Double joy for Ryde at Oulton Park
Kyle Ryde stormed to two victories at Oulton Park over the weekend in the opening races of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship Showdown.
Ryde won Saturday’s opening race, as reigning champion Tommy Bridewell crashed out on the opening lap, handing Ryde the title standings lead.
But a tough race two saw Ryde drop down the order and finish 13th, handing Bridewell the overall lead once again.
Ryde then recovered to win a re-started race three in wet conditions and move within six points of Bridewell at the top of the championship.
Race three was declared wet and tyre choice became a gamble amongst several of the riders after the earlier rain had eased and the conditions improved.
Ryan Vickers had launched into the lead and the OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing rider had made an early charge, but as he tried to break the pack, he crashed out at Lodge on lap three.
Storm Stacey meanwhile once again showed his prowess in the wet conditions and he then had the lead from Leon Haslam, Josh Brookes and Bridewell with Glenn Irwin in fifth.
Brookes crashed out at Druids, but when Lewis Rollo crashed out at Hislops the race was subsequently red flagged due to track conditions.
The race was restarted over five laps and Stacey immediately grabbed the advantage from Bridewell, Haslam and Ryde.
The OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing rider though was on the attack and he moved into second position at Hislops on lap two and then a lap later took the lead at Old Hall with a pass on Stacey.
Ryde was then able to break the pack by an impressive 5.965s at the chequered flag whilst Bridewell held off Stacey by 0.522s as the LKQ Euro Car Parts Kawasaki team celebrated yet another podium finish.
Ryde said after race three: “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.
"So yeah…thanks to all my team that believed in me so much today, biggest thing then - I believed in myself.”