Kyle Ryde claimed the top spot in the opening practice session of the 2023 Bennetts British Superbike Championship with the LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha rider finishing the first 40 minutes of action at Silverstone 0.120s ahead of Tommy Bridewell (BeerMonster Ducati) with Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing) taking third.

Irwin was the first rider to drop below the 55s barrier with a lap of 54.891s and that gave him an early advantage of two tenths over Danny Buchan (Synetiq BMW), but the order soon changed with firstly Bridewell and then Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) moving to the top of the leaderboard, the latter with a 54.588s.

Irwin immediately responded with a 54.410s and after the first five minutes of 2023, the running order was Irwin, O’Halloran, Buchan, Jack Kennedy (Mar-Train Racing Yamaha), and Bridewell. The Ulsterman then went quicker still with a 54.358s but that was upstaged by Ryde who posted a lap of 54.314s.

The short nature of the track meant positions were changing all the time and 13 riders were quickly lapping in the 54s bracket, Buchan the next to go quickest as both he and Glenn Irwin overhauled Ryde. The Yamaha man responded though and was the first to dip into the 53’s with a lap of 53.969s.

Buchan soon joined Ryde in the 53’s to reclaim the top spot and after the first ten minutes of action, many riders made their way back to the pits to make some early changes. Meanwhile, Christian Iddon (Oxford Products Ducati) and Leon Haslam (ROKiT BMW) were two riders to only complete a couple of laps in the early stages.

With 15 minutes gone, Buchan, Ryde and his OMG racing team-mate Ryan Vickers were the only three riders in the 53’s with O’Halloran, Bridewell and Kennedy closely following and Haslam only needed six laps to jump up to seventh. Fellow BMW rider Josh Brookes was down in 17^th but at the halfway point, he moved up to ninth, one place behind FHO Racing team-mate Peter Hickman.

Bridewell was the next rider to lap in the 53’s with a 53.919s lap putting him up to second and just 0.068s behind Buchan but Ryde was then back on top albeit just 0.012s quicker than Buchan. Glenn Irwin was another rider on the move as he slotted into third. Charlie Nesbitt (MasterMac Honda by Hawk Racing) was out though as he stopped at Brooklands.

With ten minutes to go Ryde still led Buchan, the gap now just 0.070s with the order behind Glenn Irwin, Bridewell, Vickers and Hickman but O’Halloran was back up into fourth with five minutes to go, the top six riders the only ones lapping in the 53’s and covered by just 0.214s.

Ryde was knocked off the top spot with four minutes to go by Haslam, who lapped at 53.744s, with Buchan going second to make it a BMW 1-2 but it was all change in the final stages with Andrew Irwin and Bridewell both going quickest before Ryde had the final say to know them both down a spot.

Haslam and Buchan ended up fourth and fifth respectively with O’Halloran, Hickman. Kennedy, Glenn Irwin and Vickers rounding out the top ten, all ten lapping in the 53’s.