Scott Redding had a “long 17 laps” alone in Assen BSB Race 1 victory.

Scott Redding did all he could to reduce that gap to title leader Kyle Ryde as the Showdown portion of the BSB season got underway at Assen.

With 25 points now on offer for a win, Redding believed the best chance he had for maximum points was to get away out front and keep out of trouble, as he explained in the Race Reaction interviews with British Superbikes after the race:

“I just wanted to kind of be out of trouble. We made a change with the bike, which is a little bit of a gamble, which we didn’t have time to try. So, in the race I was trying to nurse it the first lap, kind of feel if it was okay - and then Danny (Kent) passed me and I was just like, I just don’t need any of this!"

On the change to the bike Redding later added that “when Kyle got a clean lap he closed on me, then I responded, but I just need to see kind of where he was with the information we get.”

Redding then expanded on his rush to the front. Having qualified fifth, behind Ryde in fourth, and then seeing Ryan Vickers get the holeshot and lead into turn one, the former champion knew he needed to react quickly, and as a regular visitor to Assen over his MotoGP and WSBK career, was naturally in tune with the TT Circuit and fast:

“I thought I’d try and get past Ryan quick as I can - I just did my rhythm - I didn’t really feel like I was pushing that hard. I said the same thing at Thruxton and these guys said, like “why are you riding that fast?” Sometimes maybe I just feel good at the start, but then I kind of stayed in that rhythm and then I was getting a little bit slower as the race went on, but the gap was getting big as they were battling.

Redding added that with the gap from his fastest lap at the start, helped by the duelling behind the race, he felt, became his to lose, adding:

“So, I didn’t really have any pressure to push, it was like the mistake was for me to make and I was just kind of trying to just work on a few little bits. It was just a weird race for me. I was a long 17 laps on my own, going up the back straight, you got cross wind going into the right, but just happy to come back with the win”.

In closing, Redding took the time to dedicate the victory to his son, who was celebrating his birthday on Saturday:

“Obviously being Hudson’s birthday today I wanted to win to wish him a happy birthday, and we’ll see tomorrow. Happy again, we got dry weather and we’ll see what we have for the rest of the weekend”.