Ryde wins as Skinner and Vickers secure podium finishes in dramatic Thruxton opener.
Kyle Ryde was victorious in the first British Superbike Championship race of the weekend at Thruxton as Rory Skinner and Ryan Vickers claimed their first podium finishes of the season in the red-flagged opener.
At the start of the race fierce title rivals Ryde and Redding continued to scrap for the lead, with the positions changing multiple times on the opening lap, before the Hager PBM Racing Team rider held the advantage at the start of the second lap.
Redding and Ryde continued to duel for the lead and then the Hager PBM Racing Team rider tried to break the chasing pack, extending his advantage to over a second at half race distance as Ryde held strong in second ahead of Vickers and Skinner with Max Cook and Bradley Ray also in close contention.
However, Redding was getting reeled in by the championship leader as Ryde continued to close the gap and by lap 12 the pair were once again inseparable on track. Ryde went for his move on Redding at Church, but his rival repaid the move into the Club Chicane.
A lap later and Redding had a moment, which allowed Vickers to make his move, pass into Church and then Skinner was also lining up to strike on the 2019 champion.
Redding was soon dropping back from the pack and at the front Ryde was holding the edge from Vickers and Skinner with Ray also then closing on the McAMS Yamaha at a rapid pace.
On lap 15, Skinner was able to dive ahead of Vickers into the Club Chicane as he targeted his first podium finish of the year, with the top three riders covered by just 0.862s when the race was immediately red flagged when Max Cook crashed heavily on the exit of the Club Chicane with three laps remaining.
Cook was attended to at the scene by the BSB Medical Team and experienced a brief period of unconsciousness following the incident and, was transferred to the Circuit Medical Centre for further evaluation. Following further assessment by the BSB Medical Team, he was transferred to Southampton hospital for definitive investigation and specialist review. Further information regarding his condition will be provided when appropriate.
The result was declared with Ryde victorious ahead of Skinner and Vickers who both secured their first top three finishes of the season with Ray just missing out in fourth place and Redding completing the top five.
Leon Haslam held onto sixth place ahead of Christian Iddon and Danny Kent with Joe Talbot and Storm Stacey completing the top ten ahead of tomorrow’s two races.
British Superbike Championship, Thruxton, Race 1 result:
- Kyle Ryde (Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing)
- Rory Skinner (Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha) +0.644s
- Ryan Vickers (Honda Racing UK) +0.862s
- Bradley Ray (McAMS Yamaha) +1.259s
- Scott Redding (Hager PBM Racing Team) +2.224s
- Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Racing) +4.428s
- Christian Iddon (Sencat Racing Yamaha) +4.502s
- Danny Kent (Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha) +4.932s
- Joe Talbot (AJN Steelstock bimota) +4.975s
- Storm Stacey (Bathams AJN Racing Ducati) +1 lap
British Superbike Championship standings:
- Kyle Ryde (Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing) 322
- Scott Redding (Hager PBM Racing Team) 285
- Bradley Ray (McAMS Yamaha) 227
- Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Racing) 200
- Max Cook (AJN Steelstock bimota) 172
- Ryan Vickers (Honda Racing UK) 163
- Rory Skinner (Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha) 152
- Christian Iddon (Sencat Racing Yamaha) 115
- Storm Stacey (Bathams AJN Racing Ducati) 105
- Glenn Irwin (Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing) 102
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Kyle Ryde – Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing:
“Obviously the first lap was quite fun, but wherever he braked, I went a bit later and then the same into the next corner and it was good fun and then we got to business!
“To be honest, Scott set a really good pace, probably too fast for all of us really, the only thing was the last part of the race I definitely think Rory would’ve had something for me, I was struggling in the major areas, out the first complex and out of Church.
“I saw on the TV he had passed Ryan down the back straight, so he obviously had some good mechanical grip the last couple of laps so the red flag might’ve saved me.
“The middle part of the race was difficult because Scott was setting a good pace and I couldn’t really see him getting any slower, but I just did my pace and before I knew it, I caught him up and passed him and just tried to get my head down.
“Tomorrow’s Sprint race will be fast and tomorrow afternoon in the long one, we’re going to have to go a bit slower I think, so if there is a dogfight at the end we can actually make a pass and not be a sitting duck! It was a good job by all of us today and we’ll try again tomorrow.”
