Kyle Ryde took the spoils in the opening Bennetts British Superbike Championship race of the season at Silverstone on Saturday afternoon, with the LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha rider holding off the challenge of pole man Tommy Bridewell (BeerMonster Ducati) as Josh Brookes (FHO Racing BMW) completed the podium in third.

It was Ryde who grabbed the holeshot going into Copse but it was Bridewell who led at the end of lap one from Ryde, Brookes, Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha), Glenn Irwin (BeerMonster Ducati) and Jack Kennedy (Mar-Train Racing Yamaha) and a lap later O’Halloran had taken over third from Brookes.

Ryde was back in front at the beginning of lap three, but Bridewell retaliated later in the lap, re-taking the lead at Brookalnds and Brookes’s early charge came to a temporary halt as he dropped back to seventh.

On lap five, it was O’Halloran’s turn to lead with a move on Bridewell at Copse and Brookes had regrouped to slot back into fourth but there was nothing to choose between the top six with the order at the end of the lap O’Halloran, Bridewell, Brookes, Ryde, Glenn Irwin and Kennedy. 

Half a second further back, Danny Kent (Lovell Kent Racing Honda) was running in seventh ahead of Leon Haslam (ROKiT BMW), Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW) and Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing).

By lap nine, Brookes was back up to second, but it was still a six-way fight for the lead with Haslam in seventh doing his best to bridge the gap, the deficit to sixth placed Irwin down to four tenths of a second by lap 11.

Back at the front and O’Halloran continued to lead the way and although Ryde briefly got back into second, Brookes dived straight back up the inside at Maggots to reclaim the position. And by lap 13, Haslam had made it a seven-rider battle for supremacy.

Brookes then ran wide into Becketts on lap 15 to drop back to fourth and the front three of O’Halloran, Ryde and Bridewell made a slight break as the race entered its closing stages.

A lap later, Ryde took over the lead from O’Halloran at Becketts and Bridewell then demoted the Australian to third at the start of lap 19 and the race now looked to be between these three with fourth placed Brookes now eight tenths of a second adrift.

As the final lap got underway, Ryde led Bridewell by 0.320s and he had enough of a margin to keep the Ducati man at bay for the first win of the season whilst, further back, Brookes dived up the inside of O’Halloran at Luffield to claim the final podium position.

Irwin held onto fifth ahead of Haslam and Kennedy with Andrew Irwin, Kent and Danny Buchan (Synetiq BMW) completing the top ten, while Peter Hickman, top rookie Charlie Nesbitt, Ryan Vickers, Lee Jackson and Dean Harrison rounded out the points.

A race of low attrition and featuring not a single crash, only Tom Neave registered a technical DNF, though Christian Iddon finished a distant last after hitting issues on his Ducati on lap 17.

BSB Silverstone | Rd 1 | Race 1 Results