down when we first got to Mugello with the suspension people, had a really good talk and found a solution. It worked for the race definitely. I was fighting for the podium position when the gear shifter bolt fell out so I had to retire from the race, which was a bummer.

How often does that happen?
Not very often, no [laughs].

A few of the CEV riders have wildcards lined up. Is there any chance of you getting one in 2014?
It would be nice to do the British Grand Prix but obviously we can’t do a wild card because we’re there with Red Bull, which is a shame. We asked Red Bull but they said it was a no-no as you can’t really do two races in one weekend.

What’s next for you?
I’m at Snetterton this weekend for the BSB, then Catalunya for the CEV. Last year was the first time back there for four years when I rode there on a Metrakit 80cc. On the Friday we had two dry sessions, then the rest of the weekend was wet. It’s going to be a difficult one because it’ll be the first time there on the KTM FTR. We’ll just try to get a good base setting and then work from that.

Thanks for your time Brad and good luck this weekend.

Thank you. Catch you later.

Our thanks go to Neil at PaddockChatter for letting us use this story, Go check out their website for a wealth of news and views on bike racing.

New MotoGP Red Bull Rookie blog

Hello everyone!

Just had 2 races in 2 different championships in the last 2 weeks! One was in CEV at Aragon 2 weeks ago and the other was at BSB the weekend just gone!

CEV went very well in Aragon, Aragon wasn't my favourite track but I have ridden it a lot lately with the 3 days Rookies test at the start of the year and CEV and I'm starting to get grips with it!

Qualified P12 on the grid as I couldn't put a good lap together but still pretty happy with that! Got a good start in the race and was up with the front pack for the opening laps. Made a few little mistakes during the race which dropped me back from the group so I fought back and got up to the pack again and was battling for a podium! I ended up finishing P9 only 0.8 of a second of 3rd! Getting closer and closer to the podium and battling hard!

BSB last weekend went good at Snetterton as well, starting P1 on the grid on a 125 against KTM Moto3. I got the hole shot and was leading for the first 2 laps and then got overtaken by Joe on a factory KTM moto3 bike. I could stay with him but couldn't pass him down the straight! I eventually got past and was leading all the last lap but got slipstreamed to the finish line so ended up P2 and won my 125cc class.

Next round is this weekend at Catalunya for CEV Spanish championship! We have 2 races let's see what we can do!

See you soon!
Brad #28

View the original blog on the MotoGP Red Bull Rookies website here 

Motul Motostar Round 1 – Easter Weekend Brands Hatch Indy Circuit

Brad was at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit for the first round of the Motul Motostar British Championship last weekend, a round run over four days from Friday to Monday.    The Motostar class had 2 practice sessions on the Friday, the first Qualifying on the Saturday, the second on Sunday, with warm up and race on the Easter Monday.

This presented a problem to Brad who was testing with the Red Bull Rookies at the Motorland circuit at Aragon in Spain the week leading to this weekend and only finishing on Saturday.  As testing finished he and his dad drove immediately to Zaragoza Airport to fly to London Stansted and from their very “brisk” drive to Brands Hatch to arrive at just one minute before midnight.  Very fortunate before midnight as they close the circuit gates at midnight, any later, he and his dad would have been left to sleep in their car!!

This late arrival meant that Brad had missed the 2 practice sessions and 1 qualifying and he just had the second qualifying session on Sunday left to get used to the EE125 again and get a place on the grid. The EE125 is of course a 2 stroke and he had been riding the Rookies 4 stroke KTM all week.  Chalk and cheese really but Brad is one of the few riders that seems totally unfazed by this change from one to the other.

Saturday qualifying 1 had been run in bright sunny weather but Sunday turned out to be a day of rain.  Fortunately it is only necessary to set a wet qualifying time to get a place on the grid and Brad had to make sure that he did that, as it was he was fastest by 1.5 seconds so his time was the qualifying comparator.  As all the other riders had made the dry session it still meant a last row, 32nd, place on the grid.

Monday race day dawned bright and sunny. With a very short warm up of just 10 minutes getting a dry set up was almost impossible and we had to run with a “best guess”.

