Kyle Ryde led his British Superbike Championship rivals after the opening day at Brands Hatch as the defending champion aims to make history this weekend at the final round of the season.

The Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing rider topped the timesheets in the Pre-Qualifying session ahead of tomorrow’s raceday, as he bids to maintain the advantage over closest rival Scott Redding and the Hager PBM Racing Team.

The 2019 champion had moved up the order in the closing stages of the session, ending fourth fastest ahead of this weekend’s crucial three races to decide the champion on the Grand Prix circuit.
Max Cook had held second on the times for AJN Steelstock bimota ahead of Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha’s Danny Kent, with the top 13 contenders covered by just 0.679s.

Rory Skinner had also held a top five position for Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha, edging out local hero Bradley Ray on the McAMS Yamaha with Ryan Vickers Christian Iddon completing the eight ten riders.

Leon Haslam held ninth place for the Moto Rapido Racing team with Joe Talbot, Storm Stacey and Lee Jackson completing the riders automatically through to tomorrow’s ROKiT Oxygen Performance Qualifying 2 session before the build up to race one.

 
British Superbike Championship, Brands Hatch, Pre Qualifying result:

1. Kyle Ryde (Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing) 1m:24.611s
2. Max Cook (AJN Steelstock bimota) +0.134s
3. Danny Kent (McAMS Yamaha) +0.180s
4. Scott Redding (Hager PBM Ducati) +0.197s
5. Rory Skinner (Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha) +0.206s
6. Bradley Ray (McAMS Yamaha) +0.234s
7. Ryan Vickers (Honda Racing UK) +0.404s
8. Christian Iddon (Sencat Racing Yamaha) +0.409s
9. Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Racing) +0.422s
10. Joe Talbot (AJN Steelstock bimota) +0.471s
11. Storm Stacey (Bathams AJN Racing Ducati) +0.626s
12. Lee Jackson (DAO Racing Honda) +0.644s

For more information visit www.britishsuperbike.com

Kyle Ryde – Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing: 

“I think it feels a bit odd today! I didn’t want to risk anything in Free Practice 1, knowing it was going to improve this afternoon and in Pre-Qualifying the track was at it’s best. 

“Obviously the bike worked well here in the summer, we were on pole position, so we didn’t need to change much and we made some small tweaks and I put the laps in so we knew we were straight through to Q2 tomorrow.

“I’ve chalked one day off now, there was a lot of pressure today, but I’ve come out the other side and did a good lap time. We have a big job on this weekend, and that is what I am focused on, so we go into tomorrow ready to continue what we have been doing this season and hopefully start the weekend strong.”