Round three of the British Superbike Championship at Donington Park was a bit of a mixed bag for Kyle Ryde with victory in the opening race for the Rich Energy OMG Yamaha rider offset by a crash and fifth place in races two and three.

The Nottinghamshire rider rode superbly in Saturday’s opener, coming through from an opening lap fourth to hit the front for the first time just before half race distance. Once there, he was pushed all the way by fellow Yamaha rider Jason O’Halloran but he held on by 0.038s for his first BSB win since Silverstone in September 2020.
 
“That’s been a long time coming and I’m so happy to be back on top of the podium,” the delighted 24-year old said afterwards.

“I’ve sometimes doubted myself after a difficult year last year but that really was special. On the slowdown lap, I realised that this was the best feeling of my career so far and I can’t thank the team enough for standing by me and giving me all the support possible."

He was then running in a strong second in the early stages of the first race on Sunday before crashing heavily at McLean’s on lap five. That meant the team had a race against time to get him back on track for the final race of the weekend but they did just that with Ryde bringing the bike home in a good fifth, just over five seconds behind race winner O’Halloran.

“The last race was pretty difficult and I wasn’t sure if I was going to get out or not but the boys did a great job and both sides of the garage worked to get the bike back together,” he explained. “It was nice to repay them with a strong result and although the bike felt a bit different, they always do after a big crash!”

“To get a fifth was pretty good; obviously I would have liked to have got a better result but that was my fault after crashing in the second race. Overall though, it’s been a strong weekend.”
 
Ryde now sits in fourth overall with 117 points.