“Work to do with the bike” after podium for Redding in race one at Knockhill BSB

Scott Redding admits there is work to be done to return to winning ways after finishing a distant second in the first BSB race at Knockhill.

Scott Redding remains the only rider to have taken a race win from Kyle Ryde as the reigning champion continued to dominate as the paddock moved up to Scotland for the third round of the British Superbike championship, at Knockhill.

With a solitary win under his belt this year in the opening race at the last meeting at Doninigton Park, The Hager PBM Ducati rider has managed something that has eluded the vast majority of the paddock, and revealed a compromised start did not help this time around, as he explained to British Superbikes in their post race interview:

“Kyle I expected to do what Kyle does - he got the holeshot, surprised me a bit. But, to be honest, at the start of the race, the lights went on and I normally put my first gear quite late and by the time I put my feet over and I looked down, the lights went out. So, a bit of a mistake from my side, not being ready quick enough, but that’s the style I like to use.”

It had not only been Ryde escaping as Bradley Ray had gone with the Ducati man on his Yamaha, leaving Redding in for a lonely ride for much of the 30 lap race, as the duo disappeared ahead:

“Kyle just about got the holeshot and then Brad come around the outside of me for a second I was thinking ‘oh I need to try and get past Brad’ and the complete opposite happened actually.

Kyle and Brad just kept stretching me out and I was trying, but the more I tried, the more mistakes I made.

I felt like, compared to those two, I have less grip than them, but we have the same tyres, so mechanically we need to improve that.

And there’s something inside me that keeps trying more, but I just say at some point,’I’m not catching them’ and I’m risking a lot - I’m not going to bring them back.”

Unable to catch the leaders, but a safe distance from the battle behind, Redding chose to use his time on track instead to collect data and look for areas of improvement on his PBM bike:

“Then I was just trying different things on the bike, using that race - a bit of a test for myself and riding style and different engine brake, just trying to work a little bit.”

Redding picked up a place when Ray, who had applied pressure to Ryde for the whole race, retired late on with a mechanical issue:

“Then, unfortunately, Brad had a mechanical and to be honest, I feel quite sorry for him because he was riding really well. He had a moment out the last corner, Kyle got a gap and then he pulled Kyle back in like two, three laps, and I was like ‘damn’.

Like I thought maybe now you had the moment I would catch you, and he just dropped me again and went up to Kyle. So Brad was riding really strong and I think it’s a bit of a kick in the teeth when you know he’s had a bit of a tough start to the year should we say, and he was there, and I think he could have had a little bit more for Kyle.”

Redding had a little joke in the presser at the expense of Glenn Irwin while celebrating his podium return, who swapped having his brother Andrew in the championship alongside him, with another brother replacing his injured sibling, with Graeme Irwin stepping up in his place:

“Obviously I’m second. Glenn, there’s so many Irwin’s on the timesheet, I just don’t even bother any more - oh there’s Graeme, Andrew, Rhys. There’s too many, So we just go with Irwin.

So obviously he got the podium which is obviously a great feeling as well.”

Redding admitted that there was work to do in addition to that done on the fly in-race to try and bridge the gap to Ryde, with the Nitrous Competitions rider now having won six of the seven races held so far in 2026 adding:

“So, I’ve got work to do with the bike. I feel like my ability on riding is there, but the bike is just not. We’re working to try and understand why, but , you know, we’re changing big things going into the race - and it’s a little but disheartening when it doesn’t work. But I got to just try those things now, than later in the year, when more points are on the line, so that we have a machine that we can fight with.

Kyle is riding superior, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t believe it’s better than what I can do. I think we would be battling more. I don’t think Id’ be able to ride away from him, because he’s riding so well this year, but at the moment I don’t have the material to do that. So until we fix it, it’s going to be difficult.”