Last weekend saw the final round of the 2026 British Superbike Championship take place and although a technical issue at the previous put a slight spanner in the works, three podiums at Brands Hatch meant that Kyle Ryde became just the second rider in BSB history to win three titles in a row.
Impeccable season from Ryde
In retaining his title, Ryde also became the first rider to win back-to-back championships for a different manufacturer, his 2026 success on the Nitrous Coin/Nitrous Competitions Racing Ducati coming on the back of his victories for Yamaha in the previous two campaigns.
Still only 29, the Jacksdale rider has been part of the BSB paddock since 2011 when he became the youngest ever 125cc British Champion. Three years later, he won the National 600cc Superstock title and then progressed to the British Supersport Championship where he finished runner-up.
That year saw him podium as a wild card in the World Supersport Championship and in 2016 he competed on the World stage full time. Team issues made that first campaign difficult and although 2017 started well with three top ten finishes, he was out of a ride at the end of the year.
That meant he had to return to the UK to rebuild his career although it wasn’t until 2020 when he found his spiritual home in BSB. His first three seasons saw constant changes in machinery with Suzuki, BMW and then Yamaha the choice of his team. The latter saw him come into his own and he’s never looked back.
Ryde has continually got quicker, and more impressive, and although this year’s title went to the final round, the truth is, it was never in doubt. Out of the 33 races to take place, he won almost half of them, 16, and was only off the podium twice, at Thruxton when he finished fourth and at Donington with the aforementioned DNF.
A return to the World stage will probably never happen but, like many before him, he seems content now to remain in the BSB series. He’s a man in demand and can earn good money so more success, and titles, should come his way. If the rumours are true, he’s set for a new challenge in 2027 with a switch to Honda Racing highly likely.
Redding falls short
With Ryde as dominant as what he was, it’s credit to Scott Redding that he took the title fight to the final round. Perhaps that shouldn’t be a surprise given his World Championship credentials but whilst Ryde has built his career on the UK circuits, Redding, despite all of his experience, is still learning his trade.
With his career having started on mini-bikes way back in 2001, Redding was competing in 125cc Grands Prix at the age of just 15 going on to become, at the time, the youngest ever Grand Prix winner. He remained there until 2019 when he moved into BSB promptly winning the title at his first attempt,
He immediately moved into the World Superbike Championship where he stayed until mid-2025 when he left both his team and the series. A move to replace Glenn Irwin at the Hager PBM Ducati followed with this year being just his second full season in the UK.
As a result, whilst Redding is at home at the likes of Donington, Assen and Brands, he’s still getting to grips with tighter and twistier Oulton Park, Knockhill and, especially, Cadwell Park.
That was seen this year when Ryde scored 44 points at Cadwell to Redding’s 19, a difference of 25. It would be wrong to say the title was decided there and then but those 25 points dropped made up more than half of the final deficit of 46 points.
Ryde also came out of the blocks the quickest with 54 points at round one at Oulton compared to Redding’s 35. Other than that, the duo were evenly matched at every other round and whilst Ryde topped both the win and podium count, Redding had nine and 22 respectively of his own and more often than not, he was right in Ryde’s wheel tracks.
Magnanimous in defeat, Redding did everything he could, right up until the final round when he won the first two races but knows he needs to find a little bit more if he’s to topple his rival. Like Ryde, he’s expected to be on different machinery in 2027, with a switch to Aprilia on the cards albeit with the same Hager PBM team.
Vickers stars
Consistent podium finishes throughout the season, 18 in total, meant 2022 Champion Bradley Ray (McAMS Yamaha) finished in third overall albeit 139 points adrift of the flying Ryde but such was the form of Ryan Vickers in the second half of the season he was only 22 points behind Ray at the conclusion of the 33 races.
Ray will remain with the same team in 2027 as will Vickers and the latter will be hopeful of mounting a serious title challenge next year. It took him and the Honda Racing team a while to turn the Fireblade into a race-winning machine but during the first few rounds, the skills learnt in last year’s World Superbike Championship meant he was able to get results he perhaps shouldn’t.
