Rory Skinner “comfortable” on Yamaha at BSB Thruxton for first podium of 2026

Rory Skinner was immediately in the mix at the front of BSB Race 1 at Thruxton, initially battling it out in the group behind then frontrunners Scott Redding and eventual race winner Kyle Ryde, before moving into a battle for second with race rival Ryan Vickers, taking over one final time not long before the race was declared for Max Cook’s red flagged accident.

The Cheshire Mouldings rider improved on Friday to secure a direct Q2 slot, which was then converted to a fourth place on the grid for the first race. The number 11 was initially surprised by the fast pace of the race, but able to run at the front and match the other riders, as he revealed when speaking to British Superbikes after the race:

“Quite an interesting race, really. First lap came around and it was like, straight into the 15’s, I’d said on the grid to the boys, I thought 15.5 is kind of going to be the race pace, but I didn’t expect to be dipping straight into the low 15’s .

Then, I didn’t really look at my dash for a while, just focused on riding smooth and kind of being with the boys around me, and every lap was, like just sitting in the mid-15’s still and I couldn’t really believe it.

I felt pretty comfortable in doing that. A lot more comfortable than I have all weekend, which was kind of a little bit strange, but yeah really, really happy with that race.”

Skinner had the additional comfort of being on a Yamaha for this season - the manufacturer having won all the races at Thruxton before today a record that had stretched back to when Josh Brookes last won on a Ducati in 2019, with Ryde and his team-mate Danny Kent taking the wins for Yamaha last season. Skinner was aware of the history Yamaha has at the circuit adding:

“I felt like I managed it quite well and the Yamaha’s obviously got a lot of potential around here. It’s had a lot of race wins and I felt like if the race had gone the distance, I might be able to get a bit closer to Kyle and maybe have something for the last couple of laps.”

Skinner then touched on how hard it has been to get near the podium this season - before Race 1 there have only been six different riders to feature on the podium: Glenn Irwin, Max Cook, Leon Haslam in addition to the only three riders to have a win to their name - Bradley Ray, Redding and Ryde. Skinner explained how hard his team had worked to bridge the gap, with himself and Vickers adding their names to the rostrum finishers:

“To be second, on the podium at the minute, I’ll definitely take that because so far this year, it’s been challenging to say the least, but the Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha boys have never given up, you know, for my guys, on my side of the garage. It’s been pretty tough.

We’ve had a whole new bike to learn and it’s not been easy. So yeah, it’s been good. I’m happy where we’re at and I think we can do some more.”