Buildbase Suzuki's Bradley Ray now has his sights firmly fixed on the 2018 Bennetts British Superbike Showdown and is looking to take home as many podium credits as he can from this weekend's Brands round.

Ray has slipped to 98 points behind series leader Leon Haslam in the championship chase after tough rounds at Snetterton and Knockhill but is still in third place with a six-point advantage over Glenn Irwin and says a win or two at his home track would help things along.

“I’m really looking forward to my home round next weekend. I think we can be really strong there as I like the GP track a lot and also the Suzuki works well round there. At Brands Hatch we need to try and claw some point back on Leon and most importantly score some more podiums credits, it’s about time we were back on the podium, said Ray.

“It would be incredible to get a win at my home race in front of a lot of local fans and all my family. It’s a long season and we just need to make sure we stay in the top six and score as many podium points as possible!”

Ray has just returned from the official three-day Suzuka Eight-Hours test and put in some positive work.

 “The official Suzuka Eight-Hours test has been very good for myself and the Yoshimura team. We worked through a lot during the three days and I also did my first race simulation of 28 laps - it was very tough, the hardest simulation I have ever done.

“I’m really looking forward to the event, it’s a massive race for all the manufacturers. I can’t wait to experience the atmosphere on race week and I’m very grateful to Yoshimura Suzuki to have me onboard this year and hopefully I can do a good job for the team."