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'How racing should be' – Is British Superbikes motor sport's most exciting series?
Motorcycle News
- Last updated: December 18th 2025
The 2025 British Superbikes finale is this weekend at Brands Hatch. Is its competition unrivalled? James Elson speaks to some of its top riders to find out
BSB's incredible 2024 finale
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It was a moment which ruled the motor sport airwaves for days on end.
British Superbike stars Kyle Ryde and Tommy Bridewell battled wheel-to-wheel for two laps straight, banging against one another as they took on the unrelenting swoops and dips of Brands Hatch.
These two were leading the 2024 BSB championship finale. And they were fighting for the race, as well as the series title. On the very last lap. Ryde would win to take a sensational title by just a single point.
The barely believable footage, accompanied by the delirium of the commentators and screams of the crowd, immediately went viral.
The series diehards weren’t that impressed though. The previous season had been decided by just half a point! Racing doesn’t get any closer than this.
Now this weekend, the championship sets itself up for another thrilling crescendo as Bradley Ray attempts to reel in Ryde for the ’25 crown.
Using production-derived 1000cc, 200bhp superbikes from Ducati, Kawasaki, Honda, Yamaha, BMW and Aprilia – being ridden by high-calibre competitors – the close action is almost always guaranteed.
With such excitement on tap, it begs the question: is British Superbikes the most exciting series out there?
Scott Redding says BSB is the true essence of racing
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“It’s how I feel racing should be,” says free-wheeling championship returnee Scott Redding, who donned a branded cowboy hat for a Motor Sport interview. A MotoGP podium finisher, who claimed the 2019 BSB championship before moving up to win World Superbike races, he is now back on home turf with the PBM Ducati team.
“You’ve got one tyre, not two or three different ones. Make your bike work to that tyre, same for everyone. No electronics [i.e. no traction control or anti-wheelie devices], you work with your power [inherent in your bike choice]. The rider is more in control, and so can make a difference to the bikes.”
Kyle Ryde concurs: “I think the tracks and the rules together always makes it really close. When one person’s got a bit of an edge, the other always manages to find it back. It’s very rare someone obliterates everybody, it makes for very good racing, and that’s why a lot of people like it.”
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Few other championships have a selection of circuits like the UK. From the natural bowl of Brands to the flat-out blast at Thruxton, the undulating Knockhill and beautiful Oulton Park, Redding says the venues are a natural attraction.
“The circuits have got character, [each track is] a proper race track. You’ve got your Jerez and Barcelona, and I’ve been an’ experienced them all. It’s nice [on a grand prix circuit], but it can get boring very quick.
“There, you’re chasing the limit of the tyres on your bike, but in BSB you’re trying to chase the limit of the circuit and your capability, because you’ve got no electronics, but you’ve got bumps, jumps, you got downhills, uphills.
“I’ve never experienced any of that at any world championship circuit I’ve been on, and I got all of that here at Brands! It changes the whole concept of the race.
“I wouldn’t say Cadwell Park is one of my favourites, because it’s just so gnarly – I love it – but it just scares me every single lap multiple times.
Intense competition for 2025’s penultimate round at Oulton Park
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“Marc Márquez crashes a lot. You can’t get away with riding like that on these circuits. If you bring a lot of foreign riders here, they’ll be like: ‘I ain’t riding that!’ But BSB boys, you grow up on it.”
“It just makes people want to come watch and see the jumps and see our superbikes go around this skinny little track,” agrees Ray.
With such thrills comes inevitable danger though. BSB was struck by tragedy earlier this year, when Owen Jenner and Shane Richardson were killed in a first-lap pile-up when competing in the British Supersport Championship support series at Oulton Park.
Deaths are more of an unfortunate reality in motorbike racing than in cars, particularly at tight circuits on the UK calendar. Is it something which plays on the mind of these riders?
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“You can’t really say that’s anything to do with the championship, because you get that happening all around the world – you’ve had it in MotoGP as well,” says Redding.
“It’s not something any of us want to happen, but it is a risk in the sport. Could it improve? Yes, I’m not going to sit here and go: ‘Oh, they’re the safest tracks in the world’, because they’re not.
“You’ve got to put in your head that there are some places on the track you can’t go to the limit. If you want to risk it and go to the limit, so be it.
“But you have to make that choice when you have freak accidents happen or something on the first laps. It’s just luck of the draw, man.
“They are developing to try and make it safer and better, and changing bikes and tyres, they’re working all the time. It’s something that maybe people don’t see as much on the outside as you see on the inside, but we are doing a ****ing dangerous sport.”
Kyle Ryde will be hoping to make it back-to-back championships this weekend
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This weekend though fans will be looking forward to another bonanza of great racing, with the stars prepared to express themselves to the fullest on and off-track.
“I feel I bring a nice character to BSB and I think that also inspires other riders to do similar things,” says Redding. “We are entertainers, and we need to entertain. Our main job is racing, but there’s a lot more to it.
“I should have been born 30-40 years ago, and that would have been my era, but I feel here is the closest I can get to it.
“That’s the beauty of it. You don’t know who’s going to win the championship.”
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