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Round nine of the British Superbike series takes place this weekend the 7th to the 9th of Septemeber at the former Bomber Airfield of Silverstone in Northamptonshire, home to the Formula 1 Grand Prix and also the Moto GP. Kyle is used to this circuit having raced here at Silverstone; in previous British rounds, but also as a youngster with the ‘Red Bull Rookies’ which is part of the Moto GP series and gives young up and coming talent a chance to pit themselves against the best in the World. This round of the British Championship is the start of the ‘Showdown’ for the Superbike riders and goes to determine who goes through to gain those extra vital points in the Championship, were as with Kyle’s series that just remains the same as always, with the GP 2 class being the attachment to the Supersport class. This meeting was run on the National circuit as they have recently had issues with the surface of the International circuit, which ended in the UK round of the Moto GP being cancelled due to lack of adhesion for the bikes, so a decision was made by MSVR to use the smaller 1.6mile circuit for this meeting.
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(Free Practise sessions & Qualifying)
Fridays practise saw Kyle attacking from the start and for around two thirds of the FP1 Kyle was in a strong third place, but towards the end of the session he was placed in 5th place and the first GP2 bike. FP2 again saw Kyle really going for it, but lacking of data for this circuit meant that he was struggling and what with still carrying injuries from his horrendous crash at Thruxton last month, this was proving to be an up-hill battle but again he finished the session in a good 6th place. For qualifying the track was more damp than the two previous sessions and with more data gathered Kyle’s settings appeared better and he finished the session in 4th place on the grid, being the quickest GP2 bike ahead of Owens the next GP2 machine who was back in 9th.
(Saturdays Sprint Race)
As the pack raced off the line towards Copse corner Kyle settled in 5th place behind Currie,Seeley,Rispoli & Westmoreland, with title contender Jack Kennedy in close pursuit. By the second lap Kennedy had got past Kyle & ‘Westie’ to take fourth place pushing Kyle back to 6th. On the fith lap Owens had got past Kyle & ‘Westie’ and a few laps later this five man train at the front of the pack were starting to break away from Kyle and open up a considerable gap between him & ‘Westie’ so this was how it remained for the remainder of the race with the leading pack constantly changing places around this 1.6 mile circuit, whilst all Kyle could do was watch from the back of them and fight to keep the veteran racer Westmoreland at bay, but as the final lap came around ‘Westie’ managed finally to overhaul Kyle and claim his 6th place on the results table, with Kyle coming in 7th place and the second GP2 machine past the post.
The race was finally won by another veteran Alistar Seeley, followed by Kennedy, Currie,Owens, Rispoli, then ‘Westie’ & Kyle.
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(Sundays Warm-Up)
Kyle was 3rd fastest in the Sunday morning warm-up session, achieving a 56.460 lap of a 104.59, this compared to his previous dry sessions of FP1 of 57.339 -102.99 mph and FP2 of 56.720 – 104.11mph, is an improvement of 0.879 seconds with a 1.6mph difference, this could be quite significant in the later afternoons feature race.
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(26 Lap Feature Race)
With his Father Sean helping to bump-start the bike on the grid, Kyle was ready for the off! Starting sixth on the grid he was up to 5th place by the first lap, behind Currie, Kennedy, Rispoli & Veteran rider Seeley, Owens & Wilford were in hot pursuit of Kyle.
Kyle managed to maintain this position through to lap six setting the fastest lap on lap 3 of a 56.368, so not a bad start to the race. But during lap six on entry to the last few corners Kyle’s bike cut out on him making his legs come off the pegs, go wide and nearly crash, Kennedy ran off the track and both Wilford & Owens then managed to overhaul Kyle and this group at the front of Currie, Seeley, Rispoli and now Wilford & Owens were starting once again to pull away from the rest of the pack of riders.
Kyle’s bike repeatedly cut out at moments each lap and considered pitting in but persevered. Kennedy now back on track got the better of Kyle and started to edge towards the leading pack and by mid race distance Kyle was battling back in 7th place with Rispoli & Owens. On lap 19 of this 26 lap race Rispoli ran off the track, so this left Owens ahead of Kyle to edge towards the front of the pack and by now Kyle was having a fairly lonely race trying to nurse the bike home in between the two packs of riders with Jones & Allingham 3.5 seconds behind him. As the last lap approached and with the leaders constantly changing & fighting for the win, Kyle finished 6th place through the chequered flag, following a slowing Alistair Seeley who rode through with a flat tyre finishing in fifth place behind Currie, Wilford. Owens & Kennedy.
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WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK ALL OUR AMAZING SPONSORS FOR THEir CONTINUED SUPPORT IN KEEPING ME ON TRACK #77