Defending champion Kyle Ryde continued his sensational start to the 2026 British Superbike Championship with two more wins to maintain a 19-point lead in the standings and scoop the Carole Nash King of Donington as the highest scoring rider of the round.
Having swept all before him at the opening round, Ryde saw his unbeaten run come to an end when rain brought Saturday’s race to an early conclusion. The Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Ducati rider had been involved in an intense three-way battle with Scott Redding and Max Cook when a heavy rain shower brought the red flags out a few laps early. The champ had looked good for the win but run wide at the Melbourne Hairpin as he took precautionary action on the slippery surface, with Redding taking the win from Cook.
Ryde said after the race that he wasn’t completely happy with the settings on his Panigale V4 R and, sure enough, he and his team were able to make improvements for Sunday’s two races. Both outings again proved to be three way battles with Redding and Cook but, almost inevitably, Ryde was able to control the races and pull away from his rivals in the last few laps – while Redding took second from bimota rider Cook both times. With Redding and Ryde both scoring 50 championship points over the weekend, the Carole Nash King of Donington trophy was decided by virtue of Ryde having the faster lap time in the races.
Speaking after the final race, Ryde said: “It's been a great weekend. Saturday's result was just about taking it on the chin and moving on but we made the bike a lot better this morning for the warm up and did two really good races. It's been very difficult. The last race I had Scott right up my chuff for 16, 17 laps but I tried to save a bit and when I saw three or four laps to go I just got my head down and tried to do my fastest laps.”
As in the opening round at Oulton Park, the same three riders shared the podium in all three outings at Donington. Cook was again impressive on the new Kawasaki-powered bimota KB998 Rimini, the 23-year-old really came of age at Donington and brought calmness as well as speed, but ominously for their rivals the new-for-2026 Ducati looks a cut above the competition.
Redding, the 2019 champ, was back on form on the Hager PBM Racing Team Ducati, despite still not being 100% comfortable with his new machine, while veteran Leon Haslam scored three top fives on a similar machine entered by the Moto Rapido squad, ensuring the top three riders in the championship are all mounted on the latest version of the Bologna bullet. Glenn Irwin, team-mate to Ryde, had another weekend which was below his usual high standards but, as at Oulton Park, he ended on a positive with a charge through to sixth in the last race.
Redding had quipped that following Ryde reminded him of racing with MotoGP legend Jorge Lorenzo, adding: “That’s the best the bike’s felt (this season). I felt comfortable sitting behind Kyle but I knew he's probably saving a little bit. He’s a smart rider and I feel like he's been watching a lot of videos, studying a lot of good riders. He put it all together and that's what makes champions… he hasn't won it twice for nothing.
He's smart and I know what he's kind of doing, which is good, but at the same time when I can't respond it is a bit of a problem and that's why I'm a little bit annoyed because I know what's going on but my bike was just missing a bit of performance out of the last two corners on acceleration, and I had to make it up through the rest of the lap.
I know I was riding hard where the bike felt good but it didn't matter what I did at the Melbourne Loop as nothing gave me the drive that Kyle was able to achieve. For now I'm very happy with three podiums. You can’t take anything away from Kyle and, as much as it hurts me to say, he was King of Donington!”
Cook added: “This is a good result and uncharted territory for me. To come away with three podiums in only the second weekend for the bimota in BSB is a huge achievement and believe it will only get better. We can really learn from this and I’m super happy. It’s a night and day change from Oulton. I had a good bike underneath me there but tried too hard. I chilled out a bit here and was able to relax during the races. We’ll return here in September and should only get better.”
Bradley Ray, three times third at Oulton Park, bagged a pair of fourth place finishes on Sunday to leave Donington as the best of the rest, but the once dominant Yamaha R1 appears to be struggling against the newer Ducatis and bimota. Ray won all three races in the corresponding meeting last season but couldn’t land a blow on the top three on the Raceways Motorcycles entered McAMS-backed machine.
Ray, along with Rory Skinner on the Cheshire Mouldings R1 and Christian Iddon on the Sencat Yamaha enjoyed some entertaining battles behind the top three, but with the flowing Donington layout traditionally happy hunting ground for the R1, it’s looking like Yamaha’s recent stranglehold on the championship has come to an end.
The series now takes a month-long break to avoid a clash with the Isle of Man TT Races, before returning to Scotland’s Knockhill Race Circuit on the weekend of 19-21 June. Ray won two races in the wet last year, before being toppled by track specialist Skinner in the final outing. Skinner, who lives close to the circuit, is the Knockhill lap record holder and has won at his local track on two different brands in the past two years (BMW in 2024 and Ducati in 2025) but he’ll have to be at the top of his game if he is to make it three in three, with the powerful Ducati expected to really excel out of the tight Fife circuit’s super slow final hairpin and up the long uphill start/finish straight.
Ryde goes to Knockhill leading the championship on 104 points, 19 ahead of Redding, with Haslam a further three behind. Ray is the best non-Ducati rider, on 75 points, two ahead of Cook, with Skinner rounding out the top six on 56 ahead of his home round.
