Scott Redding declares Kyle Ryde ‘saved by the bell’ after red flag decides BSB Brands Hatch opener

Scott Redding was again feeling short changed, waiting to pounce over the closing laps, but thwarted by a late red flag for Eugene McMAnus, who had crashed at turn one, Paddock Hill Bend in the first BSB race at Brands Hatch.

The Hager PBM rider was sure on similar Ducati machinery that he had what was needed to get back in front, having led the race from turn one until lap fifteen, where Kyle Ryde had dived up the inside, also at Paddock Hill Bend.

Speaking to British Superbikes after the race, Redding had coined a term for again not being able to put in a late attack:

“I call that one ‘saved by the bell’ - I was feeling it at the end. I got a good start. I could have maybe went for the holeshot in turn one, but I thought, you know, let’s keep it clean - and then I ended up in a good position to make a move into turn four - so I took my opportunity to pounce.

And then yeah, I just got my head down, just did my rhythm. I didn’t want to go too hard. The pace was good, but I felt, like, quite comfortable, which was quite nice.

All had looked good for the former champion out front, until an error brought Ryde near enough to attack, Redding explained:

“Then I tried to bring the pace up a little bit in the race. Would get a bit of a gap going to Kyle. And then I made a bit of a stupid mistake in my weakest area- and Kyle’s strongest part. So instead of losing maybe a tenth, I lost like three tenths.

So then the gap came down, then he was in fighting reach again. And it’s always good when you’re the guy behind to do that. Gives you motivation.

Then, he come underneath me into turn one and I just, I could have closed the door but I thought actually, like, it was ticking the laps off, ‘cause when he came underneath I thought , you know, I’ll let him through , see what I can see and then we’ll have a bit of battle at the end.”

Their pace had removed much of the risk, nearest rival Max Cook had lost touch and was now around five seconds adrift, so Redding had been looking forward to a late two man battle, but it was not to be, as a late fall for Eugene McManus brought out the red flag, declaring the race at lap 17 of 20:

“I saw we had a big gap behind so we could just go one-on-one and he started to stretch me a little bit and I was like ‘oh like this maybe ain’t going to plan so much’ but then I saw a couple of little things.

I adapted my riding style and I started to close the gap in again and I was actually, like, I found my rhythm and I thought we could have a good little battle for the last two laps of the race and just as I got back there, red flag came out again.

So obviously, man of the moment got the win, which is good and put up a great pace because I feel like we were doing good lap times he was there but we could have a good little show to the end of that one, but this is racing and we have two more to go tomorrow.