Unfortunately Brad fell at the end of this very short session with only 2 full flying laps completed.  He was completely OK and the bike had more or less no damage and just needed a good clean up.  A couple of super quick stops had already been made to remove blanking tape from the radiator to get the motor running at the correct temperature and all this meant that there was insufficient track time to get a handling setup.

   

The race was due to start at 3 in the afternoon but, due to several red flag incidents in previous races, it didn't start until about 4 in the afternoon and the race length was reduced to 16 laps instead of 22.

The EE125 made a very good start and Brad had taken it into 9th place by the end of 2 laps but then struggled to make further progress as he tried to close on the faster riders at the front. He was unable hold a good line on several bends with the bike running wide and suffering with front-end chatter.  Despite this he still made up more places and finally finished in 6th place overall in the race and 3rd place in the 125cc class.  Not too bad but not as good as it could have been.

At the next round, which for Brad will be round 3 of the championship at Snetterton with round 2 being missed as it clashes with the Spanish GP which is a Rookies round, we will have the 2 practice sessions, 2 qualifying sessions, and the warm up before the race and are much more confident that we can take not only win the 125 class but also take the win overall.

Thanks to all of Brad's sponsors including some new ones; Held Gloves, Forma Boots, Wiz Sliders and the 'usual suspects'; Shark, 151's, Engines Engineering, Eye Site Brighton, FAB-Racing.  A full list is on Brad's website www.brad-ray.co.uk

Thanks to Bonnie Lane for the photos

Brad Ray Plans For 2014

2014 is going to be one of the busiest years ever for Brad.  With the 8 round, 14 race Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup series, most rounds of the Motul Motostar British Championship event at BSB, riding for FAB-Racing, and several of the CEV Spanish National Championship rounds riding for KRP, he will hardly be off a race bike!

The Rookies bike is a standard KTM, the CEV bike is an FTR-KTM, both 4 stroke Moto3 bikes.   The Motostar bike, an EE125, is a totally different bike altogether.   A disc valve 2 stroke of the type that competed for many years in GP until the arrival of the Moto3 class, certainly not an easy bike to ride with it's very narrow power band.  Young Bradley, 16 years of age now, is one of the few riders that can go from one to the other with apparent ease.

 

As this is being written Brad has already completed a 3 day test session at the Almeria Circuit, where he rode 3 different bikes testing chassis set-ups for FTR, a 2 day pre-event test session for the first round of CEV at the Jerez Circuit (both circuits located in Southern Spain), the first round of CEV over 3 days, and is now at Aragon with the Rookies for a 3 day test. 

The Round 1 CEV at Jerez was difficult for Brad, the KRP team had several problems to contend with on the new to them FTR-KTM.   None of the problems were the team's fault, it was a case of coming up against problems that teams running the motor last year were already aware of.  They won't happen again as team boss Mark Keen has already taken measures to ensure they can't re-occur.

One of the problems was the cause of Brad's not so good qualifying that gained him only a  21^st place on the grid, and the other caused the bike to stall on race 1 just as the red start lights were due to change.   Fortunately all the riders behind him, there are 44 on the Grid so at least 20, succeeded in missing him.   Fortunately this was a 2 race event.

Race 2 was altogether more satisfying.   Starting from 21^st on the grid, Brad was able to work his way through the pack and eventually finished a very commendable 13^th.  It has to be realised that the level at CEV is extremely close to Grand Prix and is recognised as the final step, so it not so simple to get past riders that are also very fast.   It is often the case at CEV, where riders come from many countries, there are more entered riders than places on the grid and even very fast riders sometimes don't qualify to race.

For the Motul Motostar Round 1 on the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit this Easter it's going to also be “interesting”.   He will finish testing at Aragon with the Rookies on Saturday, fly back to the UK that evening, go straight to Brands Hatch having missed 2 practice sessions on the Friday and 1 qualifying on the Saturday, and take part in Q2 on the Sunday to qualify for the race on Monday!!   Remember he won't have ridden that bike since his win last October and it is totally different to the Rookies bike he is riding at Aragon.   Let's see how it goes.

Brad also had his pre-season eye check from the sports vision experts Eye Site in Brighton.  He has a clean bill of health and some new Oakley glasses and shades courtesy of Jim Green and the staff.