British Superbike: Redding and Ryde throw the title race wide open!

Sensational at Donington: Scott Redding hooks race 3 and capitalizes to the maximum on Kyle Ryde’s misstep: the British Superbike leader waved the white flag at half distance due to an electrical issue that shut down his Panigale V4 R. So the Brands Hatch grand finale in two weeks becomes decisive: Kyle heads there with a 48-point cushion, out of 105 available.

At the pivotal moment of the final showdown on the East Midlands rollercoaster, Redding was still doing everything he could to keep the flicker of hope alive. When Kyle Ryde suddenly slowed on the downhill straight leading to the Foggy Esses, Scott had just taken the lead by passing the sensational Max Cook, back in great form after the tremendous impact with the Snetterton barriers at the end of July. At that point Ryde was third, over a second behind a laser-focused Redding determined not to let victory slip away. It’s Kyle Ryde’s first DNF after a streak of 89 positive results. The race was red-flagged on the final lap to aid Glen Irwin, who had crashed out at very high speed. Now, also thanks to the showdown formula that awards extra points in the three final races (35 to the winner), the weekend at the London showpiece circuit will certainly be electrifying.

The day opened with a peremptory win by Kyle Ryde himself in race 2, the shortened one over 12 laps instead of 20. He didn’t get off the line brilliantly, but then found his rhythm, keeping Redding, the factory Honda of Ryan Vickers, and Bradley Ray’s Yamaha in check, all nose-to-tail for the entire distance. By sealing his sixteenth victory of the season, Ryde had practically laid hands on a third consecutive title, which could have arrived here at Donington if Redding had come away with a zero. Instead, it went exactly the opposite way.

British Superbike is “only” a national championship, but it packs circuits across the United Kingdom like a World Championship. At Donington on this sunny early-October Sunday there were forty thousand, and adding Saturday’s attendance the figure surpasses the 50,887 over three days declared by WorldSBK for last July’s round. At Brands Hatch, for the grand finale in two weeks, the BSB could approach MotoGP’s hundred thousand at Silverstone. This established success is not solely due to a technical rulebook that is simpler and more effective than the one enacted by FIM, Dorna, and MSMA in the World Championship, but also to investments that have cemented the identity and positioning of a series beloved by the public.

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