A 20-year-old guy is making the British fans crazy and changing hierarchies in British Superbike. The double win in Donington wasn’t enough and so the championship leader Bradley Ray grabbed the pole position on the “Indy” track of Brands Hatch, where he managed to beat Shane Byrne (2nd, just 97 milliseconds behind Ray) and James Ellison, third and last member of a first row including three different brands: Suzuki, Ducati and Yamaha.
FANTASTIC “DOUBLE RAY” – in FPs Bradley Ray seemed to be struggling. The new wonder of British motorcycle racing finished FP2 in 17th place, but inspite of that he felt confident. “I know I have the pace“, Stuart Hicken’s pupil said, and in Q3 he did an almost perfect lap in 44″997, close to the pole position record set in 2015 by James Ellison (44″728). The young gun from Ashford managed to beat Ellison and Shane Byrne (Be Wiser PBM Ducati), just 97 milliseconds behind Ray after being the fastest rider in both Q1 and Q2. Moreover, during his fast lap Ray found Tarran Mackenzie on his way at Brabham Straight, but he managed to avoid him and to conquer one of the “youngest” pole positions ever in BSB. An amazing moment for Bradley Ray, who has not turned 21 yet…
BRAD’S OPPONENTS – In spite of the traffic he found (something normal in the short 1.944-metre Indy track), Shane Byrne secured the first row for Race 1 in front of James Ellison, with Michael Laverty in 4th position (and the fourth brand in the first four positions, since he rides a Tyco BMW) and Leon Haslam in 5th followed by Tommy Bridewell, quite competitive on his Suzuki GSX-R 1000 of the returning Halsall Racing Team (and with the support of Stefano Caracchi). The list of the nine riders who contested Q3 includes also Jake Dixon (7th) and Tarran Mackenzie (great 9th place on his McAMS Yamaha), while Jason O’Halloran was 8th after a crash during Q2, in spite of which he could take part in Q3.
18 RIDERS IN JUST 0″754, MANY PROTAGONISTS IN Q2 – The value of what Bradley Ray did is proved also by the fact that the 18 riders who took part in Q2 were separated by just 754 (!) milliseconds. A little bunch of milliseconds is enough not to go to the next phase and many protagonists of BSB didn’t do it to Q3: Christian Iddon (10th) remained out for being just 14 milliseconds slower than Tommy Bridewell (9th). Also Glenn Irwin (12th after being 2nd in Q1), Luke Mossey (13th on the track where he dominated in 2017), Peter Hickman (14th) and Danny Buchan, who ranked even 17th after the brilliant weekend at Donington Park.
JOSH BROOKES (20TH) STOPS AT Q1 – The first copu-de-theatre happened in Q1. In spite of 6 tries without finding anybody slower, Joshua Brookes was 20th with a lap in 45″929 and was surprisingly out of Q2. OK, with 21 riders in just 749 milliseconds (!), everything can happen, but everybody expected much more from the 2015 Champion and reigning runner-up. “We’re not fast enough“, the first words spoken by the Aussie, 20th while his young team-mate Tarran Mackenzie ranked sixth in Q1 and did it to Q3. “I’m getting used to a different team (he switched from TAG Racing to McAMS Yamaha, e. d.) and the bike is in a certain way new for me, as new as 2018 Pirelli tyres. It’s not difficult to find the right setup: after the first run we went back to the setup we used in FP3, but it didn’t help as we hoped. It’s really frustrating“, Brookes said. The rider has never got good results on Brands Hatch Indy: no wins and just 4 podium finishes.
2018 Bennetts British Superbike Championship
Donington Park
Classification Qualifying Practice (Q3)
01- Bradley Ray – Buildbase Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – 44.997
02- Shane Byrne – Be Wiser Ducati – Ducati Panigale R – + 0.097
03- James Ellison – Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha – Yamaha YZF R1 – + 0.148
04- Michael Laverty – Tyco BMW Motorrad – BMW S1000RR – + 0.318
05- Leon Haslam – JG Speedfit Kawasaki – Kawasaki ZX-10RR – + 0.321
06- Tommy Bridewell – Movuno.com Halsall Racing – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 0.394
07- Jake Dixon – RAF Regular & Reserves – Kawasaki ZX-10RR – + 0.453
08- Jason O’Halloran – Honda Racing – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 0.530
09- Tarran Mackenzie – McAMS Yamaha – Yamaha YZF R1 – + 0.866
Starting grid for Race 1
01- Bradley Ray – Buildbase Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000
02- Shane Byrne – Be Wiser Ducati – Ducati Panigale R
03- James Ellison – Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha – Yamaha YZF R1
04- Michael Laverty – Tyco BMW Motorrad – BMW S1000RR
05- Leon Haslam – JG Speedfit Kawasaki – Kawasaki ZX-10RR
06- Tommy Bridewell – Movuno.com Halsall Racing – Suzuki GSX-R 1000
07- Jake Dixon – RAF Regular & Reserves – Kawasaki ZX-10RR
08- Jason O’Halloran – Honda Racing – Honda CBR 1000RR
09- Tarran Mackenzie – McAMS Yamaha – Yamaha YZF R1
10- Christian Iddon – Tyco BMW Motorrad – BMW S1000RR
11- Richard Cooper – Buildbase Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000
12- Glenn Irwin – Be Wiser Ducati – Ducati Panigale R
13- Luke Mossey – JG Speedfit Kawasaki – Kawasaki ZX-10RR
14- Peter Hickman – Smiths Racing – BMW S1000RR
15- Jakub Smrz – Lloyd & Jones Bowker Motorrad – BMW S1000RR
16- Taylor Mackenzie – Moto Rapido Ducati – Ducati Panigale R
17- Danny Buchan – FS-3 Racing Kawasaki – Kawasaki ZX-10RR
18- Kyle Ryde – CF Motorsport Yamaha – Yamaha YZF R1
19- Gino Rea – OMG Racing UK LTD – Suzuki GSX-R 1000
20- Josh Brookes – McAMS Yamaha – Yamaha YZF R1
21- Mason Law – Team WD-40 Kawasaki – Kawasaki ZX-10RR
22- Sylvain Barrier – Smiths Racing – BMW S1000RR
23- Shaun Winfield – Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha – Yamaha YZF R1
24- Carl Phillips – Gearlink Kawasaki – Kawasaki ZX-10RR