Vickers’ fellow Honda riders were, it has to be said, nowhere to be seen during the year, but Vickers was the opposite and as the year wore on, the more he challenged for the race wins. He finished the season with five of them with only Ryde and Redding having more, which only serves to highlight just how well he rode.
He took ten podiums in total, the only Honda rider to do so; indeed, the other expected Honda front-runners of Lee Jackson, Josh Brookes and team-mate Jason O’Halloran rarely troubled the top six and for those reasons, Vickers’ performances have to put him down as one of the riders of the season.
Ryde, who is expected to be Vickers’ team-mate, will probably get that accolade but make no mistake, Vickers’ season was mightily impressive.
Rising star
The BSB series is packed with riders who’ve been in the class for some time with even relative youngsters like Ryde and Ray having made more than 200 starts. The likes of Brookes, Leon Haslam, Christian Iddon and O’Halloran have all made in excess of 300 so that makes it difficult for a class novice to make an impression.
Of course, exceptional talent has meant that’s happened over the years but it’s hard to be quick at every round in a maiden campaign. Max Cook is rightly regarded as one of the sport’s best young talents in BSB and that was seen this year when the AJN Steelstock bimota rider made another stride forward with sixth overall and eight podiums his best campaign.
Although he’s only 23, Cook has now made 123 BSB starts, further proof of the hard yards that have to be put in before the success flows. But his team-mate Joe Talbot gave plenty of indications that he’s ready to mount a challenge.
Success has previously come for Talbot in both the Supersport and Superstock classes and he joined Cook on the new bimota for 2026. His one-lap pace was immediately clear to see but he tended to fade as the race wore on with the early season seeing him finish predominantly in the 10-15th area.
That changed at round four when he recorded two top six finishes and whilst they didn’t immediately flow, with crashes coming along the way, two top five finishes at Cadwell showed he was rapidly learning.
He ended the year in fine style with his maiden podium finish in the final race of the season to finish in a more than solid eighth overall, only two places behind Cook. Both riders will stay with the team next year and Talbot will undoubtedly be one to watch.
Technical changes for 2027
BSB will see a major shake-up in the technical regulations for 2027 with the ‘Next Generation’ technical platform implemented which should see more manufacturer participation. Kawasaki have already announced their return with Suzuki and Aprilia expected to follow.
The new regulations will see the most significant evolution of the BSB series in more than a decade all done with the aiming of reducing costs, particularly on the electronics front with a new system developed by Mectronik. Calibration methods will ensure comparable performance across the manufacturers with power capped at 200bhp.
Using the ‘Next Generation; methods successfully applied in the Supersport class, a Balance of Performance approach will mean the Superbikes remain closer to standard specification although rider aids such as traction control, anti-wheelie and launch control will be available once more.
Reduced performance should see extended engine life, improved reliability and a reduction in the engines required. As well as cutting costs, the regulations are also designed to create a closer racing.
Rider changes too
As well as the rider/team changes already referred to, plenty more are expected and, like the MotoGP series, the winter months could well see the biggest upheaval ever seen in BSB.
Glenn Irwin and Storm Stacey, who both rode Ducatis this year, have already been announced as riding BMW’s next year for the GRYD Racing team whilst Scars Racing, who won the British Supersport title this year with Luke Stapleford, will be the official BMW team in BSB. Their expected riders are Rory Skinner and former champion Tarran Mackenzie who’ll return after four years on the World stage.
Ukrainian Ilya Mikhalchik will move from BMW to the DAO Racing Honda team whose current riders Jackson and Brookes are both job hunting for 2027. That also applies to former race winners Danny Kent, O’Halloran, whose departure from Honda Racing has already been announced, and Christian Iddon with the latter’s SENCAT Racing team having withdrawn from racing.
Kawasaki will return with an official team with Binch Racing the chosen team to run the ZX-10RR.