Last weekend was round 10 of the British Superbike Championship, held in Cheshire at Oulton Park.
After the decision to no longer loan and ride the GP2 bike due to recurring issues around fundamental parts of the bike and set up Kyle was contacted by Colin Wright of the Halsall Racing Team to offer him the loan of their Supersport bike which was last used at the Isle Of Man TT.
On Thursday Kyle met the team and the bike for the first time and was excited to be riding again.
MH MOTORSPORT PHOTOGRAPHY
Friday
FP1 – This was a dry practice and Kyle’s first time on the bike, a couple of issues arose and was fixed, he was really happy with the set up and the feeling he had and went on to finish the session in 10th.
FP2- Wet conditions for this session, having not been on the bike before in the wet we tried a setting that unfortunately did not work and Kyle finished down in 22nd.
MH MOTORSPORT PHOTOGRAPHY
Saturday
Qualifying – Mixed conditions, the session started off dry and Kyle did some quick times on some used tyres putting him 6th after a few laps, He came in to the pits for a new set of tyres but the weather turned and started to rain, There he sat in wait incase it stopped but it got much worse this meaning no one went any quicker and meant 6th on the grid for the race later that day,
Sprint Race – Kyle made a good start and was on the back of the leading group, unfortunately after a few laps and in 7th place he had some brake issues and dropped 5 places in one lap then another 2 the next lap, Kyle was tempted to pull in but he knew he needed to salvage a good lap time to put him in a good position for Sundays race
He kept back from the pack to try and do a fast lap, even though he caught them back up he had to back off again as it was too dangerous to try and overtake with the brakes fading.
He finished 12th and did the 6th fastest time putting him 6th on the grid for Sundays Feature Race.
MH MOTORSPORT PHOTOGRAPHY
Sunday
Feature Race – Wet Conditions, Kyle had a good start off the line, the bike and suspension felt much better than in FP2 and he was confident for a good result but even after hours of checking and replacing some of the break components after race 1 the brake issue returned.
This was not the weekend Kyle was hoping for as it started off so well but the Halsall Racing Team have assured Kyle they are going to do what ever it takes to resolve the issue and fit a full new breaking system, so onward and upwards to Round 11 at Assen September 28-30th.
We would like to thank Colin Wright and Halsall Racing Team for the opportunity and all of our sponsors who continue to support Kyle and keep him on track.
KR#77
report by Janine & Sean Ryde