British Superbike by the numbers: Yamaha beats Ducati again with Rory Skinner

Already five different winners in eight rounds, with Honda and Yamaha beginning to frequently beat the Ducati Panigale V4 spaceship. British Superbike is increasingly a world apart from the World Championship. Race 1 on the fascinating ups and downs of Cadwell Park confirmed the trend: 25-year-old Rory Skinner dominated the scene after Bradley Ray’s crash, which you can see in the opening frame.

After two years in Moto2 with American Racing, Rory Skinner returned to BSB in 2024 and has since been one of the fastest guys in the pack. On the tight and charming track known to fans for the celebrated Mountain jump, he rocketed off the line, nullifying Bradley Ray’s pole. The two Yamaha roosters immediately pulled away, catching the entire Ducati armada on the back foot, including that of the reigning (two-time) champion and current leader Kyle Ryde. It was clear from the start that Ray intended to settle matters quickly, but he overdid it and ended up on the ground before the real battle had even begun. Skinner gladly accepted and from then on only had to keep the chasers a couple of seconds behind. Ryan Vickers, on the factory Honda, got a poor start but was charging back like a fury when he took out the blameless Joe Talbot at the same spot that cost Bradley Ray his race. At the finish, Kyle Ryde came home second, further consolidating his lead. Also on the podium was former world runner-up Leon Haslam, 43, ahead of Scott Redding. 

Kyle Ryde has won 13 of the 22 races already contested, but thanks to the particular scoring system in effect in British Superbike, the title fight is still wide open. In fact, after this Race 1 he climbs to 364 points, chased by Scott Redding at 313 and Bradley Ray who, due to his mistake, remains stuck at 257 points. The eighth round at Cadwell is the last of the regular season, which awards points to the top fifteen finishers as follows: 18 for first, 14 for second, 12 for third, 10 for fourth, and so on. Over the three concluding stages, the system will change twice to keep the championship as open as possible and arrive at the Grand Finale at Brands Hatch with everything still to play for. 

Until 2023 the mechanics of the Showdown, a sort of basketball-style playoff, were very draconian. Three rounds from the end, the points were reset, with positions determined solely by a variable bonus based on results in the regular season. In practice, it was (almost) a fresh start. For a few years now, the procedure has been softened as follows: in the next two rounds at Assen (September 19-20) and Donington (October 3-4) the points will be: 25 for first, 22 for second, 20 for third, 18 for fourth, 16 for fifth, and so on. In other words, winning in the Netherlands and on the track that hosts the British round of the World Championship will be worth more. The technical hierarchy is respected, but the increase in stakes could enable surprising comebacks. In the grand finale at Brands Hatch in mid-October, the bar is raised further: a win will be worth 35 points, second place 30, third 27, fourth 24, fifth 22 points, and so on. The finale, in short, puts 105 points up for grabs. So Ryde, who currently leads Redding by 51, hasn’t won anything yet.

The promoter of British Superbike, the most competitive national series on the planet now in its 39th edition, is fully aware that its success stems from identity and uniqueness. BSB doesn’t mimic MotoGP or the World Championship: it has chosen the path of uniqueness, and that’s why the public rewards it. Beyond the spot-on technical regulations—written in the supreme interest of parity rather than through a thousand compromises among manufacturers—the key is simple and cost-free. Here the Race 1 grid is set by a do-or-die Superpole as it was in the World Championship’s golden years, and then there’s the scoring system described above to ensure spectacle right to the end. In WorldSBK, for instance, Nicolò Bulega could wrap things up already at Magny-Cours, the fourth-to-last event of the season. Taking a cue would cost nothing. 

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