Bradley Ray scored his first Superbike World Championship points of the season at Barcelona – and repeated the feat in race two.

The Lydd rider, contesting the European rounds of the series for Italy-based Yamaha Motoxracing, finished 13th in race one before a disqualification for Danilo Petrucci moved him up to 12th place. In race two Ray was 15th to leave Spain with five points. Spain’s Alvaro Bautista won both races and the Superpole sprint.

“I’m pleased with the results we’ve scored this weekend at Barcelona as we’ve continued to improve and have kept moving in the right direction,” he said.

“We only struggled in Superpole, where perhaps we could have earned a better position. From mid-race on, my race pace was very fast, similar to that of the top ten riders.

“The gap separating us from the frontrunners continues to get smaller and so we just have to continue working this way at [the next round in] Misano.

“I’m pleased with our progress and want to thank the entire team as they’ve done a fantastic job.”

After a best practice time of 1min43.719sec, Ray improved by almost one-and-a-half seconds to qualify for race one 19th from the Superpole. A good start took him up to 15th before the action was red-flagged due to a crash.

The restarted race was reduced to 17 laps – enough time for Ray to make up two more places for 13th at the flag which became 12th following Petrucci’s infringement in the post-race weigh-in.

Sunday’s Superpole race was ran over just 10 laps. Starting from the seventh row, Ray crossed the line in 14th spot before his second points scoring finish of the weekend with 15th in race two.

The championship moves on to Misano in Italy from June 2-4, and Motoxracing team principal Sandro Carusi is confident Ray can continue to improve in the team’s home meeting.

He said: "I’m really pleased to have scored our first championship points. Despite an unlucky Superpole, Bradley managed the tyre wear very well in the race to achieve a good result. I want to thank the entire team for their hard work.

"Reaching the points zone in both the long races repays the work we’ve been doing and confirms the progress that Bradley is making race by race, which leaves us feeling confident with a view to the rest of the championship.”

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