British Superbikes, Oulton Park: Ryde bounces back - “I’ll take a first all day long”
Kyle Ryde made a comeback in the wet after struggling to 13th in race two to double up at the first Showdown weekend at Oulton Park.
After the high of Saturday, which saw the OMG Grilla rider ahead in the overall standings after a hard fought win, Sunday was a big comedown, with Ryde making up the time he missed in morning warm-up to still struggle to keep a points finish in race two:
“The warm-up session wasn’t too good - I was like four seconds off and in race one today, sorry race two, I made a big chunk, I made four seconds, but it still wasn’t fast enough. I ended up finishing 13th, and yeah, was a little disappointed, obviously seeing Tommy come fifth after taking the championship lead yesterday”.
- 2024 British Superbikes: Oulton Park (Showdown) - Race Results (3)
- 2024 British Superbikes: Oulton Park (Showdown) - Race Results (2)
His trye choice, especially his harder compound wet rear, gave the confidence to push over both parts of the final race, split by the red flag, seeing Ryde back to picking up the maximum 25 points again:
“I had a brilliant race then, chose intermediates in the first half - from 19th got up to fourth and the red flag came out.
Didn’t look like there was going to be much rain coming, it did wet the track a little bit in a few areas, but we went with the hard wet and I just wanted to pick up where I left off ten minutes before and got my head down where the track was dry - to make sure the tyre was hot when I got off the slippier stuff.
Got to the front and seen last lap, two and a half seconds - I couldn’t believe my eyes, after the day I’ve had already, with warm-up and the thirteenth place, I’ll take a first all day long”.
That saw the gap narrow again in the championship, with the difference now just six, with only half a point deciding the 2023 winner, every point could prove crucial with six races left over the Donington and Brands hatch rounds:
“Two wins over this weekend, and a race where I didn’t do good, I managed to get a few points - they might count towards the end of the year. So yeah…thanks to all my team that believed in me so much today, biggest thing then - I believed in myself, so yeah thanks everyone”.
