Bradley Ray jokes he didn’t “know where I was going” at the end of BSB Race 3 at Assen, as he finished second.

Ray was a core part of a three-rider battle with Kyle Ryde and Scott Redding in Assen BSB Race 3.

Going into it, Redding had won the first two races of the weekend, but all three of them were stuck together for all 17 laps of the final race.

The outcome was decided only at the final corner, where Redding tried to pass Ryde but ran wide, allowing Ryde back through on the exit, while Ray was also able to out-drag the PBM rider.

Before arriving at that point, Ray tried several times to pass Ryde for the lead, but each time he was rebuffed.

“I was trying,” said Ray after Race 3. “Trying the whole race. 

“Got past Ryan [Vickers] and I was sat behind Kyle [Ryde]. I had ‘+0’ on my board, [so] I knew at some point Scott [Redding] would be there or Ryan would try and pass me back.

“So, I wanted to try and get through on Kyle, to be in more of a safe zone. But every time I’d make a move Kyle would get me back, make another one and Kyle would get me back the next corner. So, it was a bit of a ‘cat and mouse’. 

“I had my strong points on the track and after a few moves Kyle sort of defended a little bit more and knew where my strong points were, so it made it a little bit more difficult.”

Ray found his opening at turn nine on the penultimate lap, but he was then passed by Ryde going into the final chicane which cost him momentum and ultimately position to Redding at turn one on the last lap. Only back at the chicane for the final time did Ray get back to second, albeit in slightly sketchy fashion as he pinned the throttle at high lean angle on the run to the line through the final right-hander after the last chicane.

“Managed to get through and I thought ‘If I can get through into this chicane and onto the start-finish I might get a clear lap in front’,” Ray explained.

“So, got passed into there [by Ryde], and then Scott passed me into turn one. I thought ‘This is going to be a difficult last lap’. 

“I could see from a few places what Scott was trying to do. I was trying to line-up turn 15, but, as I was lining Scott, Scott was lining Kyle and I thought ‘There’s no way three of us are going to make it through here’. 

“So, I sat back, waited for it to unfold, did my normal line and tried to get a good drive. I saw Scott get a wheelie, I don’t know where I was going, I was off the edge of the track, but I just kept it pinned and I thought ‘That will do, happy with that’. 

“But can’t complain with racing like that. Any of us could’ve won that, but fair play to Kyle: every time I attacked he attacked back.”