Kyle Ryde felt “saved” by red flag with Rory Skinner approaching in BSB Thruxton Race 1

Kyle Ryde had displayed he had one lap pace, going under the old lap record in practice and setting pole earlier on Saturday, but his aim in the race was not to win, instead he planned to prepare for improvements for Sunday, feeling he had been handed a gift of a victory as race one was red flagged for Max Cook, who crashed out hard on the straight in the first BSB race of the weekend at Thruxton.

There had been hopes that the 2026 Ducati would be able to break the Yamaha dominance at Thruxton, with all race wins since 2019 going to the manufacturer, including one for Ryde himself last year when still using a Yamaha.

Now a Ducati team, the Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions rider had an electric first lap battling with fellow Ducati rider Scott Redding, who became the long term leader, as Ryde saved tyre behind running his own pace, as Ryde revealed speaking to British Superbikes in their podium reaction interviews after the race:

“The first lap was quite fun, pretty pointless to be honest, but it was just wherever he broke, I went a bit later and then the same into the next corner and it was good fun for what, 25 seconds, and then we got to business, and yeah, to be honest Scott set a really good pace. Probably too fast for all of us really."

While talking on that subject Ryde also touched on the fact that he felt, on a Yamaha, Cheshire Mouldings rider and eventual second place man after Redding faded, Rory Skinner, would have pressure him for the win, adding:

“The only thing was, that last part of the race - I do think Rory definitely would have had something for me. I was struggling in the major areas out of the first complex and out of Church, so I’d seen on the TV he passed Ryan down the back straight.

So we obviously, had some good mechanical grip the last couple of laps. So yeah, the red flag might have just saved me of another win, but I think I would have been in the top three anyway, which was my objective, and some data for tomorrow.

The middle part of the race was difficult because Scott was setting a good pace and I couldn’t really see him getting any slower, but I just did my pace and before you know it, I think eight laps to go, I caught him up and passed him, and just tried to get my head down, and before you know it I had Rory, Ryan and Brad on the pit board.”

The next topic of conversation was the electric pace at Thruxton, despite the heatwave temperatures. Ryde explained that the first half of the lap is where the improvements have been found:

I think the only difference, compared to the last few years, it we’ve been doing 16.1’s and sat in the group and you can’t really ride the front tyre like you did in that race, so the only difference compared to last year is that the first half of the lap we rode it like a qualifying lap, and that’s where the lap times come from really, because we’re still smooth out the back.”

Looking ahead to Sunday’s two races the reigning champion and title hunt leader expects the sprint to be quick with less tyre wear to worry about over the shorter distance, with management needed to take a multi-rider fight to the line in the final feature race, with Ryde expecting Skinner to be in the mix at the front for the win again:

“I think the person that probably managed it the best was Rory ‘cause he got to second and was going to have a go at the end, So I think the race time will be the same, we’ve just got to go a little bit slower at the start, so of there is a bit of a dog fight at the end, we can actually make a pass and not be a sitting duck, so yeah, good job all of us today, we’ll try again tomorrow.”