PHILLIP ISLAND-

One small mistake threatened to ruin a weekend of race preparations which, until this point, were almost perfect….

Accidents happen

Kyle set out for the final free practice session, before the Superpole, conditions out on the track were good but on the fifth lap Kyle became acquainted with the terrible dangers of the notorious “Turn 8” at the Phillip Island circuit, a “baptism” that all the best riders have had to accept in the past, Kyle being no exception.

Unfortunately the bike sustained some fairly significant damage, Kyle was also hurt and walked away with a very painful knee, damage to his hand and a heavy impact to the shoulder, thankfully nothing was broken, however Kyles made of strong stuff and the determination in the camp was such that nothing was going to prevent team Ranieri Med taking part in the first Superpole 2 race of the season.

Rebuilding bike & confidence

The team rebuilt the bike in record time and just two hours later Kyle was able to get back on the bike and qualify in a very respectable 9th place on the grid for Sundays race.

After the accident it was prudent to ensure that the bike was properly checked over again and ready for Sundays race, it also gave Kyle the chance to regain some confidence out on the track after the mornings scary crash.

Tyres

Although we now have to start from the third row on the grid for Sundays race, our hopes are high for a strong performance. The race pace should be excellent especially towards the end of the race, because we have very fresh tyres and with the team we have, we know that the bike will be ready to race.

KYLE RYDE-

“I don’t really know what happened. I came into the very fast turn 8 at the same speed and at the same point as the previous lap, but I lost control, I found myself suddenly on the ground. I have to thank my team, it was incredible how they managed to rebuild the bike in that amount of time! It’s all thanks to them that I got back out on the track for Superpole 2 and still managed to get 9th place.

Kyle went on to say……

“I think I can do very well because our overall performance has been excellent even after 20 laps and the race is only 18 laps, hopefully we can put in a strong performance”.