Donington drama: Redding wins as Ryde DNF’s ahead of final Showdown at Brands Hatch.
The 2026 British Superbike Championship title fight will go down to the season finale at Brands Hatch in two weeks’ time (October 16/17/18), following a dramatic final day at the penultimate round of the season at Donington Park.
Defending champion Kyle Ryde was victorious in the second race of the weekend in front of his home crowd at Donington Park, but as he continues his relentless pursuit of making history this season, the Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing Ducati suffered a technical failure in the final race, forcing him out. Incredibly, it was the first non-finish for the double champion in 89 races and since May 2024 at Oulton Park.
Ryde had been holding third place when he suffered the issue, but his title rival Scott Redding was fired up after finishing second earlier in the day, and was in the lead as he bid to close his title rival in the standings ahead of the finale.
Redding claimed the victory and with Ryde denied the chance of fighting it out in a quest to make it a treble win, the advantage in the standings was cut from 78 points going into race three, to 53 ahead of the final three title-deciding races at Brands Hatch, where a maximum of 105 points are available.
Ryan Vickers meanwhile delivered a pair of third place finishes for Honda Racing UK as he bids to close down Bradley Ray in the fight for third in the standings after the McAMS Yamaha rider claimed a pair of fourth place finishes today. The pair are separated by 54 points going into the final round of the season in Kent.
Max Cook became the fifth different rider to claim a podium finish this weekend at Donington Park in the final race of the day with a third place finish for AJN Steelstock bimota, making them the fifth different team of the weekend to celebrate a top three finish.
British Superbike Championship, Donington Park, Race 2 result:
- Kyle Ryde (Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing)
- Scott Redding (Hager PBM Ducati) +0.283s
- Ryan Vickers (Honda Racing UK) +1.879s
- Bradley Ray (McAMS Yamaha) +1.992s
- Max Cook (AJN Steelstock bimota) +2.542s
- Joe Talbot (AJN Steelstock bimota) +5.501s
- Lee Jackson (DAO Racing Honda) +8.951s
- Glenn Irwin (Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing) +9.440s
- Danny Kent (Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha) +9.802s
- Jason O’Halloran (Honda Racing UK) +11.861s
British Superbike Championship, Donington Park, Race 3 result:
- Scott Redding (Hager PBM Ducati)
- Max Cook (AJN Steelstock bimota) +2.254s
- Ryan Vickers (Honda Racing UK) +3.284s
- Bradley Ray (McAMS Yamaha) +8.017s
- Rory Skinner (Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha) +13.086s
- Joe Talbot (AJN Steelstock bimota) +16.171s
- Danny Kent (Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha) +23.178s
- Christian Iddon (Sencat Racing Yamaha) +23.556s
- Ilya Mikhalchik (ROKiT BMW Motorrad British Superbike Race team) +24.021s
- Lee Jackson (DAO Racing Honda) +27.414s
British Superbike Championship standings:
- Kyle Ryde (Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing) 509
- Scott Redding (Hager PBM Racing Team) 456
- Bradley Ray (McAMS Yamaha) 405
- Ryan Vickers (Honda Racing UK) 351
- Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Racing) 308
- Max Cook (AJN Steelstock bimota) 294
- Rory Skinner (Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha) 233
- Danny Kent (Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha) 171
- Lee Jackson (DAO Racing Honda) 162
- Joe Talbot (AJN Steelstock bimota) 160
For more information visit www.britishsuperbike.com
Scott Redding – Hager PBM Racing Team:
“Winning the race is always special. Every race is hard, so winning is good and after yesterday and also in warm up struggling, this felt good. I was just biting the screen getting through the sprint race, thinking ‘I’ve got to make this work’ and I just didn’t have that punch out the corner.
“I got past Kyle, but once he’s got that rhythm it’s so difficult to pass him and make a move that isn’t risky. Whereas in the last race I felt confident in the bike and had good power delivery to help me. I just got my head down into turn one and Max took the lead and he’s normally strong at the start.
“I thought I’d use Max as a pace setter, and I thought he was riding pretty good. I felt like he was under control and I almost got sucked in a little bit, so I had to manage the gap the best I could and then I pounced.
“I didn’t know Kyle was out, the team didn’t let me know because I had a nice rhythm, they thought just let me keep doing laps and the gap was going up. It was unfortunate and I don’t wish that upon anyone, but the best thing I could’ve done was win that race, whether Kyle was in it or not, you know that was my plan. If he got past, I was going to try and battle him like we always do.
“It gives me hope going into Brands Hatch. You know I’ve had my own unfortunate races this year, so we’ll see what happens. I just feel I need to keep doing what I’m doing, and I don’t need to do anything crazy, but we’re willing to fight and that’s what we’ve got to do so I’m ready.”
BSB RACE 2
BSB RACE 3
