Kyle Ryde took yet another British Superbike Championship victory at Donington Park over the weekend, his fifth in total at his local circuit but although he was unable to stand on the podium in the other two races he left the Leicestershire venue content with his weekend’s work.

Despite a few issues on Friday, the OMG Grilla Yamaha Racing rider looked strong in qualifying and only missed out on pole to team-mate Ryan Vickers by just 0.026s. He took that form into Saturday’s race and took victory in the shortened race by more than half a second.

“It was a very good Saturday for us,” he said. “It was a bit of a lonely race on my part but one we can be proud of. We struggled a bit on Friday, and we hadn’t managed to complete a run on used tyres so we went into Saturday’s race with a lot of unknowns. It was a hot race, and the track was quite greasy. I wasn’t particularly fast, but I was consistent and fast where I needed to be.”

However, he couldn’t replicate that form on Sunday and found himself at the wrong end of the top six in both the Sprint race and the final race of the weekend. Unable to match the pace of the leading riders, he had to settle for a brace of fifths but it still keeps him a more than handy third overall in the current championship standings.

“It’s been a solid weekend overall, to be honest. A win on Saturday and two top-five finishes after missing a lot of data from Friday is nothing to be disappointed about. It’s the hottest I think I’ve ever seen it at Donington and that meant I struggled a bit more in the Sprint race, but the bike in the third race was amazing. I struggled a bit with the brakes in the longer race which meant I couldn’t quite push on to the guys in front, but 40 points across the weekend is a good points haul.”