Kyle Ryde believes Scott Redding “deserved to win” wet Donington BSB race one
Kyle Ryde took a cautious approach as a downpour arrived while leading, with a brave Scott Redding putting in a pass that saw him the winner of the first BSB race at Donington Park.
The weather played a huge part in the result of the first race of the second 2026 BSB round at Donington Park, where Kyle Ryde finished third with his hand up in the rain.
Starting under overcast conditions, Max Cook set the pace over the early laps with new lap record holder Ryde slotting in behind from pole.
The first spots of rain saw Ryde able to take advantage of the bimota riders nervousness in the light rain, but was soon under pressure himself, with eventual race winner Scott Redding putting on his own overtaking manoeuvre at the Old Hairpin at the end of the penultimate lap.
Ryde would go on to finish third on his Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitons Ducati, putting up his hand as the rain now hammered down over the first corners of the last lap, as Cook slipped back in front. Speaking to British Superbikes after the race Ryde opened by explaining the lack of grip feeling underneath him:
“Very tough race, probably looked good on paper but it was difficult to ride the bike after probably six or seven laps. Where I normally feel quite strong I didn’t really have a lot of grip and it was making the bike hard work.”
The number one plated rider was also full of praise for Cook, who was by comparison under prepared for leading in the sudden change of conditions, adding:
“If it wasn’t for Max in front, I think my race time would have been a couple of seconds slower so credit to Max really, for setting the pace for the first half of the race.
Towards the end of the race I managed to save a little bit of energy for a pass at the Melbourne Loop, ‘cause I was really good through the chicane, but obviously the rain come and I was the weakest out of the three.
So yeah, I ended up coming over the line third and then they red flagged it.”
The reigning champion had no ill feelings for the race being called when it was - settling for a safe third in the breakaway trio actually extended his title lead to eight points -
“It was definitely the right call at the right time.
Scott deserved to win that one with the pass at the Old Hairpin - so make my bike better and tomorrow we’ll go again.”
On being asked if his lack of confidence was down to a lack of feeling or just the addition of rain, Ryde said it was something he was expecting, but took the positive that there is still time in the weekend to make changes and improve:
“I think every time we’ve been going out on used tyres. We obviously had a lot of energy and working on it that way, that would be the first time we’ve really done 20 laps in a solid run, and probably from 10 to 20 I wasn’t too happy with the bike from the rear side, so we knew that was going to happen at some point.
It’s just a good job that we can go to sleep and wake up and make the bike better for tomorrow for the two races.”
