Bradley Ray eighth in Brands Hatch BSB Race 1 with “strange” Yamaha feeling
Bradley Ray says his lack of performance at the Brands Hatch BSB is “a bit strange” after a strong Snetterton round.
After winning for the first time in 2026 at the Snetterton BSB two weeks ago (3–5 July), Bradley Ray admits it’s “a bit strange” for him to finish down in eighth in Race 1 at Brands Hatch.
Ray qualified on only the second row of the grid for his home round at Brands Hatch, and while he had decent pace in the early laps that quickly faded as he fell to eighth by the finish, and 12 seconds behind race winner Kyle Ryde.
“Not the easiest of races,” Bradley Ray admitted, speaking to Crash.net after BSB Race 1 at Brands Hatch.
“Felt alright for the first four laps and didn’t have anything after that, which is a bit strange.
“So, back to the drawing board tonight.
“I feel like I’ve got the pace to at least be with Max [Cook] and be in that group; maybe not with Scott [Redding] and Kyle [Ryde], but we’ve got a bit of work to do overnight.”
Ray added that turning is the main area in which he wants to improve for Sunday’s two races.
“Just on edge grip, and just steering of the bike,” he said.
“For me, that’s the biggest thing, is being able to steer it, and I think if we can find that we’ll be able to do what we need to do.”
From the outside, the Brands Hatch weekend so far looks similar to the Donington weekend from May, when Ray was only seventh in Race 1 but managed fourth in both Sunday races.
But Ray says that here the problems stem from an incompatibility between the setup that took him to a victory at Snetterton and the GP layout at Brands Hatch.
“It’s strange,” he said. “We made a good step at Snetterton, and then just coming here with that bike it just didn’t seem to sort of give me the feeling.
“A bit strange, but the boys will be working tonight to give me the bike for tomorrow.”
Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
