Ryde third at Snetterton 

Words and images courtesy OMG Racing UK

Kyle Ryde returned to the Bennetts British Superbike rostrum today, securing third in a red-flagged, five-lap dash in sodden conditions. Team-mate Ryan Vickers was unfortunate to drop back at the start of the shortened restart but recovered to ninth at the checkered flag.

The OMG GRILLA Yamaha team faced another damp day of action at Snetterton today but ended a challenging Saturday with a podium finish.

Having qualified directly into Saturday’s Qualifying 2 session on Friday, Ryde and Vickers braved the conditions as heavy rain fell at the Norfolk venue. Successfully making their way through a damp Practice 3, the Yamaha pairing took to the track to set the grid.

Building his pace, Vickers held the top spot before briefly being pushed back to second. A late charge for the local rider saw him reclaim first place, taking pole position by 0.199 seconds. Meanwhile, team-mate Ryde was also building his confidence up in the wet 15-minute session, but an unfortunate highside at Brundles ended Youth’s session early – but managed to secure a second-row start for the 16-lap race.

With the rain holding off, drying track conditions presented the Cannock-based outfit with another challenge as the riders lined up on the grid. Opting to change to an intermediate rear tyre, Ryde made a strong start, slotting his R1 into third at the first corner. But, still building confidence with his rear tyre, ended lap one in seventh. However, as the track continued to dry, Ryde began his charge, consistently lapping quicker than the riders ahead of him. Catching, and passing Max Cook and Charlie Nesbitt, a red flag on Lap 9 for an incident at Coram brought the race to a brief stop.

With another deluge of rain during the stoppage, full wet conditions set the stage for a five-lap dash. Another strong launch, this time running the soft wet rear tyre, saw the Nottinghamshire-based rider slot into fifth place, and with mistakes from riders ahead, put himself on the cusp of the rostrum. A pass on O’Halloran allowed the Yamaha man to chase the riders ahead, but with just five laps at his disposal, was forced to settle for third, and his first rostrum since Oulton Park in May.  

Ryde said:  “I’m a bit sore and a bit stiff after the crash today, but also really happy to get the result we did in the wet conditions. We made a big step with the wet setting compared to Knockhill and I think we’re all really pleased with that, although we’d all rather be riding around in the dry! I enjoyed the race today. The first part got red-flagged at the wrong time for me because I was really coming into the race with the intermediate tyre. The second 5 lap race was soaking wet but we managed to bring it home, take the podium and will start the Sprint Race tomorrow from third.”

With the full wet tyres fitted to his R1, Vickers made a lightning start to the 16-lap race, concluding the opening lap 2.7s clear of O’Halloran in second. From there, the Norfolk rider continued to push on, but as the track dried, those on the Intermediates started closing the gap. But as the home hero slipped to third, the red flag brought the race to a brief halt.

Starting the restart from the front row, Vickers struck wheelspin as he went to shift to second gear and tumbled to 15th by turn 1. With just five laps to charge forward, the Navarra double winner demonstrated his pace, pushing through to ninth at the flag to secure his first Championship points since Round 2.

Said Vickers: “We had a bit of a struggle in the first session but after Knockhill, I didn’t really mind that as it gave me a chance to just get back into it. The second session was a lot better, we made some drastic changes and did things we’ve never done before and it helped for sure. I’m looking forward to tomorrow, hopefully, the weather plays ball and we can continue working on bringing some trophies home from this weekend.”