For Bradley Ray last weekend’s Dickies British Supersport round at Cadwell Park could not have gone any better. 
The young racer from Lydd took pole position for both the sprint race on Sunday afternoon, and the main feature race on bank holiday Monday afternoon.
The weekend started well for Ray, who at one of his least favourite tracks ended the first free practice session in fourth place, only 0.231 of a second behind fastest man Mason Law.
The afternoon’s second free practice saw the Lydd man improve further in time by nine tenths of a second, finishing in third place only 0.257 behind James Westmoreland who topped the timesheets.
However, then under sunny skies on Sunday morning the ‘Milky Bar Kid’ impressed once again, posting a 1:28.8, only one tenth of a second off the circuit lap record, taking his third pole of the season by 0.436 from Mason Law in the process.
After being awarded his third Royal London watch of the year on the grid, Brad made an excellent start to the afternoon’s sprint race and grabbed the holeshot, leading the race from the first lap.
The 19-year-old controlled the race from the front and was never challenged by the group behind, as he increased the gap over second place man Mason Law to 2.2 seconds, crossing the line to take his first win of the season.
By virtue of his lap time in the sprint race on Sunday afternoon, Ray would start on pole once again, and for the fourth time this season.
As the lights went out Ray didn’t make the best of starts, finishing the first lap in second place but he soon found his feet. The former 125cc star made his move on the race leader Law on lap five and once again pulled away, setting the fastest lap of the race on lap seven.
Law started to attack Ray with five laps remaining of the race, but he had more left in the tank and increased the gap to 1.2 seconds, crossing the line with time to celebrate, taking another win and sealing his first double win of the season.
After the weekend an emotional Ray said: “Wins are like buses, wait a long time for one and two come at once, it’s just been dream weekend to be honest. Coming into this weekend I didn’t think I’d be that far up at the sharp end, I thought I’d be fighting for a podium.
“But from the start I was fast in free practice, then I put the bike on pole and I was feeling really confident around the track, especially after race one where I achieved my first victory and pulling the gap that I did in the race. I was confident for race two but I knew I would have a battle on my hands with Mason and James Westmoreland.
“I got my head down and pushed as hard as I could, Mason came back at me and I had to push harder to get that gap back again. I’m over the moon, the team have worked so hard all weekend long and my whole family have been fantastic I can’t thank them enough, it’s been a perfect weekend and I can’t ask for anything more.
“My confidence is high and the bike is feeling absolutely fantastic, I really like Oulton Park, but we have to be realistic and aim for as many points as we can and chase down the top three.”
Ray now sits in fourth place of the Dickies British Supersport standings on 164 points, only 16 points behind Andy Reid in third place, and 61 points behind the title leader James Westmoreland.
The Championship now moves onto round nine at Oulton Park in Cheshire over the 9th/10th/11th September.
Images courtesy of www.bonnielane.com