Ryde wins Oulton Showdown opener, Bridewell crashes out

Words and images courtesy BSB

The opening race of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship Showdown delivered drama as Kyle Ryde claimed his first Oulton Park victory to take the standings lead by just six points as reigning champion Tommy Bridewell crashed out on the opening lap. Meanwhile Glenn Irwin kept his title hopes alive with a return to the podium.
Josh Brookes launched off the line to lead the pack for the FHO Racing BMW Motorrad Team ahead of Ryde and Bridewell, but the reigning champion crashed his Honda Racing UK Fireblade at Hislops on the opening lap to decimate his standings lead.
Brookes was determined at the front, but Glenn Irwin was pushing hard and on lap three he made a move on the brakes into Hislops to fire the Hager PBM Ducati ahead of his rivals as Ryde was also looking to make his move on the Australian in second place.
Charlie Nesbitt had also been in the lead pack at the start, but the MasterMac Honda rider slid out of the action at Hislops on lap five, whilst his teammate Lee Jackson was embroiled in the podium battle later in the race.
The lead trio were inseparable as Irwin held off Brookes and Ryde, but on lap 11, the OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing rider lost ground in third place at Hilltop when he was forced to remove the cover from his dash as it came loose.
That gave Irwin and Brookes a slight gap, as it was a battle of Ducati versus BMW at the front, but Ryde was soon back in a rhythm to close down the lost ground. Ryde also had Jackson for company in fourth and the pair soon made it a quartet at the front fighting for the victory.
Ryde dived ahead of Brookes on lap 15 and a lap later took the lead as the top four were inseparable at the front, with Jackson also moving into third to ease Brookes back into fourth place.
Ryde then held the edge to the finish, able to gap Irwin by 0.303s as he returned to the podium for the first time since Snetterton, whilst Jackson added another podium to his tally to prevent Brookes from taking his first podium finish of the season.

Ryde said: “The plan was to be on pole position and to try and do what I did at Cadwell and then see if I can control the race at the front and make it hard for the guys behind. But Josh [Brookes] was really fast in the first three or four laps, especially in sector one and even when I did use a lot of tyre to try and pass him he passed me straight back.
“I saved the tyre and sat behind him then it obviously brought Glenn [Irwin] into the picture and when he passed me I thought I was going to be in trouble, because when Glenn gets in his little mood at the front of the race, he’s very hard to pass. He is real late on the brakes and his bike is very good where it needs to be. The only thing I did was save the tyre the best I could so I had a great shot at the end to try and win the race.
“I had a little hiccup! The plastic case on my dash was just rattling and eventually it fell off and I wanted to chuck it off the track safely. I cost myself a second or two and I was lucky really because it gave me a gap, so I ended up setting the fastest lap which put me on pole for tomorrow.
“I just had enough time to pass them both and win the race as well. After the issue I had, I was going to accept third might have been good enough. Anything else was a bonus so to win my first race at Oulton Park was fantastic. I wouldn’t call it the easiest race, there was a lot going on, but it was a good race so roll on tomorrow.”

Ryan Vickers was able to get ahead of Leon Haslam for the final place in the top five with Danny Kent and Peter Hickman holding top eight positions. Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki’s Jason O’Halloran and Max Cook rounded out the top ten.

Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Oulton Park, Race 1 result:

Kyle Ryde (OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing)
Glenn Irwin (Hager PBM Ducati) +0.303s
Lee Jackson (MasterMac Honda) +0.423s
Josh Brookes (FHO Racing BMW Motorrad) +0.705s
Ryan Vickers (OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing) +1.147s
Leon Haslam (ROKiT Haslam Racing BMW Motorrad) +4.297s
Danny Kent (McAMS Racing Yamaha) +6.926s
Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW Motorrad) +10.389s
Jason O’Halloran (Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki) +10.881s
Max Cook (Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki) +10.999s

Bennetts British Superbike Championship standings:

Kyle Ryde (OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing) 300
Tommy Bridewell (Honda Racing UK) 294
Glenn Irwin (Hager PBM Ducati) 256
Christian Iddon (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) 231
Ryan Vickers (OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing) 224
Danny Kent (McAMS Racing Yamaha) 196
Leon Haslam (ROKiT Haslam Racing BMW Motorrad) 184
Lee Jackson (MasterMac Honda) 183
Jason O’Halloran (Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki) 166
Josh Brookes (FHO Racing BMW Motorrad) 164