Kyle Ryde “wasn’t expecting to pull away” in first Oulton Park BSB race

Reigning BSB champion Kyle Ryde got his title defence off to a perfect start with a win in the first race at the opening meeting of the year, at Oulton Park.

The back to back title holder made the transition from Yamaha to Ducati seamlessly as he dominated the early action of the season. 

Beginning with topping the Oulton Park test on the eve of the season start, the number 1 plated bike went on to top practice with a lap record, secure pole and take a first race win of the season, something Ryde did not manage until round five in 2025.

The win was all the more impressive considering how little time the riders have had to get used to their machinery - and Ryde was expecting his start to be a little rusty, which came to be accurate dropping to fourth at the first corner.

“The bike obviously turned up three weeks ago. I’ve only done probably two practice starts so that was the biggest thing - get off the line. The best thing I did today was qualify on pole ‘cause I knew I was going to lose a row because my practice starts have been half a second slower than they were last year.

So, I was nervous for that ‘cause obviously I didn't want to stall it and get smashed by anyone. So, the objective was to get off the line. Once I did that, actually fourth, fifth into turn one wasn’t the end of the world. So my race started from there really” Ryde told British Superbikes in the press conference after race one.

Ryde added that he bounced back quickly as he was expecting more riders at the end of the race to be on the same time, hoping to thin the pack, instead he picked up a lead of around six seconds, easing back to a gap of 5.180s at the chequered flag.

“I think after three laps I just tried to force myself to the front to make my race a lot safer. I thought if I did a few 33’s then the people that can do 33’s would have to come with me and hopefully the end of the race would have been a lot safer.

So that was my objective and in the middle part of the race I just did the pace I’ve been doing in the practice sessions.

I wasn’t expecting to pull away, but my pit board was slowly going up!”

The Ducati rider noted that although going hard gave a good gap, it made his life harder towards the end of the race, as he struggled for control of his Nitrous bike:

“It made my life a lot harder the last four laps because I could almost hear Shannon (Etheridge, crew chief) and everyone in the garage telling me to slow down. So I tried to slow down and then had more mistakes than I had done all weekend.

So tomorrow hopefully the gap is not five seconds. Hopefully it’s one or so or something like that, just to keep me in a rhythm for 18 laps.”

Overall, Ryde was happy with his strong start - the race one win marked his 60th straight race finish, consistency which has helped him to both the 2024 and 2025 BSB titles, adding:

“Great start to the season, got to try and make the bike a little but better for the end of the race tomorrow. But yeah, should be a good day”.

Ryde will be looking to add to his first win of the season, with two more races to come on the Bank Holiday Monday, starting with the race two sprint.