Kyle Ryde “too little too late” to challenge for Race 1 BSB Assen win

Kyle Ryde had struggled in the wet qualifying, but was all action in race one to fight past Leon Haslam for second, reducing the hit to his title lead with the runner-up slot behind Scott Redding in BSB Race 1 at Assen.

The championship leader had already had a rare spill in the unfavourable conditions on Friday and qualified down in fourth in the wet Q2.

Ryde did not suffer from quite such a bad start as in recent rounds, but had work to do, hitting the group chasing Scott Redding early in the race - by then Redding had taken advantage and pulled a gap as the Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Ducati rider explained when talking to British Superbikes after the race:

“I think obviously Scott got a start where he maintained kind of his position and me and Leon lost three or four, so it took us maybe four or five laps to get in the position we kind of had the speed to be in.

But then, by that point, Scott had already got a gap, so I kind of thought if I was going to catch him up, it wasn’t by being an idiot and going too fast. I just thought “I’ll just try and set some sort of rhythm” and hopefully put a bit of pressure on at the end, which I kind of did do, but it was too little to late - and yeah, I think Scott just had a bit too much of a gap in the mid-part, credits due where it’s due, he obviously got a good start and pulled a gap.”

Again riding with the championship in mind, Ryde was looking to move up on Redding, but hit an obstacle as Leon Haslam engaged in battle providing some of the best racing as the pair fought it out for second, as Ryde explained, speaking after Haslam in the Podium Reactions segment after the race:

“So yeah, apart form that it was a very good, fun race with Leon and a few others. Like Leon said, we probably lost a little bit too much time to be able to put a little bit more pressure on Scott.

With the iffy conditions, we didn’t know what weather we was going to get - wet, intermediates or dry, so to get a full 17 laps out of the way in the dry get some data for tomorrow and second place, I’ll take it”.

With spots of rain appearing right at the end of the race, before truly returning afterward, Ryde was happy to get away with a dry race given the mixed conditions since arrival in Assen, adding that he believed his push towards then end of the race helped him secure second over the hard-to-pass Haslam :

“I think towards the end of the race, the last six laps, the only reason why I managed to fend him off was just doing a really good couple of laps and I was real good out the back too, where he was good. He was trying to catch me back up, not right up my chuff, it was very difficult holding him off.

I’ve spent six or seven years in BSB, and Leon’s definitely hardest person to pass and fend off, so yeah it’s great fun while it lasts, but it’s mental”.