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At his home track in Donington Park, Kyle Ryde set the pace in Friday’s pre-qualifying session, reinforcing his position at the top of the British Superbike Championship standings. The reigning two-time champion posted the fastest lap and finished the day ahead of his main title rival, Scott Redding.
Ryde fastest as margins remain tight
Kyle Ryde recorded a best time of 1:26.863 to lead the field, beating Scott Redding by 0.169 seconds. AJN Steelstock bimota’s Max Cook rounded out the top three, 0.325 seconds adrift of Ryde.
The trio’s form at Donington has been consistent: earlier this season Ryde, Redding and Cook shared the podium across all three races held at the circuit.
Yamaha and Honda updates
Bradley Ray produced the quickest lap among Yamaha riders, finishing just 0.057 seconds behind Cook. A strong showing from the manufacturer saw every Yamaha entry inside the top nine by the end of the session.
Honda’s Ryan Vickers claimed fifth and confirmed he will remain with the factory Honda team next season, a continuity move for the squad.
Q2 places and the near-misses
Danny Kent and Leon Haslam took sixth and seventh, while Rory Skinner and Christian Iddon completed the group that kept Yamaha’s representation high in the top nine.
Lee Jackson, Ilya Mikhalchik and Glenn Irwin secured the final three automatic places for Q2, filling out the provisional top 12.
Joe Talbot missed the cut to Q2 by a razor-thin 0.052 seconds and will have to contest Q1 on Saturday afternoon.
Rest of the order and weekend timings
Jason O’Halloran and Josh Brookes ended the day 14th and 15th respectively, ahead of Scott Swann, Fraser Rogers and Storm Stacey. Siblings Rhys and Andrew Irwin completed the top 20, while Eugene McManus, Luke Hedger, Richard Kerr and Brayden Elliott rounded out the timesheet.
Qualifying continues on Saturday: Q1 is scheduled for 13:15 on October 3, with Q2 set to follow at 13:37. The opening British Superbike race of the weekend is due to start at 16:15.
