Scott Redding, You're Crazy! A Stunning Comeback Keeps the British Superbike Championship Wide Open

What a spectacle the British Superbike Championship is! In front of packed grandstands, Scott Redding drops to the back of the field, but then mounts a stunning charge through the pack and powers to victory in Race 1, postponing Kyle Ryde’s expected celebrations. Now the final two races will decide everything.

The curtain-raiser to the BSB showdown was a thriller packed with drama. Kyle Ryde started with a 53-point lead over the former MotoGP rider, but under the Showdown format, which awards extra points at this event (35 for a win, with 105 still up for grabs), he couldn’t start with the title already in the bag. Scott Redding had to win at all costs, but made life difficult for himself with a disastrous start that plunged him into the middle of the pack on a Brands Hatch circuit that is very fast but offers few safe overtaking opportunities.

While Scott fought his way through with one overtake after another, Ryde was out in front, “escorted” by Ryan Vickers’ factory Honda and the Bimota of daredevil Max Cook. The trio broke away and, for seven very long laps of the scheduled 20, Kyle Ryde was virtually a three-time BSB champion. But Redding wasn’t beaten: before halfway, he had already climbed to seventh, wiping out Ryde’s match point, although he was still nearly three seconds off the lead. At that moment, luck lent him a hand as a very light drizzle began to fall. Race control displayed the slippery-track flag, and the riders at the front eased off, allowing Redding to close in, with the others following. At one point, Kyle Ryde found himself caught in a group of seven riders, with Scott more fired up than ever.

As the track became increasingly treacherous, Redding broke away from the others, pursued by his direct rival, who was determined to limit the damage as much as possible. By then the rain had intensified, and the race was stopped with a red flag. That alone would have been enough to set up a Sunday feast of racing. With this win, Redding moves to 48 points behind, with 70 still available. Ryde remains a strong favourite, but anything can happen. The championship is back in the balance precisely because his Ducati suffered an electronic problem at the previous round in Donington and came to a halt.

The two final races start at 2 p.m. (sprint race, 12 laps) and 5 p.m. (20 laps). To watch them live via streaming, you’ll need a Eurosport-Discovery subscription; coverage is available with English commentary only. Beyond the adrenaline of the on-track action, Brands Hatch is an extraordinary celebration of fans and passion. Before the start of Race 1, the organisers brought BSB legends onto the track, along with the bikes they rode. Chilling stuff.

-> Follow us on Instagram too: @Corsedimoto