British Superbikes, Brands Hatch: Ryde: ‘When Iddo came past it was a bit of a shock!’

Kyle Ryde saw rapid improvements over his British Superbike weekend with two third place finishes, but could not find the answer to a late move from Christian Iddon at Brands Hatch.

Lisa Lewis

21 Jul 2024

Kyle Ryde, BSB, 2024, Brands Hatch, Race Three, 21st July
© Ian Hopgood Photography

Race three saw Kyle Ryde able to emulate his finishing position in the very short five lap sprint. Quickly moving back into second, where he lined up on the grid after his race two performance, the OMG Grilla Yamaha rider was best equipped to try and go with eventual triple winner, his teammate Ryan Vickers.

For a long spell he too had no-one around before the final laps turned into a three way fight for the final podium spots:

“I was on my own for so long, like 16 laps, that when Iddo come past it was a bit of a shock to the system, because I’ve been doing the same braking marker, same everything, and obviously Iddo is on a completely different bike to me, so the characteristics of the bike and the track is so different. It took, actually two laps to figure it out - where I could actually have a go at passing him.

Be all and end all I was giving it my all, tried my best but couldn’t really pass him. Iwas waiting for a mistake, but it wasn’t to be”.

Iddon hadn’t been the only rider coming to play, with whichever of the duo made it to the front also having to defend from reigning champion, Tommy Bridewell, who was ready to pick up the pieces:

“Defended well against Tommy I think and yeah, another third place, so yeah, if someone had had a bet on me on Friday to get two podiums there’d be a millionaire I think by now, so I’m over the moon with two podiums”.

That reaction stemmed for the tough start Ryde had to the weekend - off the pace on Friday, the #77 failed to make it directly to Q2, with improvements being delivered to move first through Q1 and qualify eighth, then move up to sixth in race one, with the work done between rider and team, delivering two third places, and changes they think will also help at the next round of the championship:

“What I’ve tried today I’m sure will work at Thruxton because we struggled there in some sort of ways similar…like I said I’m just over the moon to be here, it feels like a win after Friday!”