Bradley Ray second in “bit sketchy” Thruxton BSB race 3

Having staged a spirited comeback in the sprint after being pushed wide over the green and down to eighth, fighting back to third in the Sprint, Bradley Ray went one better, but just missed out on a win behind Ryan Vickers in the final BSB feature race at Thruxton.

The McAMS Yamaha rider had forged a plan to lead over the closing stages, but a determined lunge from Sprint winner Ryan Vickers took his Honda back in front at Club, defending to the line for a double win at the Hampshire track:

“I knew I had to lead on that last lap. I was debating whether to sit behind Ryan going into the last lap. I knew I needed a draught, but if I sat behind Ryan, I knew Kyle would be able to attack me into the last chicane.

So, my plan was to just lead, put a good sector two together. Try and pull enough of a gap for heading into Church and then tuck everything in, go through the gears and hope that Ryan didn’t pass me into the last chicane, But yeah, just not enough today, but a very enjoyable race.”

Speaking to the Official British Superbikes channel, in the race reaction post-race interviews, Ray was like all the riders to feature at the front of the race in the lead group, subject to passes from all sides, with the number 28 detailing how that felt on track:

“We was all making passes everywhere, and some close calls, some nice passes, a lot of strategy was involved between everyone.

Overall, we all done a good job and very happy for the boys for that second place and looking forward to the next round.”

When asked to elaborate further on passing on a busy track, with so many bikes in with a podium shout, Ray went on to describe that while entertaining to be a part of as well as view, some of the moves around often felt ‘sketchy’, adding:

“The problem is you get sucked in so quickly, not so much for me really, I’m just sort of in this slipstream and sitting there. Then, when they break, I break sort of thing, and close the line, and that’s sort of it - but I can feel when someone’s behind me, I feel like I get a good drive, but the I get sucked back.

But it is sometimes a bit sketchy. You get someone on the inside, you’re breaking there, someone there, and then you get another person on that side and yeah, it’s a bit carnage, but once the tyre drops off, it gets a little bit less carnage out there, and a little more controllable.”