Friday fast man Bradley Ray knows it’s make or break this weekend and says he plans to play it safe in all three Bennetts British Superbike Championship races to ensure he makes the Showdown.

The Buildbase Suzuki rider nosed his way to the top of the timesheets in second free practice this afternoon, beating RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki rider Jake Dixon by a mere 0.127secs.

With a hot lap of 53.867secs, Ray ended the day fastest, but knows there is a lot of hard work ahead this weekend, as the pack face three races around the small National circuit.

And with four coveted Showdown spots up for grabs, Ray is taking the sensible option and is focusing totally on the big picture rather than all-out wins.

“This would be the first time I’ve been in the showdown and obviously we’ve got to play it a little bit smart and try and do our best over the weekend to secure it and not do anything stupid,” he admitted to Bikesport News.

“It’s going to be one of those weekends where we’re going to take the results and take the points so yeah, we’ll see what happens.”

Ray added that he was happy to emerge quickest today, and said he enjoyed getting to grips with a new track.

“It’s nice trying something different and learning a new circuit and I think it’s going to be close and interesting racing all weekend.

“We’ve had a good day today but we’ve still got a little bit to improve on the bike and hopefully the weather holds off tomorrow but it’s not looking too good.

“We’ll do our best in qualifying, get a race in tomorrow and hopefully we should be good for the Showdown by the end of the weekend. Let’s just see.”