Ryde takes BSB championship lead with Irwin fourth

Kyle Ryde will take a four-point lead into the final weekend of the British Superbikes season thanks to victory in the second feature race at Donington Park on Sunday.

Glenn Irwin had won the 12-lap race earlier in the day with reigning champion Tommy Bridewell's second place finish extending his lead at the top of the championship over Ryde to five points.

But the OMG Yamaha would wipe out that deficit with victory in the shortened 20-lap race. Danny Kent and Ryan Vickers secured podium positions with Irwin fourth and Bridewell fifth.

The riders were on the penultimate lap when a three-bike crash brought out the red flag and signalled the end of the day's second race.

Prior to the abrupt conclusion, the race had lacked incident with Ryde having made his move early to take the lead from Irwin and, by the time of the stoppage, he had opened up three and four second gaps to his title rivals.

In what was a thrilling earlier race, Irwin started third on the grid for the 12-lapper but seized the lead from his former Honda Racing team-mate Bridewell at the halfway point.

At one stage the rider from Northern Ireland extended his advantage to half a second but Ryde made his move on the penultimate lap.

Irwin would, however, come straight back to regain the lead and fended off both his championship rivals to take the chequered flag by 0.241 seconds from Bridewell with Ryde in third.

After the weekend's racing, Ryde sits on 398 points overall, with Bridewell on 394 and Irwin 46 back going into the season's final three races.

With 105 points still on offer, that trio are the only riders who will still boast championship ambitions when those last races are staged at Brands Hatch on the weekend of 12-13 October.