Buildbase Suzuki’s Bradley Ray will put a difficult few Bennetts British Superbike rounds behind him at Cadwell Park this weekend and defend his Showdown spot.

Ray has slipped to fifth in the title chase and has only a 15-point lead over Cadwell specialist Peter Hickman, so the Kent rider will defend his position before heading to Silverstone, which he believes will suit him better.

“It has been a difficult few rounds for us and we had a few technical issues that we couldn’t solve that were holding us back, but we had a good test and were making good progress again at Thruxton,” said Ray.

“At Knockhill and Brands Hatch we had the issues and scraped some points together that could be really important later in the season, but at Thruxton we really worked hard and found a good pace for the races and we felt like we had the areas covered so that we could fight for the podium again, so it was frustrating to have finished the weekend as we did.

“The crash in race one was my fault and then in race two we had a problem, but Cadwell Park is a completely different track to anywhere else. We know that Jason and Peter will be fast at the weekend, but I will be doing my best to stay ahead and then we go to Silverstone and that should be a good track for us.

“We need to score the points that will keep us in the top six and then the tracks coming up should be good for us and we can really attack.

“I am feeling good heading to Cadwell Park this weekend; the test we had there went well and it was great to spin a load of laps before we go there for the races. We worked on some areas that give us a good starting point for free practice one so we need to build on that and do the best job we can on Sunday so we are in a good position for Silverstone.”

Ray will also have Danny Buchan, sixth in the chase, and Jason O’Halloran to contend with as riders who favour Cadwell Park.