Round nine of the Superbike World Championship got underway today at the Nevers Magny Cours circuit in France.
Back to full fitness after undergoing surgery to his right arm prior to the summer break, Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team rider Bradley Ray was back on track today for the weekend’s first free practice sessions.
This is the first time the young Brit is competing at the technical French track and so he used the initial practice session to get to grips with the winding layout and find the best setup for his YZF R1. Ray closed in nineteenth place with a time of 1’38”364.
Unfortunately, much higher temperatures made for a slippery track in the afternoon’s practice with the Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team rider suffering a fall at turn 3 mid-session. Luckily Bradley was unhurt, but there was serious damage to his bike, which meant he was unable to conclude FP2 or improve on his earlier reference.
In the combined standings, Bradley placed nineteenth. He will be back out for Superbike and the first of the weekend’s races tomorrow.
"The day started well with a positive first practice session, during which Bradley learned the track. Unfortunately, a crash in FP2 prevented us from continuing with our bike setup work. I hope we can reap the benefits of today’s work in tomorrow’s sessions and score a good result in the race.”
“Today brought both good and bad. I immediately felt comfortable on the bike in FP1 and was able to learn this brand-new track, but then in FP2 I crashed and unfortunately lost 30 minutes of precious track time! I’m sure tomorrow will go better. I remain confident in my abilities and am sure we can do a good job.”
