British Superbikes, Oulton Park - Ryde: “was trying my nuts off to keep up!”
Kyle Ryde was happy to have kept his perfect podium run going in the second round of the season, taking third in the opening race at Oulton Park.
Glenn Irwin was looking ominous after his form at the test at Oulton Park right before the race weekend, so Kyle Ryde was happy to secure third and learn how to improve for the two races still to come on Monday.
The longer feature race being moved to Sunday meant a lot of uncertainty regarding how tyres would last over the 18 lap distance.
The OMG Grilla rider had shown dominant speed over one lap, taking pole with ease on his Yamaha.
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The race was a very different affair and with a short spell out front battling with his teammate Ryan Vickers completed and Irwin ahead, a sensible approach to tyres and race distance allowed the #77 to still feature on the podium.
Speaking after the race, Ryde was happy with third, as it was hard to keep pace with the Ducati bikes ahead:
“It was a good start, a lot of people thought they could go a lot faster than me at the start, which the could! They set the pace - Glenn and ‘Iddo’ actually pulled away and I was trying my nuts off to keep up!
Ryde mentioned next how pushing to match their pace had let errors creep in to his race:
“I kept making mistakes, and, yeah, I just chilled out and stopped making mistakes, let the race come to me and I started setting faster laps and toward the end, but nowhere near fast enough in the middle to keep up.
Ryde was also happy with how the Yamaha worked for him in the latter stages compared to the first round in Navarra, adding:
“ I’m very pleased with how the bike was at the end of the race, because obviously, in Navarra, I really struggled at the end of the race, so I kind of feel like we’ve switched the race around, but I’m happier with that third place here than what it was in Navarra”.
Ryde will have the opportunity to add to his podium tally twice on Bank Holiday Monday, with the Sprint race first at Oulton Park at 1:15PM followed by another 18 laps at 4:15PM for race three.
