Kyle Ryde to add star power to ASBK grand finale
Newly crowned BSB champ Kyle Ryde will head Down Under to mix it with the Aussie superbike stars at The Bend.
Newly crowned 2025 British Superbike Champion Kyle Ryde is set to cross hemispheres, as he joins the grid for the final round of the 2025 mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship.
In a move that’s caught plenty off guard, the 28-year-old Brit won’t be throwing a leg over a Superbike but will instead line up in the Kawasaki Supersport class with the Robbie Bolger-run Stop and Seal Yamaha squad. It’s an intriguing twist, and one that could have a serious impact on the title fight, with Ryde’s new teammates Jack Mahaffy and Archie McDonald both in the running for the championship crown.
It’s a return to familiar territory for Ryde, who previously made his name in the British Supersport Championship, finishing runner-up before moving up to Superbikes. He also campaigned in World Supersport, so the switch to 600cc machinery will hardly be alien territory.
Ryde’s upcoming appearance marks his third competitive outing on Australian soil. He previously raced at Phillip Island in the 2015 and 2017 World Supersport rounds, finishing an impressive fourth in the latter, right on the tail of Aussie favourite Anthony West.
So the bike and country may be familiar, but the track is not. The Bend is a new circuit for the Nottinghamshire rider, but if his recent form is anything to go by, he won’t take long to get up to speed. Only last weekend at Brands Hatch, Ryde clinched his second consecutive BSB title with Yamaha, becoming the first rider to retain the crown since Shane Byrne in 2017.
With the British season wrapped up and winter closing in back in the UK, the lure of some late-season competition and a bit of Aussie sunshine has proven irresistible. Ryde will contest the two Kawasaki Supersport races at The Bend, where Mahaffy currently leads the standings on 265 points ahead of McDonald (241) and BCperformance Kawasaki’s Oli Simpson (234).
For Ryde, it’s a chance to keep his racecraft sharp and have a little fun. For the local title contenders, though, it’s just made the finale a whole lot more complicated.
Find the latest motorcycle news on Visordown.com
Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
