Kyle Ryde loses ground in British Supersport Championshop title race

Ryde claimed second and sixth place finishes as Stapleford domintated at the super fast Hampshire circuit of Thruxton.

Saturdays 12 lap ‘Sprint Race’ was totally dominated by Ryde’s title rival Luke Stapleford, who lead the entire race, whilst Ryde was embroiled in a three way battle with Rispoli and Stapleford’s team mate Hornse.

Ryde kept his Championship hopes alive with a late braking manoeuvre on Rispoli going into the chicane, this was on the dire last laps of the race and he managed to hold onto second place going over the line just in front of the American.

Sunday’s feature race was a fast 18 Lap blitz for Stapleford yet again as he completely dominated from start to finish and matching the speed of the Superbikes around this fast sweeping circuit.

For Ryde however this was starting to be again a three way clash with Stapleford’s teammate Sam Hornsey and Rispoli.

Lap three of the race saw the safety car out on the circuit due to a few fallers and a fair bit of debris on the track.

As the safety car turned in on lap six, Stapleford made the holeshot again, leaving the rest of the pack to fight it out and for the next 12 laps that’s exactly what they did.

By lap nine Ryde was struggling not only with front tyre issues, but the team had gone for some different settings to what they had used in the sprint race and this adjustment was also causing problems.

With Ryde losing confidence as he struggled with the front end of the machine, he had no choice but to back off before he came off!.

As the final lap approached Reid, Rispoli, Hornsey, Irwin, Hedger, and Dixon were all virtually six abreast entering the chicane, when suddenly Dixon made a late breaking manoeuvre, clipping Rispoli and sending him and his bike sliding down the track.

Going through the chequered flag, Reid and Dixon took the podium slots with Ryde coming home in a points, finishing sixth behind Irwin and Hedger.

It was not a great Not a great position for Kyle to be in, but at least he managed to finish the race with some all important points in the bag to take to the next round at Cadwell Park on the weekend of 21st to 23rd August.