Kyle Ryde returned to the top step of the podium on Sunday in the final race of the weekend at Oulton Park.
Saturday saw Kyle Ryde on top of the world, well on top of Britain, as he claimed the lead of the British Superbike Championship. However, as the rain fell on Sunday morning it brought Ryde back down to reality for the opening race of the day.
“The warm-up session wasn’t too good, I was like four seconds off and in race two today I made a big chunk, I made four seconds, but it still wasn’t fast enough. I ended up finishing 13th, and yeah, was a little disappointed, obviously seeing Tommy come fifth after taking the championship lead yesterday”.
Despite the disappointing Race Two, which saw Ryde lose the Championship lead, the OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing rider was back at the front for the final race of the weekend.
Ryde's choice of a hard compound wet rear tyre saw him carve through the field from 19th to fourth. However, the red flag was then thrown, but this would turn out to be the best-case scenario for the #77 as he went on to win the restarted race.
“I had a brilliant race then, chose intermediates in the first half, from 19th I got up to fourth and the red flag came out.
"It didn’t look like there was going to be much rain coming, it did wet the track a little bit in a few areas, but we went with the hard wet and I just wanted to pick up where I left off ten minutes before and got my head down where the track was dry, to make sure the tyre was hot when I got off the slippier stuff.
"I got to the front and seen last lap, two and a half seconds, I couldn’t believe my eyes, after the day I’ve had already, with warm-up and the thirteenth place, I’ll take a first all day long”.
Ryde may have lost the Championship lead on Sunday but he left Oulton Park with a smaller gap than what he had coming into it. Ryde is now only six points behind Tommy Bridewell in the standings with two rounds to go.
“Two wins over this weekend, and a race where I didn’t do good, I managed to get a few points - they might count towards the end of the year. Thanks to all my team that believed in me so much today, the biggest thing then - I believed in myself, so yeah thanks everyone”.
