Progress for Bradley Ray but rear grip keeps him from Donington BSB podium

After taking third in Race 1 at the Donington BSB, Bradley Ray missed out in both Sunday races

The McAMS Yamaha rider was able to start well in both races and was in podium contention at the start, but fell ultimately backwards in both instances, finishing fourth in both the 12-lap Race 2 and the 20-lap Race 3 (which was cut short by a lap because of Glenn Irwin’s crash).

Speaking afterwards, Ray said that a lack of rear grip had held him back all weekend, and that setup changes only exacerbated his high tyre consumption in the final race, although he felt overall it had been a decent weekend and a step forward compared to the first Donington round in May.

“It was a good weekend all in all, really,” Bradley Ray told Crash.net after BSB Race 3 at Donington.

“From where we were at the start of the year here at Donington, I feel like we definitely made a step. 

“This track seems really strong for the Ducati and Bimota. 

“It seems that at the low-grip tracks at the minute we can’t generate mechanical grip, so it’s quite tricky, especially middle of the race to the end of the race. Just finding it tricky to generate that grip, and with the Yamaha at the minute we haven’t got that outright drive out of the corner, so we’re lacking a bit of that. 

“Made a change in that last race, but with the temperature drop the change that we made made the tyre wear worse. So, a little bit tricky. 

“But, all in all, a third, a fourth, a fourth – not a bad weekend. Solid points, done the best job we could, was top Yamaha all weekend. 

“Roll on Brands, three races to go, still third in the championship, so it would be nice to give these boys that at the end of the year. It’s not what we’re here for, but it’s the best job that we can do. I think we maximised what we could this weekend.”