British Superbikes: Ticket to Ryde in Showdown Sprint

It was glory for Kyle Ryde as he got his weekend and title hopes back on track with a sprint race win - bur Bridewell increased his overall lead in third as the BSB Showdown Saturday drew to a close at Brands Hatch.

Lisa Lewis

14 Oct 2023

Brands Hatch Sprint Podium Showdown, Ryde, O'halloran, Bridewell, 2023,BSB, British Superbike — Brands Hatch Sprint Podium Showdown, Ryde, O'halloran, Bridewell, 2023,BSB…

Ryde had been dominating for LAMI OMG Yamaha in all the practice sessions, whatever the weather, and although qualifying didn’t go the same way, he quickly got to work from sixth, making brave choices and overtakes to arrive in a position to fight for the win.

‘My FP3 session this morning won me that race today’

It was his time in the FP3 session which was held in similar conditions that the #77 credited with his race success:

“For me I feel like my FP3 session this morning won me that race today.I think a few people opted to just sit the session out , understandably, I nearly did the same with how dodgy it was out the back but obviously I just wanted to keep going around riding my bike, I was enjoying riding my bike that definitely won me the race.

It was the exact same conditions, same tyres, probably the same temperature as well, just credit to the boys for making the bike a little bit better than FP3 this morning and just managed to hold Jason off to the line”.

The dash to the line was a full on BSB finale spectacle, with a photo finish. The difference between the duo was just 0.015s after twelve laps.

According to Ryde, even the setting sun, covering the track with a golden light for the sprint race played it’s part as it gave away where O’Halloran was on track:

“With the sun, as you come down the bottom straight here, you cannot see where to brake, so you’re just guessing every lap, luckily for me as you come out of the last corner you can see how close Jason is by the shadow, I knew he wasn’t coming underneath me so I just had to be as smooth as possible over the start line, tuck in as much as possible, because I knew he had a little bit more grip than me!”

It was the #77’s sixth win but a special one because of the venue, and the timing:

“I’m very pleased to take my first ever win at Brands, hatch at the last meeting where it means the most”.

‘I looked up at the big screens around here and thought “oh, I haven’t got it!”

Jason O’halloran had started from pole after a slipstream in qualifying saw him top the timesheets.

After he too coped well with the conditions, the last lap saw the McAMS rider use a similar idea to get ahead to try and give his team some final wins before the exit the paddock, and it came close to working.

The Australian began by using Ryde being with him on track to help him judge the conditions:

“Difficult race. When it’s patchy conditions like that, you don’t really know how fast to go, probably made it a little easier for me when Kyle came by - to be fair it wasn’t easier because of the pace he was setting, it was harder because of the pace he was setting but easier to judge the conditions. It was much faster than I wanted to go to be honest in the dodgy conditions, but I knew I had to do something to day to keep it alive for tomorrow”.
The #22 went on to describe his overtake attempt at the start of the final lap:

“Felt good - the bike had plenty of grip, the wet parts of the track were difficult to understand but by the end I felt pretty comfortable, past Kyle last lap into turn one but just didn’t quite hold it, tighten off, so he got back past my right away.

“I was pretty sure I hadn’t got there but also hoping I got there I looked up at the big screens around here and thought “oh, I haven’t got it!”

The front pair were clear on track, but the next battling duo were equally at war.

‘Always the goal and the target is to finish ahead of Glenn’.

Inseparable on wins and close on points, once again, Tommy Bridewell and Glenn Irwin were once again together on track, though this time both parties finished the race.

Bridewell started further up the grid in seventh and the BeerMonster Ducati rider soon made forward progress:

“Made a good start, which was key for me, just to kind of get with the guys I knew had the pace. Felt good at the start and thought ‘I’ve got a good opportunity to perhaps fight for the win here’ but these guys, Kyle and Jase rode a good clean race, no mistakes. They just had a bit more confidence out the back than me in the dry areas.”

The #46 struggled a little in the wet compared to the other podium finishers, but his biggest battle was with the other red bike on track:

“To be honest as a rider it’s probably my biggest weakness but all in all I’m really happy as I had Glenn sort of on my board, plus zero pretty much the whole race.

I feel that good on the bike in quite a lot of areas the fork was diving fast and the rear was sitting, there was no rubber on the track, it was a tough race, always the goal and the target is to finish ahead of Glenn”.

Irwin made rapid forward progress after an issue with his front brake saw him qualify 17th. The Northern Irish rider admitted that with the same bike, a lot of the chance to pass is opportunity and rider confidence:

“When you’re riding against a bike that’s identical to yours, to make a pass is down to the rider, not we can use the speed, we can’t use the drive, grip, whatever.

Felt a lot stronger and noticed Tommy started to struggle with the rear tyre, quite bad at the end, at that stage I knew it was time to pounce, again with the bikes both being so equally matched you kind of have to look at different passes, and the last left…it’s not been in my locker many times to be truthfully honest”.

The pass late in the race saw him wide as he struggled to stop on the wet part of the track and the #2 decided that was risk enough, with the gap back he finished fourth.

In terms of the title, Bridewell actually extended his lead from third now 10.5 ahead while Ryde picked up 35 to reduce his gap to 27.

Irwin can win both the remaining races and still won’t take the title if Bridewell is second to him both times.
Leon Haslam remains mathematically in contention despite his fall as does Lee Jackson, while the sprint result ended the hopes of both Josh Brookes and Christian Iddon.