Kyle Ryde has been relentless in his quest to become a triple champion in the ZYN British Superbike Championship this season, and just three races now stand between the Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing rider making history at Brands Hatch.
Ryde had his advantage cut to 53 points in the final race at Donington Park when a component failure forced him out of the race, whilst his title rival Scott Redding was victorious, with 105 points still available from the final three races of the season next weekend (October 16/17/18) on the Grand Prix circuit.
If Ryde can maintain his edge over Redding and successfully defend his title, he will become the first champion in the 30-year history of the championship to win three consecutive titles since Niall Mackenzie accomplished it in the first seasons from 1996 to 1998. He would also become the first BSB title-winner to win consecutive titles for different manufacturers, a feat that has never been achieved in the championship’s 30-year history.
Ryde said: “From my side I feel I rode brilliantly all weekend at Donington Park, I set the fastest lap in every race I finished, took pole position, extended my championship lead and then we just had some bad luck. I can’t complain about how I rode at the weekend and hopefully we can go to Brands Hatch and get back on track.
“The boys didn’t deserve that, I had finished 89 races on the spin, without a problem or a crash which is a credit to the team too. It’s mad and a big stat and I was hoping that whenever it did happen it would only come to a stop when it was something that I did wrong, but unfortunately it was something outside of our control. It was nobody’s fault in the team and we put it behind us and go to the final round, and I am really looking forward to it.
“It was a terrible time of the season to have the problem, but it would have been worse if it had been at the final round as Scott would have gained more points on me. Scott rode good at the weekend, he made a step and was definitely going to be a lot harder to beat in the last race, but I feel like I could have done something there. It was bad luck, but it happens sometimes and I am looking forward now to Brands Hatch and trying to complete the threepeat! I am sure there will be some more curveballs, but hopefully Donington Park was the last one!”