There was a point during round six of the 2026 British Superbike Championship when it looked like Kyle Ryde’s dominance might be coming to an end.
A small slip off during practice, his first crash in a year, and just 10th place in qualifying meant it looked like the second Oulton Park round might see an end to his 100% podium streak in his first season on the Nitrous Competitions/Nitrous Coin Ducati, but he was able to charge through the pack to take second to Bradley Ray in Saturday’s 18-lap outing, before winning both races on Sunday to extend his championship lead to 30 points over fellow Ducati rider Scott Redding – who also overcame a tough Saturday to take two podiums on Sunday. Ray leads the Yamaha charge in third, a further 59 points adrift.
Ryde, who turned 29 last week, had won all three races when the Cheshire circuit opened the season back in May, but it was young guns Max Cook and Storm Stacey who set the pace in qualifying and the early laps of Saturday’s race. Ray eventually worked his way to the front at two-thirds distance, with Ryde overhauling Leon Haslam for second with three laps to go as Stacey faded and Cook, who had set the fastest ever motorcycle lap of Oulton Park on his way to pole position, crashed spectacularly.
Ray looked like doubling up in Sunday’s 12-lap sprint, only for a safety car at half distance to change the dynamic of the race. The McAMS Yamaha rider was leading Redding when Josh Brookes crashed his DAO Racing Honda on lap six, with the safety car being deployed to allow debris to be cleared up.
That bunched the pack up, eroding Ray’s lead, and Ryde made a savvy restart to immediately overtake Redding and settle in behind the Yamaha – eventually making the race winning pass into turn one with two laps to go. Race three saw another battle between the championship’s three big guns, but when Kyle hit the front on lap 10 the writing was on the wall and he cruised home to take his 12th win in the 18 races so far.
“We made a bold change to the bike in warm up and it worked,” Ryde said after completing his double. “I saved a bit of tyre in the first laps and then I did nine solid laps. I could hear Scott behind me all the time so I knew he wasn’t going away.”
Before racing began, our Courtney Scarlett met with Kyle to discuss his career so far and among the topics that came up was a possible move to world superbikes. With back-to-back titles in 2024 and 2025, and a hattrick looking distinctly possible, fans are suggesting a move to the world series should be on the cards for 2027. Despite this, Ryde says he feels at home in BSB and is enjoying the competition and the opportunity to break some records.
He said: “Every time I’ve tried to show what I can do on the world stage it’s never really come off. Now I am a bit older I feel I could do it but I’m not that bothered. I am really enjoying BSB at the minute. I feel confident and riding good enough that if I did have a really good bike in the world championship then I would do some decent stuff, but BSB’s real healthy at the minute.
The racing’s good and everyone’s setting lap records every weekend, so it’s not like it’s boring. (If I win this year) I know I would be only the second person, after Niall Mackenzie, to win three in a row and I would be the first to do it on two different manufacturers. It’s not really on my mind, but I am really enjoying my racing and regardless of what happens I know that if I can keep riding like this for the next four or five years I will go down as one of the decent riders in BSB history!”
With Oulton Park representing the halfway point in the season, the championship now enters the home run with the annual visit to Hampshire’s ultra-fast Thruxton circuit.
The high-speed venue always delivers a unique form of racing, with riders needing to manage their tyres on the highly abrasive surface and slipstreaming ensuring close action and meaning breakaways are rare. Thruxton has traditionally been a Yamaha fortress, with R1 riders having won every single race there in the past five years.
Ryde took a win there last season, and with the new Ducati proving stronger on all circuits, he’s hopeful he can keep up his 100% podium record. Redding believes the latest machine is stronger all round, and with local ace Cook proving strong on the new bimota, we’re not expecting the usual R1 rout this time around.
Round seven of the 2026 British Superbike Championship takes place at Thruxton on the weekend of 14-16 August.
