BSB: Ryde joins CF Motorsport for 2018 Superbike attack

Former British Supersport runner-up Kyle Ryde is the latest young talent to join the British Superbike grid full time as he returns from the Supersport World Championship.

The 20-year-old will ride for former BSB rider Craig Fitzpatrick’s CF Motorsport squad as they step up to the top class for the first time with Yamaha’s YZF-R1.

Ryde rode for Fitzpatrick’s team in both 2014 and 2015, when he won the Superstock 600 championship before going on to finish second in the Supersport series the following year.

Ryde impressed as he took a debut World Supersport podium while wildcarding at the Donington Park round with the CF Motorsport team, but since then has endured a tough two seasons on the world stage. 

He made his 1000cc debut at Brands Hatch last October, enjoying a solid weekend in the final round of the 2017 British Superbike Championship with the FS3 Racing team.

“I enjoyed the round I did with FS3,” Ryde told MCN. “I’m glad I did it as I was quite scared about damaging my profile by having a bad weekend, but it was a real strong round and now I’ve got a decent opportunity to ride an R1 with CF Motorsport.

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“There’s no pressure on me this year, people know it takes a bit of time to learn how to ride a Superbike but at the same time people have seen what Jake Dixon and Bradley Ray have done in BSB. Younger riders are really coming through and that’s promising for me. I ran very similar times to Brad Ray and Jake Dixon in the Supersport championship and they’ve both gone well on Superbikes so there’s no reason why I can’t do it. 

“All I’ve ever known is to carry corner speed, but I’ve sort of lost that with riding a Kawasaki for the last couple of years. Even though it’s a 1000cc, the Yamaha is meant to be really good at carrying corner speed and I’ve spoken to people like Josh Brookes who have told me it’s a weapon.” 

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