British Superbikes, Donington Park: Ryde near perfect to reduce title gap
Kyle Ryde had the home advantage returning to Donington Park and made the most of his track knowledge to cut the championship lead of rival Tommy Bridewell to just three points.
Kyle Ryde dominated practice and qualifying , so hit race one as the favourite to win and did not disappoint his bright yellow fan base, who had flooded into Donington Park to watch their local rider take his shot at the 2024 title.
- 2024 British Superbikes: Donington Park (Showdown) - Qualifying Results
- 2024 British Superbikes: Donington Park (Showdown) - Race Results (1)
After very briefly falling back after a slow start, Ryde lead for OMG Grilla Yamaha from turn one to the finish line, with his win never really looking in doubt. Championship leader Tommy Bridewell did all he could tp solicit an error from Ryde but he remained untroubled out front, even when Bridewell was audibly near:
“Twenty laps around Donington Park isn’t easy whatever speed you’re going at and I’ve had great speed all weekend, practice and qualifying and, yeah, halfway through that race was pretty good - on my pitboard it said point two, point two, point two, and I thought ‘well he’s not going to let off now’ so, yeah I just tried to keep doing what I was doing, didn’t make a mistake - if he was going to come past, he was going to come past.
I was really strong in a few points of the track - stupidly enough I could hear where Tommy was and I was a bit in front every lap when I went into the hairpin so I know I was quite good thought he chicane, so didn’t make any mistakes”.
It was the same clean lapping over and over that the #77 had already demonstrated in qualifying, daring to run cleaner to the edges and flirt with track limits to be incredibly quick around the circuit:
“It was a great race, I’ve done what I’ve done all Friday and Saturday morning and put it all together there - 20 laps, didn’t really make a mistake and , yeah, got the win.”
Sunday brings the opportunity to take the title lead at a favoured track and with a loud home fan base as support, something Ryde already managed briefly overnight at the last Oulton Park round, where Ryde lead overnight after race one at the Showdown opener:
“I want to win two more races, realistically but anything could happen, weather, anything at BSB, so something will happen at some point, I’m hoping nothing!”
