BSB: Confidence high for series leader Ray

Bennetts British Superbike championship leader Bradley Ray has said the plan remains the same as he returns to the venue of his first BSB podium this weekend.

Ray took an impressive third place when the series last visited Oulton park in September, finishing just 0.1 seconds off race winner Dan Linfoot and given his storming start to the 2018 season, he understandably has high hopes for the weekend ahead.

The Buildbase Suzuki rider was just ninth quickest in last Thursday’s test, but insists he didn’t pit for fresh rubber while most of his rivals did. Being fast in testing and practice has never been high on the young gun’s agenda. On the opening day at Brands, Ray was just 16^th on the timesheet but worked away until it was time to show his hand come qualifying, when he shot to pole position.

“It has definitely been a good start to the season! The Oulton Park test was good for us; the longer sessions meant we could make some changes and we didn’t try and push for a lap time so I know the pace is there for next weekend as we have some time to play with.

“My confidence is high after the first two rounds and Oulton Park was the circuit where I got my first podium in Superbike last year, so I have some good memories there. We need to not get ahead of ourselves and start the weekend as we have the previous two, working hard in practice and qualifying so we are in the top six and then putting ourselves in a good position to come out fighting on race day.”