OMG Yamaha’s Kyle Ryde proved the man to beat after three days of Bennetts British Superbike testing at Spain’s Navarra Circuit.
Leading the times across the weekend, Ryde continued his dominating pace with almost a full second to nearest rival Leon Haslam, after setting a 1’37.586 benchmark on Monday morning.
The 25-year-old appeared to be taking it all in his stride as the Warwickshire-based team packed up early - in part due to a bird strike through the number 77’s screen on his hot-lap run.
“The plan was to do two laps and I did one,” Ryde confirmed from Spain.
“Then I went into turn one and I think through the speed trap was 171mph, a pigeon went straight through my windscreen and hit me in the face, so that was the end of today for doing fast lap times!
“I think this type of circuit is one that when you are confident you can find a lot of time,” he said of the 4km layout. “There are a lot of front end corners and I have felt mega with my bike all though the test here.
“Yesterday and today have been chilled out and it’s very nice to feel so comfortable on my R1,” he continued. “We polished the day off and tried my best for a great lap time and everything clicked and it just worked. I can’t thank all of my team enough; my new crew chief Shannon has done an amazing job. I can’t wait to get to the tests at Donington and Silverstone now.
“The bike is literally going to go straight into the truck, get cleaned and is going to come straight out at Donington exactly the same. We are not going to touch a thing, I can’t wait!”
