This summer we decided to do some wildcards in the British talent cup part of the British Super Bike series. Kyle knew it would be tricky as all the tracks would be new to him with limited track time to learn them.
Brands Hatch: Friday went well, FP1: 1:40:500 AND FP2: 1:39:800 finishing putting Kyle p14 in both sessions around 3 seconds from the front pace. Saturday qualifying and Kyle made a big step putting in a 1:38:000 +1,700 to pole position. A solid position to try and go with the front group.
Race 1: A bad launch off the line resulting in Kyle being boxed in a bit into the first corner. Nonetheless a really fun race in the second group with countless overtakes and finishing P13.
Race 2: A much better start than race 1 would see Kyle with the first group for the first two laps but a mistake due a faster pace than he had ridden at led to a small gap opening up and having a bit of a lonely race by himself. However a good result finishing P11 with a time of 1:37:300 only a second slower than the front group. