BSB: Soft tyre switch brings Ray confidence

Bradley Ray was able to turn around a tough opening day into pole position at the second round of the 2018 Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch.

The series leader had struggled in practice on the harder option rear tyre, placing 17^th quickest on the opening day of action and while at the time he insisted there wasn’t a problem, he has since admitted there was a little bit of concern.

However, after switching to the softer option rear tyre in this morning’s FP2, Ray re-found his form and with that form came the confidence that saw him sear to a stunning pole this afternoon, lapping the 1.2-mile circuit in just 44’997 seconds – the only rider under the 45 second bracket.

“To be honest, coming off what we did yesterday in free practice I was a little bit conscious of coming into today being 17^th and quite far down and I got a bit worried to be fair overnight, we were chasing our tail a bit looking through data and I was getting a bit annoyed to see myself down in 17^th and I didn’t know why,” he said after qualifying.

“We found something this morning in FP3 and got a bit of confidence back and the bike was working fairly well. I was aiming to get on the first two rows, which is vital round the Brands Indy for the start and to make the race a little bit easier for yourself, but to come away at Brands with a pole is unbelievable and to do a 44 as well is something special. Tomorrow is race day, it’s all about tomorrow. If we can get a good start and have a good race then we’ll see where we are at the end.”