It has been announced this afternoon that Kent’s Brad Ray will miss the next round of the FIM World Superbike Championship at Most, Czech Republic.

Fresh of his best weekend in the World Superbikes with a sixth place finish at Imola, Ray will miss the next round as he has shoulder surgery.

The decision was made despite the recent excellent performances from the British rider, who scored a season-best sixth place last time out in Imola, as Ray needs to undergo surgery to his right shoulder as soon as possible in order to use the summer break as time to heal and recover.

The operation will take place on July 26th. The rider from the Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team has been suffering with intermittent discomfort in his shoulder throughout the season, which has prevented him from feeling 100% when he needs to push hard, and therefore it was mutually decided between all parties that he should miss Most in order to feel fully recovered for Magny-Cours in early September.

Speaking about the need for surgery, Ray said: “After such an amazing weekend in Imola I’ve taken the decision along with Yamaha and my team to undergo surgery for a troublesome intermittent shoulder problem I’ve been suffering with.

“Whilst it’s not particularly debilitating, it has sometimes hampered my performances when it comes to pushing hard, and after Imola and the previous few rounds have given me the opportunity to show that I fully deserve to be here in the World Superbike Championship I want to go into the second part of the season stronger than ever.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed to be missing out on going to the Czech Republic and the Most circuit, but now I’ll have lots of time to recover, and once this operation is done I plan to deliver even better results.

“I’d personally like to thank Andrea Dosoli, the whole team at Yamaha Motor Europe and of course all my Motoxracing Team for the understanding, and I look forward to seeing you all after the break.”