Kyle Ryde celebrated the opening race win of the 2026 British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park to get his title defence off to the best possible start for the Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing team, with the podium locked out by previous champions Leon Haslam and Bradley Ray.
At the start of the race, Ray got off at lightning start on the McAMS Yamaha ahead of Haslam and Storm Stacey with Ryde holding fourth. Haslam grabbed the lead at Old Hall a lap later, but on lap four, the reigning champion was pushing to hit the front.
Ryde made a determined move at Old Hall to take the lead from Haslam, with Ray moving back into third as he duelled with Storm Stacey over the opening laps.
Whilst Ryde held the advantage, Ray was pushing Haslam for second and made a move at Knickerbrook on lap eight. The Moto Rapido Racing rider wasn’t settling for third and Haslam then repaid the pass with an overtake at Lodge a few laps later and despite the pressure, was able to hold second until the chequered flag.
Haslam and Ray had Stacey for company too in the closing stages, but the Bathams AJN Racing Ducati rider had to settle for fourth after just missing a podium position after trying to strike over the final three laps.
Scott Redding finished fifth as the Hager PBM Racing Team rider made his move at Hislops on the final lap after shadowing Max Cook, who had a strong debut on the AJN Steelstock bimota.
Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha’s Rory Skinner held off Ryan Vickers for seventh place with Christian Iddon in ninth. Joe Talbot was the leading rookie with an impressive debut on the AJN Steelstock bimota in tenth place.
British Superbike Championship, Oulton Park, Race 1 result:
- Kyle Ryde (Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing)
- Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Racing) +5.180s
- Bradley Ray (McAMS Yamaha) +5.316s
- Storm Stacey (Bathams AJN Racing Ducati) +5.531s
- Scott Redding (Hager PBM Racing Team) +6.903s
- Max Cook (AJN Steelstock bimota) +7.412s
- Rory Skinner (Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha) +13.739s
- Ryan Vickers (Honda Racing UK) +13.805s
- Christian Iddon (Sencat Racing Yamaha) +14.341s
- Joe Talbot (AJN Steelstock bimota) +15.989s
British Superbike Championship standings:
- Kyle Ryde (Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing) 18
- Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Racing) 16
- Bradley Ray (McAMS Yamaha) 14
- Storm Stacey (Bathams AJN Racing Ducati) 12
- Scott Redding (Hager PBM Racing Team) 11
- Max Cook (AJN Steelstock bimota) 10
- Rory Skinner (Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha) 9
- Ryan Vickers (Honda Racing UK) 8
- Christian Iddon (Sencat Racing Yamaha) 7
- Joe Talbot (AJN Steelstock bimota) 6
For more information visit www.britishsuperbike.com
Kyle Ryde – Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing:
“I am really happy! Honestly I’ve only done about two practice starts, so that was the biggest thing, just to get off the line! The best thing I did today was to qualify on pole, as I knew I was going to lose some time at the start.
“Once I did that and I was fourth or fifth into turn one I knew it wasn’t the end of the world. After three laps, I just tried to force myself through to the front so that I could then get into the 33s and then only the people that could do that would come with me.
“I wasn’t expecting that race to go how it did, but the pit board showed my gap slowly going up – I could almost hear everybody in the garage yelling at me to slow down! So I did and then started making more errors than I had all weekend! It’s a great start to the season and we’ll try again tomorrow.”
