Scott Redding was up against it after everything went wrong for the Hager PBM rider in BSB qualifying at the final round at Brands Hatch.
Down in seventh on the grid, his race want form bad to worse when he got beaten up and swallowed on the Ducati, as he explained in his own words, speaking to British Superbikes after the race:
“I got to stop doing this - I’m going to give myself a heart attack, honestly! After qualifying I was like, right, I got my work cut out. I thought I was going to be third or fourth.
Then I come in, they must have done a quick lap on the last - seventh. Kyle was pole. I was like, this ain’t what you need.
Then I thought, right, I’ll just get a good start like I normally do, and I’ll probably jump up a row and I’ll be there. I got an average start and then just got absolutely abused into the first corner. And that happened for like, two, three laps where I was kind of getting beaten up a little bit, just, you know, not getting the rhythm, kind of just being a little bit careful”.
After finding his rhythm, Redding found himself racing people whose tactics and braking points he was less sure of, with Joe Talbot proving particularly difficult to pass at the start of the race, with Redding adding:
“Then I think Brad (Ray) had a moment out of turn three, and backed us all up and it, like, scared me a little bit , ‘cause I’m not normally that far back and it just throws you off.
I’m like, when’s this going to happen again? And I can see the guys riding. They are squeezing everything. I’m like, it’s going to let go any minute. I’m not thinking about riding. And the same thing for passing is like they’re trying to pass someone, but their whole braking, to, like the guys I normally ride with, is a little bit different.
So I think, oh, I’ll have a go here. But then he’s let the brake off and go in. I’m like, oh my god - you might have saw, into like Hawthorns, I absolutely just stood on my foot one lap, and it just made it very uncomfortable. And then I thought, right, don’t panic. Once you get through, Kyle’s leading. Worst case - he’s going to win. I could be fourth and that’s it. So, just do what you can do”.
The now determined former champion was making quick work of the gap as the frontrunners hit the on and off, spitting rain first, with the number 45 quick to use that to his advantage and push to bridge the gap:
“Once I got through I just got my head down and I thought now, I can get there. I can do the Superman move, so let’s just keep going. I was just banging out laps after laps, not looking at anything but that group in front.
And the rain was coming down. I just thought, I got to keep going, right now. I got nothing really to lose - and I got through, had a bit of a battle at the front, but the rain was changing on the track.
And then one lap, I think it was into, what’s the left? Stirling’s - going into Stirling’s one lap, I chucked it in. I saw Max slide, but it didn’t really look like it was raining. Then turn one and it was just playing around but I just kind of gambled the cards. I think race direction played it at the right time. I lost the rear going into Hawthorn’s".
Redding hit the front at the end of lap twelve, in the run to the line, and was pulling away despite the difficult conditions, keeping moving as 15 laps out of 20 was right on the cusp of the two thirds race distance needed to declare the result at the red flag:
“I thought got to finish this lap ‘cause I didn’t look at the lap. I didn’t know how many was left. When the red flag came out, I saw a few people clapping, I was like, okay they've kind of done it at the right time - I just kind of did that out of a little bit of desperation to be honest with you. When you don’t have a choice, you kind of do miracles sometimes.
Yes, the weather played a part, but the changes we made on the bike also helped me when I got my rhythm. So hopefully tomorrow , we got something that we can take to the battle”.
Looking on the lighter side, Redding decided to end the interview by poking fun at how he’s going to need to keep Ryde’s golfing buddies at bay on the final day and how the weather will not be pulling in the reigning champions’ favour:
“Problem is, these two ( Ryde and Vickers) are like best mates to go golf together. So I got to be a little bit careful. His little trip on the golf course the other week - I was looking - you got Talbot there, Leon, him (Vickers) - Okay! So I got to be careful, but at the end of the day, side bet, I can only imagine a few beers and everyone talks the truth so, I’m looking forward to it. I’m ready to go to war!
It’s all we can do - I think Kyle has to kind of protect some points, but anything can happen. It’s meant to be rain tomorrow . Kyle’s going to love that! So we’ll se what we can do”.