Kyle Ryde

Every now and then, it seems like there’s a bit of a changing of the guard in the top race series. The big names you’ve grown accustomed to begin to drift down the results sheets and new, less familiar names start to rise to the top.

We’ve spoken to a few of those names in these columns this season and this month we are talking to another – Kyle Ryde. Born in 1997 and turning 26 this July, Nottinghamshire man Ryde has, like all the good guys, been racing since he was in reception class at school. He’s also worn SHARK helmets for almost his entire career and is a firm fan of the French firm’s kit.

When we spoke to Kyle, he’d just come off a double win (sandwiching a DNF/crash) at his home track, Donington Park, on the OMG Racing Yamaha R1, and he was sitting fifth in the championship. And that crash at Donington was arguably all that was keeping him off the top spot: he was just 10 points behind series leader Tommy Bridewell on the PBM Ducati Panigale V4R. That strong position came after he won the opening race of the 2023 series at Silverstone and chalked up strong results at Oulton Park.

So, how did he get to this point? Family has been a strong influence: Kyle’s dad and uncle raced sidecars, and he was just five years old when he got his first racebike. “Yeah, Dad got me a minimoto when I was five,” Ryde told us. “I did a few race track things on it, and then I went to Spain to ride in Benidorm and that was it. I’ve raced bikes ever since.”

Kyle’s family recognised his potential but success took a little while. “I never really won anything until I was 13. Then I joined the British championship in the 125 class and I won it in 2011 – that would’ve been the first year I used a SHARK helmet.”