Race one pace “shock to the system” for Kyle Ryde

The opening British Superbike race at Cadwell Park for the Bank Holiday weekend looked to have been another escape for Bradley Ray, but reigning champion Kyle Ryde threw everything he had at the closing stages of the race, finding a way back to his fellow Yamaha rider and coming incredibly close to snatching a win.

• 2025 British Superbikes: Cadwell Park - Qualifying Results
• 2025 British Superbikes: Cadwell Park - Race Results (1)

The pace of the race had seen few able to keep up with Ray who set a new Superpole lap record in qualifying for pole position, then a race lap record to attempt to escape. That saw most of the field dropped, and several crashes from riders trying to keep pace, notably Tommy Bridewell. Ryde launched form second, but was shocked by the increase in speed from last year, choosing to bide his time on the Nitrous Competitons bike:

“I’ve got past experiences of race pace around here. Last year I won doing 26.2’s so seeing 25.7’s on my dashboard and Brad a Tommy was pulling away - it was quite a shock to the system, but I knew I had pace at the end of the race.

I kind of let them both go, hoping that at some point I’d catch him back up. I was kind of lucky.”

With Bridewell closer and falling ahead, the #1 bike was left with almost two and a half seconds to make up, yet, by the penultimate lap Ryde was ready to try a move for the win at the Gooseneck, with contact between the duo:

“Obviously had a bit if speed at the end, caught Brad up and, like you said, that move was a little bit - ambitious - but as I caught him up, I just thought, ‘I’ll have a go’.

Luckily we both stayed on , both got maximum points, as what we thought we could have got.

The close race - just 0.087s separated the duo at the finish - gives Ryde hop he can compete for a win on Monday, with two more races to come:

"It’s been a good weekend up to here . Great qualifying, great race with Brad and roll on tomorrow”.