British Superbikes: Kyle Ryde set a blistering pace in the ZYN British Superbike Championship Pre-Qualifying session at Donington Park to set the fastest ever BSB lap of the circuit onboard the Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing Ducati; however, he had to fight for it as Max Cook pushed to within 0.083s of the defending champion.
It was a typically close ZYN BSB session with the top 16 riders covered by just 0.911s. Cook had set the pace in the earlier second Free Practice session on the AJN Steelstock bimota, carrying his strong momentum at the track from the R&G Official Test pre-season test at the circuit. Ryde was on a charge though at this home round and was able to edge ahead with Cook just 0.003s adrift of the previous record.
Scott Redding had been the previous all-time fastest lap holder from last season on the Hager PBM Racing Team Ducati and he held the third fastest time after being the pace-setter in the opening session this morning.
Glenn Irwin had a stronger start to this round after a tough opener at Oulton Park in fourth place, with Leon Haslam again holding a position inside the top five for Moto Rapido Racing. Whilst Charlie Nesbitt bounced back from a crash earlier in the day to hold sixth place and just 0.002s ahead of Andrew Irwin.
A further 0.003s separated the MET fonaCAB Racing rider from Ryan Vickers for Honda Racing UK, with Bradley Ray and Christian Iddon holding top ten positions at the chequered flag. Rookie Joe Talbot and Storm Stacey completed the top 12 riders who progress directly into tomorrow’s ROKiT Oxygen Performance Qualifying 2 session.
ZYN British Superbike Championship, Donington Park, Pre-Qualifying result:
- Kyle Ryde (Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing) 1m:26.701s
- Max Cook (AJN Steelstock bimota) +0.083s
- Scott Redding (Hager PBM Racing Team) +0.326s
- Glenn Irwin (Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing) +0.342s
- Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Racing) +0.565s
- Charlie Nesbitt (TAG Honda) +0.569s
- Andrew Irwin (MET fonaCAB Racing) +0.571s
- Ryan Vickers (Honda Racing UK) +0.574s
- Bradley Ray (McAMS Yamaha) +0.663s
- Christian Iddon (Sencat Racing Yamaha) +0.671s
- Joe Talbot (AJN Steelstock bimota) +0.724s
- Storm Stacey (Bathams AJN Racing Ducati) +0.746s
Kyle Ryde
Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing
“Oulton Park was a dream come true really and very unexpected. We took it and then obviously reset for here. It’s definitely not going to be as simple here!
“The first session was difficult, I thought we were in trouble, but then we made a big change for FP2 and it felt really good. From then on, low 27s was not easy but quite comfortable, and that’s just really the target, to make those lap times as easy as possible.
“Luckily we managed to go in the right direction this afternoon because we went straight from 27.8s to 27.2s, which is about what you need to be doing to clinch a podium and I’ll try my hardest!”
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