2026 British Superbikes: Donington Park - Race Results (1)

The opening BSB race at round ten, a return to Donington Park in the Showdown, saw Kyle Ryde recover from a bad start to ease out a lead and win the opening Showdown race.

After a dominant qualifying Ryde started from pole, with Bradley Ray getting the best start and Scott Redding giving chase as the Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions bike dropped back to fifth.

The reigning champion reacted and was soon back past Rory Skinner, With Ray, Ryan Vickers and Redding still ahead.

A pass on Redding on lap three saw contact between the title rivals with Redding’s leg tangled in Ryde’s handlebars.

The Number one bike toughed it out through the following corners to come out ahead, not wanting to wait for a conventional place to pass.

Vickers got the same treatment, with Ryde making his first move on the arrival of the Honda Racing UK bikes rear wheel. After being unsuccessful through Coppice, Ryde pushed again, eventually moving ahead through the Schwantz curve soon after.

Vickers did not give up, maintaining a gap under half of second for the remaining laps, as Ryde ahead put in a succession of fastest laps, to try and break away.

That break came on lap 18 of 20 with the gap out to 0.880s and visible on track for the first time. From there Ryde pulled away to lead over the line by 1.260s for his 15th win of the season.

Vickers was a clear second for Honda, with Ray three seconds down the road after his strong start for McAMS Yamaha.

Scott Redding had no reply for his title rival, in fourth, six seconds behind Ryde for Hager PBM Ducati.

After the initial chopping and changing at lights out, the top five ended as they had lined up on the grid, with Max Cook fifth for AJN Steelstock bimota.

Skinner was in the lead group until smoke appeared from his Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha on lap 14, pulling straight off track.

By that point in the race, Leon Haslam had already made up eight places but was gifted one more from Skinner's exit, to finish a lonely sixth for Moto Rapido Ducati, completing more laps than he had all weekend after a series of bike issues over the previous sessions.

Danny Kent got to the front of, then pulled away from, the next group on track, also solo for seventh for Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha.

That group was led over the line by Storm Stacey, in recovery mode after a difficult qualifying to place eighth for Bathams AJN Ducati.

Joe Talbot was the top rookie in ninth on the second bimota bike, ahead of Christian iddon who ran wide late in the race but pulled back in line for a top ten finish, ahead of Lee Jackson, who could not take advantage of having the Sencat Yamaha suddenly right in his sights, staying eleventh for DAO Racing.

His team-mate Josh Brookes made his way through the pack to twelfth, including a long, entertaining battle with Jason O’Halloran on the second Honda Racing UK bike, who dropped back to 13th.

The remaining points went to Rhys Irwin in 14th for MasterMac Honda, and Andrew Irwin, who passed the TAG Honda of Scott Swann late on for 15th for MET fonaCAB Racing.

Official British Superbike Donington Park Records:

BSB lap record: Glenn Irwin 1’ 26.832s (Ducati, 2025)
Pole record: Kyle Ryde 1’ 26.123s (Ducati, Q2, 2026)

Round 2:

Qualifying: 1 Kyle Ryde (2 Max Cook, 3 Scott Redding)
Race 1: 1 Scott Redding (2 Max Cook, 3 Kyle Ryde)
Race 2 (sprint): 1 Kyle Ryde (2 Scott Redding, 3 Max Cook)
Race 3: 1 Kyle Ryde (2 Scott Redding, 3 Max Cook)

Ilya Mikhalchik was still in the pits as the grid formed so started from there, not lasting long until he retired back to the garage. Fraser Rogers was already out by then, with Glenn Irwin and Eugene McManus also retiring from the race.

Championship Standings

Mathematically Ryde can take the title if factors were to go his way by race three on Sunday, and helped his cause by adding maximum points - now on 484 after 28 races.

Redding arrived with a 68 point deficit and saw that gap grow to 75 after race one, with Ray now 115 away in third.

Second took Ryan Vickers to 311 points, with Haslam’s huge effort seeing him now on 308.

In the rookie standings, Joe Talbot’s points finish increased his advantage over Mikhalchik, arriving with 124 and moving onto132, while the BMW rider did not score.

Full results from BSB Race1: