It was a case of what might have been for Bradley Ray at the latest round of the World Superbike Championship in France at the weekend.

Unfortunately for Ray he crashed out of a wet race one in Magny-Cours, before finishing 15th in the Superpole race and 17th in race two of the weekend.

It was looking very promising for Ray in race one on Saturday afternoon, as he had made his way up to eighth place before crashing out.

Speaking after race one, Ray said: “Qualifying was the best session I’ve had all season. The race was tough though, with a lot of water on track.

“Unfortunately, I crashed out of eighth place just as I was trying to pass riders ahead of me.

“I’m really disappointed, but this is racing. We’ve made strong progress over the last few days, and I’ll try to put that to good use in tomorrow’s races, in the hope it doesn’t rain.”

On Sunday in the Superpole race, Ray was pushed off track on lap one when another rider made a reckless move. Once back on track, Ray worked hard to recover, climbing to eventual P15.

In the final race of the weekend, Brad started very well but then lost ground that he was never able to regain. Struggling to maintain a consistently fast pace, he crossed the line in seventeenth place.

Giving his thoughts after the weekend, Ray said: “The Magny Cours weekend has definitely not been our best. Yesterday I suffered a bad crash in Race 1 and I wasn’t in ideal shape today. That aside, we need to find a way to be competitive in the races.

“We have some new ideas that will help us as we prepare for the Cremona round. That track will be new to me, so I’ll need to learn it fast during practice.”