Kyle Ryde declares BSB Oulton Park comeback a “great day at the office”

Kyle Ryde had seen a change in fortunes on his return to Oulton Park for the second British Superbikes visit of the year - a first fall in over a year in Pre-Qualifying had left him on the back foot and with work to do to keep his podium run going from tenth on the grid.

Speaking to the official British Superbikes channel after the race, the Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions rider explained how the out of character start to the weekend had left work to do:

“Starting tenth, ever since I fell off yesterday, it’s been kind of a little bit stressful. Never really felt the same as what I did yesterday on the bike, but yeah, starting tenth - I knew I had a good speed at the end of the race to at least pick four or five people off.

If I was to sneak a podium, I’d have been very happy. So yeah, once I got my head down I got to fifth, and I had a two second gap to catch up.”

The group ahead had grown from the bimota duo of Max Cook and Joe Talbot with eventual race winner Bradley Ray to also include Storm Stacey, also a race leader over the duration, with Leon Haslam in the mix. The lead pack became bigger still when Ryde arrived bringing Scott Redding with him, with the fighting ahead giving the Ducati rider a shot at the podium:

“I was slowly catching up, but when they all stated passing each other, the gap just disappeared instantly, and I could chill out a bit and save a bit for the end.

I was kind of looking at what everyone was doing. Max was kind of struggling a little bit with his tyre, I think, and to be honest, I though Brad looked very comfortable in the group.

So, I was sat in fourth, I think Brad was third and out of nowhere, two corners later, Brad was first, so he did well to pass Leon in the last corner and Storm into turn one, then got his head down, and that won him that race.”

Ray had the lead at over a second by the time the reigning champion had worked his way to second, and although Ryde had halved that by the chequered flag, the advantage built up saw Ray over the line ahead, but left Ryde happy with his turnaround performance:

“Once I got to second I caught up a little bit, but obviously ran out of laps - but like I said, second place from tenth on the grid - it’s a great day at the office.”

On being asked if the fall had affected him or damaged his Nitrous bike Ryde revealed that his rare fall had affected him more than he expected, adding:

“Normally, obviously when you have a crash, it knocks you a bit, but it was that kind of slow, and it was my fault I didn’t think it would affect me, but in that second sector I’ve not been as good since, So, yeah, it’ll come.

Start tenth and I come second, so I can’t grumble. We’ll try and make the bike a bit better for tomorrow and see if we can do another better.”