Kent’s Brad Ray had easily his best weekend in the World Superbike Championship by some distance at Imola.

A 6th place finish in race two on Sunday afternoon was his highest finish since joining the championship this season, and underlined he has the talent to compete with the best in the championship.

He qualified 6th for race one on Saturday, surprising many to be on the second row of the grid. He was on for a competitive finish but had to settle for the 1 point in 15th place due to heavy tyre degredation on the front tyre as the race progressed. 

The sprint race on Sunday morning would see him consistently showing he has the pace but he had to settle for a 16th place finish.

He did save the best for last having solved the tyre problems, he was able to compete and stay with the top riders and come home an extremely impressive 6th.

Speaking after the weekend a delighted Ray said: “This weekend we’ve seen the results of all our hard work and have harnessed all the progress made since the start of the championship.

“After a strong Superpole result, I was slowed down in the first two races by a drop in the front tyre, but in race 2 I was able to keep up with the frontrunners and score a really great result.

“This was my first time racing at Imola, but right from free practice on Friday I knew we could do well at this track, which reminds me of some British track. Big thanks to the whole team and all our sponsors for their support.”