“Incredible” Oulton Park BSB for Bradley Ray after Brands Hatch “head scratcher”

Bradley Ray’s 2026 BSB season has been one of ups and downs, and the second Oulton Park round was affirmatively one of the more positive ones, with three podiums including a win in Race 1.

That Race 1 victory was Ray’s second in BSB this season, and came after a poor Brands Hatch round two weeks before that saw him miss the podium in all three races.

At Oulton Park, after finishing on the podium in Race 2 and Race 3 as well, Ray reflected that the Brands Hatch difficulties were caused by trying to improve the performance of the Yamaha R1 to try to close the gap to the dominant Ducatis, but getting “lost” in the process.

The Oulton Park success, then, was about working with more focus on the bike to recover the kind of performance he had at Snetterton, where again he was victorious in Race 1.

“We’ve got to be proud of the job we’ve done this weekend, for sure,” said Bradley Ray, speaking to Crash.net after Race 3 at Oulton Park.

“Brands was a bit of a head-scratcher. The problem is we’re trying to improve the package and I think at Brands we got a little bit lost on the direction that we wanted to go. 

“So, this weekend we focused, put a lot of work in, and these boys have given me a bike that I’m capable of at least fighting with. 

“A win, second, and third is incredible.

“That last race, just I’m on the limit every lap; I’m doing qualifying lap, lap after lap after lap, so after a while the tyres are gone and I can’t make up the time that I need to in the areas that I want to. 

“We’ve got to be proud of the job we’ve done.”

At Brands Hatch, the safety car came out in Race 1 which left Ray with less grip after the restart after the tyres had cooled, but the same problem didn’t recur, he said, in Race 2 at Oulton Park when again the safety car was deployed.

“The sprint race, with the safety car, then obviously went to go again and straight away was back down to low-1m33s,” he said.

“So, the safety car didn’t affect us.

“[But] it was annoying because it felt like me and Scott [Redding] got enough of a gap to keep Kyle [Ryde] behind and keep him in third. 

“So, a bit of a shame, but to come away with three podiums and to be in the fight with the Ducatis – it’s been a good weekend.”