Bradley Ray described last weekend’s Superbike World Championship round at Cremona in Italy as ‘my best of the season’ after a double points finish.

Lydd rider Ray, on his first visit to the track, and with a new team-mate in wildcard Alessandro Delbianco, moved up from 25th to 22nd in the standings with his seven-point haul for Yamaha Motoxracing, courtesy of an 11th-placed finish in race one and 14th place in race two.

After a best practice time of 1min30.684, Ray was ninth in Superpole, timing 1.28.883, before pushing hard for a top-10 spot in race one.

The 10-lap Superpole race didn’t go according to plan. Despite a fast start Ray struggled to maintain a good pace and came home 15th, but in race two he got away well and was lying in and around the top 10 until lap 17, when a drop in tyre performance forced him to slow his pace and finish 14th.

“I’m generally pleased with how the weekend has gone, my best of the season so far actually,” said Ray. “We were able to fight as part of the chasing group, be consistent, and complete strong races.

“We were just lacking a little power along the straight, but we can be happy with the work done by the entire team.

“I can’t wait to get to Aragon next weekend and continue in this direction.”

Team principal Sandro Carusi added: “In race two, Alessandro just missed out on points, and if it hadn’t been for the tyre drop in the latter stages, Bradley would have scored an even better result.

“The team has worked really hard, and our bikes were reliable and competitive, which bodes well for the next races.”

The championship continues in Motorland Aragon, in Spain, this weekend.