Kyle Ryde was victorious in the opening ZYN British Superbike Championship race at Knockhill as Bradley Ray was cruelly denied the chance to challenge for the win over the final four laps.
Ray had been pushing his Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing rival throughout the race as the pair exchanged fastest laps at the front of the field. The McAMS Yamaha rider in striking distance of the reigning champion, but there was heartbreak for Ray as his charge was curtailed when he was forced to retire with a technical problem.
At the start, Ryde and Ray had instantly hit the leading two positions with Scott Redding holding third for the Hager PBM Racing Team and Storm Stacey also in close contention.
Redding held third until he was elevated into second position after Ray’s retirement in the closing stages, but behind both Ryan Vickers and Glenn Irwin had fought their way ahead of Stacey and Rory Skinner to be in the battle for the final podium positon over the final laps.
Vickers was holding off Glenn Irwin with the Honda Racing UK rider delivering his best result of the season so far, but a year to the day after his season-shattering crash at Snetterton, the Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing rider wasn’t going to settle for fourth.
The battle between the pair went right down to the finish with Glenn Irwin able to fend off the attack from the Honda Racing UK rider over the final three laps to mark an emotional return to the podium.
Skinner held on to fifth place to claim his best result of the season for the Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha, pushing ahead of Stacey and Christian Iddon. Leon Haslam fought back after a challenging start to the weekend to finish in eighth with the DAO Racing Honda pairing of Josh Brookes and Lee Jackson completing the top ten.
ZYN British Superbike Championship, Knockhill, Race 1 result:
- Kyle Ryde (Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing)
- Scott Redding (Hager PBM Racing Team) +3.556s
- Glenn Irwin (Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing) +6.121s
- Ryan Vickers (Honda Racing UK) +6.693s
- Rory Skinner (Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha) +9.748s
- Storm Stacey (Bathams AJN Racing Ducati) +10.046s
- Christian Iddon (Sencat Racing Yamaha) +10.669s
- Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Racing) +15.096s
- Josh Brookes (DAO Racing Honda) +15.286s
- Lee Jackson (DAO Racing Honda) +16.747s
For the full race result please click here
ZYN British Superbike Championship standings:
- Kyle Ryde (Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing) 122
- Scott Redding (Hager PBM Racing Team) 101
- Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Racing) 90
- Bradley Ray (McAMS Yamaha) 75
- Max Cook (AJN Steelstock bimota) 73
- Rory Skinner (Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha) 67
- Storm Stacey (Bathams AJN Racing Ducati) 55
- Glenn Irwin (Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing) 51
- Ryan Vickers (Honda Racing UK) 49
- Christian Iddon (Sencat Racing Yamaha) 47
For the full standings please click here