Conditions at the Misano World Circuit were warm and sunny as round five of the Superbike World Championship drew to a close today.
Yesterday proved to be a difficult day for the Yamaha MotoxRacing WorldSBK Team and its rider Bradley Ray who, after finishing a convincing fifteenth in Superpole, had to start race 1 from the back of the grid due to a technical problem, although this was quickly resolved by the team’s technicians. After making a good recovery, Ray crossed the line eighteenth.
This morning, the young Brit was back on track for the Superpole Race, which ran over ten laps. Bradley made a good start and started to make up ground through the opening laps. The race was brought to a halt with a red flag on lap seven due to a crash, while the Yamaha MotoxRacing WorldSBK Team rider was lying fourteenth.
Race 2 took place in the afternoon. The English rider got off to a great start and was able to stick with the group battling for tenth place. This was the case until four laps from the end when unfortunately, he was forced to retire due to a trivial technical problem, that denied Bradley what would have surely been a positive result and more championship points.
The next WorldSBK round will take place from 30 June to 2 July at Donington Park in the UK.
“I’m sorry about the results this weekend, our races conditioned by some unfortunate events. At the same time I’m pleased with the gradual progress that we’re making though. I’m sure that Bradley will soon be able to reach the positions we set ourselves at the start of the year.”
“We had a better race today and my feeling with the bike was better. I was able to stick with the group battling for the top ten or twelve, but then I made a mistake at one point which caused me to drop back, and Baz got past me. A small issue with the bike forced me to retire with only a few laps to go, which was a pity as it would have been nice to score some more points, but I felt we made a good step in that second race. Now we look forward to Donington, my home round, where I hope to score some good results.”
