BSB: Ryde Doubles Up with Second Silverstone Victory

Kyle Ryde scored a second consecutive victory at the Silverstone National Circuit with an inch-perfect performance in the final race of the meeting.

The Suzuki rider led from the lights and took the chequered flag with a comfortable advantage over Tarran Mackenzie in runner-up spot. Jason O’Halloran completed the podium in third.

Despite leaving Silverstone without a podium finish, Glenn Irwin still heads the championship on 157 points. His closest challengers are Tommy Bridewell and Josh Brookes who both trail the Honda rider by 35 points.

Glenn Irwin (Honda Racing) had a great getaway from second on the grid and looked set to take the holeshot going into Copse, but polesitter Kyle Ryde (Buildbase Suzuki) swept round his outside and stayed in the lead through the opening turns.

Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati) and Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) were lining up behind them on the first lap, but the Yamaha was quickly on the move. O’Halloran claimed Brookes down the start/finish straight going into Lap 2 before he snatched second from Irwin. The Australian had his sight set on Ryde and swiftly closed in on the Suzuki, the duo breaking away from the field.

Irwin and Brookes were heading a chasing group of five riders with Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati), Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha) and Lee Jackson (Rapid Fulfillment FS-3 Kawasaki) completing the quintet.

Iddon got past Brookes on Lap 5 when the teammates ran side by side and Mackenzie threatened a move alongside them. The Ducatis stayed in front, but the order did not last long as Mackenzie made a move on Brookes stick on Lap 8 and claimed fifth. The punches exchanged slowed the group down and allowed Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing) to close in on them.

Irwin looked in trouble on Lap 9 as he lost subsequent positions to Iddon and Mackenzie and dropped from third to fifth over the course of just one lap. Out front Ryde’s pace had proven too strong for O’Halloran and a gap was opening between the Suzuki and the Yamaha with the Australian falling into the clutches of the chasers.

The pack bunched up for positions two to eight and O’Halloran soon had to surrender second when Iddon squeezed his way past on Lap 15. Matters swiftly got worse when he also fell victim to his teammate Mackenzie at Brooklands a lap later and was suddenly running outside the podium positions.

Mackenzie looked confident in third and had a first look at Iddon going into Copse on Lap 18. While he failed to make the move stick the first time round, he executed it to perfection a lap later and moved up into second.

Iddon was yet again struggling to make his tyres last and had nothing to respond when O’Halloran punched his way back through into third on Lap 21. The Ducati rider was fighting with a blunted edge and Irwin moved past him as well on Lap 24.

Bridewell had meanwhile overtaken Jackson and was running closely with the factory Ducatis of Iddon and Brookes in positions five to seven. In another teammate battle, things were getting feisty between Mackenzie and O’Halloran in second and third respectively.

Unfazed by the paint being swapped behind him, Ryde had his head down in the final stages of the race and extended his advantage to take a flawless victory. Mackenzie held O’Halloran behind him by a tenth as the McAMS Yamaha team celebrated their strongest weekend of the season.

Irwin crossed the line in fourth for the third time this weekend ahead of the three Ducatis. The trio had shifted and Bridewell led Brookes and Iddon across the finish line. Jackson took the chequered flag in eighth, just a tenth from Iddon, while behind him Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing) and Luke Mossey (Rich Energy OMG Racing) got the better of Danny Buchan (Rapid Fulfillment FS-3 Kawasaki) on the final lap to complete the top 10.

Hector Barbera (Rich Energy OMG Racing) finished 12^th ahead of Bradley Ray (Synetiq BMW Motorrad) and Gino Rea (Buildbase Suzuki) while Peter Hickman (Global Robots BMW) took the last point on offer in 15^th.