The first round of the Superbike World Championship is in play this weekend at Phillip Island in Australia.
Yesterday, Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK rider Bradley Ray took part in the free practice sessions, setting a best time of 1’30”753. In this morning’s FP3, which ran under cloudy skies and in cool temperatures, the English rider improved, setting a time of 1’30”555 before taking on the Superpole, which establishes grid positions for the first race.
With a time of 1’29”242 Bradley finished seventeenth, which meant he lined up on row six of the grid for the afternoon’s race, which ran over 20 laps with an obligatory tyre change between laps nine and eleven.
Ray got away well and began to make up positions, but after only a few turns he lost ground in moving to avoid a crash. There was nothing he could do on lap six though when another rider made contact, causing the Brit to fall. Returning to the track in last position, the young English rider finished the race twenty-first, collecting data that will be useful in tomorrow’s two races, the ten-lap Superpole Race and the 20-lap Race 2, which will take place under the same conditions as today’s Race 1.
“Unfortunately the race didn’t go as we’d hoped. After making a good start, Bradley soon lost positions before crashing when another rider made contact. A pity because I’m sure we could have reached the points zone. We’ll try again tomorrow.”
“Today’s race was tough. I started really well but already on lap one, through turn 3, I had to close the throttle to avoid contact, and lost three positions. Then during lap six another rider then hit me, and I crashed. Luckily I was able to get back up and continue with the race, but was lying in last position. After the tyre change my pace was really strong though, and without the crash I’m sure I could have scored points. Hopefully, we have more luck in tomorrow’s races.”
