The Ryde 77 ‘Father & Son’ team; have ventured out for their second outing on the Kalex Moto2 machine, to pit their wit’s against the more established & fully sponsored ‘Supersport’ 600 teams in the British Supersport Championship.
This is the 7th round of this twelve rounds series and is taking place at the Hampshire ( Airfield) circuit of Thruxton this weekend.
Here they are hoping to repeat the success of a couple of weeks ago at Brands Hatch, when Kyle took two first places in the GP2 class, which is run alongside the ‘Supersport’ 600 class in this prestige’s championship, in which Kyle almost won back in 2015.
So with a fast machine; on possibly the fastest circuit in the UK, Kyle and his Father Sean, were again hoping that they can pull something out of the bag to give Kyle even more confidence back, which he so badly needed after all of the knock-downs of which he has experienced within the last year or so of racing.
At last with the help of Dad, all existing sponsors and with the help of a new Sponsor Peter and Sheryl Lucy of Kovara Projects who came on board after Kyle’s successful return at Brands they have gone back to grass roots racing and are enjoying every minute of it!
(Free Practise sessions & Qualifying)
As with every round of this series, the free practise sessions started on a Friday and Kyle did show promise in the first outing and was at one point up to third behind Westmorland & Currie, two seasoned riders, but ended the session down in 5th as the second quickest Moto2, Josh Owens being the quickest.
The second free practise didn’t go so well and Kyle & his Father Sean tried a couple of suspension changes and were struggling for a good setting for the machine and this time by the end of the session; were down in a lowly 16th place, whilst Owen was the quickest machine out there!
This wasn’t looking good for the Saturday qualifying session, that’s unless they could sort some good settings for the newly acquired Moto2 machine.
The qualifying started and the 30 minute session wasn’t as wanted, so with minutes to go of this session and in 13th place, Kyle started to move up the leader board and then on his very last lap he put in a 1.16.909 lap which placed him 3rd on the grid giving him a front row start alongside Owens on pole & Westmoreland in the middle slot of the front row for the later Sprint race.
(Saturdays Sprint Race)
Saturdays 12 lap sprint race was again one of the later races in the day, following from the Qualifying sessions & Superbikes and Kyle was really looking forward to a good race, now that they had some kind of good feeling back in the bike.
As the racers headed off Westmoreland got the ‘Hole shot with Owen close behind then American racer Rispoli in 3rd slot with Kyle in a very close 4th place.
By lap two Kyle had gone into the lead, Seeley had been a faller at Club Chicane and then more drama when Westmoreland had technical issues and was coasting round. Owen joined Kyle at the front with Rispoli, Currie, and Perrin, then Kennedy who was carrying injuries, making this a six man train all in contention for the lead.
Kyle held onto the lead for several more laps of the 12 lap race, whilst behind; the other five riders swapped and fought for positions, with Owen eventually overhauling Kyle on lap 10.
This wasn’t to last long though as by the following & penultimate lap Kyle had retained the lead in this gaggle of machines with four riders behind Kyle all less than a second behind him and as he took the Chequered flag for his second outright win, he was followed by Owen, Currie Kennedy Rispoli & Perrin.
The first two machines past the flag again being the newly classed GP2 machines, something it seems; that these ‘Supersport’ racers are going to have to get used to!
(Sundays Warm-Up & Feature Race)
After a reasonable mornings warm-up session Kyle was a respectable 3rd place in this quick eight minute fast lap dash!
So all geared up for the afternoons race; were due to how the British Championship rules work, he was starting back on the second row of the grid, Kyle was eager to go and hopefully carry on where he left off yesterday, with yet a follow up podium position.
As the lights dropped in this yet again very hot & sticky race conditions, Kyle settled down into 4th place behind Currie the leader, Kennedy and Perrin behind Kyle was Owens followed by Wilford.
By the 3rd lap Kyle had taken the front with Currie, Owens, Kennedy, and Perrin and now Alistair Seeley was in the mix. Kyle managed to hold onto the lead for a couple more laps of this very fast paced race, with this bunch of riders behind him constantly changing positions, but by the fifth lap Owens had taken the lead and Kyle was now in second place fighting off the pack behind him. As the laps ticked away, Owens opened up a commanding lead gaining around 1 to 1 and a ½ seconds a lap on Kyle and the rest of the pack, so why these were tripping each other up, Owens was gaining ground all the while.
As the pack of bikes now into the 16th lap of 18 and with Owens 12+ seconds up the road, Currie tipped his machine into 2nd t last corner called the Club Chicane, lost the bikes front end and this in turn took Kyle and his machine out of the race, effectively bringing out a Red Flag and terminating the race.
At the time it appeared quite bad for Kyle but luckily was nothing broken just a lot of swelling on his knee and the medical staff fitting a splint for support, he was back to his usual smiling self and put it down to yet just another race incident that is all part & parcel of racing!
Hopefully Kyle will be back on his feet within no time, so that he can yet again entertain us with this new found love of the Moto2 machines.
Massive thank you to all our AMAZING SPONSORS AND TEAM #77 MEMBERS
and please welcome Peter & Sheryl Lucey at Kovara Projects for coming on board and keeping the dream alive.
