Kyle Ryde’s maiden appearance in the British Superbike Championship Showdown saw him finish in a solid sixth place overall with a best finish of fourth taken at Brands Hatch at the weekend.

The final round typified the ups and downs the Rich Energy OMG Racing Yamaha rider has had in the second half of the season but five podiums during the year, including a third career BSB victory at Donington Park in May, showed the progress he’d made.

Forced to go into Q1 at the weekend, he duly made it into Q2 only to suffer a mechanical problem in the opening race, which kept him in ninth place whilst the final race saw him go in the wrong direction in set-up and drop back to tenth.

However, the fourth place finish in between again showed his potential and having already re-signed for the team for 2023, he knows where he needs to improve. He was also a more than able team-mate to new champion Bradley Ray with the duo’s performances seeing OMG clinch the team trophy.

“Friday was difficult, we had some teething issues so my weekend didn’t start until Saturday but we plugged away and did a great lap time in both qualifying sessions and were in a great place to start the weekend off,” he said at the conclusion of the final round.

“We had gear selector issues in race one which was a shame as I thought that was our best chance of getting a trophy this weekend but race two felt great to finish fourth.

“We gambled a bit on set-up for race three but that didn’t quite work out and we know now what not to do for 2023 when we return here in the summer. Well done to Brad and the team, it’s been a mega season for us both.”