Kyle Ryde had started the first BSB Showdown race of the final meeting of the year at Brands Hatch from pole and was leading the main group when the rain forced his hand in the race, which was eventually red-flagged five laps short, with Scott Redding having powered into a determined lead.
Behind, Ryde, who had lead for much of the race, was wresting with what he needed to do, arriving for the final round with a 53 point lead. Max Cook had less to lose, so had taken over out front, with Ryde saying after the race, when talking to British Superbikes, that he knew he then needed to be brave and chase Redding when he passed, despite the diminishing grip as the rain played it’s part in the result:
“I think we’ve had a good experience of races where that’s happened and it’s been literally the same amount of rainfall at each one, like four or five times. So that time I was definitely a little more brave, but it was just the temperature that was worrying me.
I thought any sort of rain drops on the white lines, and we’re off instantly. So, I dropped back and that was kind of Scott’s way to get back on us in a quick fashion, which he did - and got straight to the front.
So, it kind of sped my process up of being brave because I didn’t have a choice really, because I thought, if I don’t do it, Max and Ryan’s going to do it and before you know it, if it gets red-flagged I’ve come fourth and Scott’s come first - and I’m doing the maths while I’m riding around and I’m thinking at one point, I’m about 65 points in front and the next minute its about 45”.
The championship leader admitted to was tough to manage with the gap shrinking, and the situation changing rapidly in seconds, adding:
“So yeah, it was difficult to manage. There’s a couple of white lines on this track that you use a lot on the exit into turn one. So there was a lot of things going on in my mind, but yeah, it was all in the space of four minutes - I’ve got three seconds to Scott on my board one minute and the next minute I’m following him.
So, obviously I wasn’t brave enough, but obviously with the buffer in the championship, it makes you do funny things sometimes. I’m just happy to get through that race with a second place, regardless of where Scott finished.
Any other day it could have rained after four of five laps and would have been coming in and putting wet tyres in, and if we’d have chose the wrong tyres, it could have gone really badly.
So anyway 48 point lead going into the final day, and I’ll try my best to win it tomorrow”.
The Nitrous Coin/ Nitrous Competitions rider has a strong record for the season, with 29 podium finishes in 31 races for Ducati, but with rain expected tomorrow, known not to be a condition Ryde favours, questions came back with Ryde adding the weather didn’t matter as “I ain’t got a choice, have I?” - then going on to remind that none of the riders have much wet weather racing under their belts this year:
“The only thing I’ve got going is I did a bit of wet weather riding at Knockhill, but none of us have done a wet race for about two years, I don’t think. So I feel I deserve to do at least one of those races as champion, done a good job all year, but whatever the weather does tomorrow, I’d have took a second at the start of the day, hopefully we can have a good couple of races and be champion tomorrow”.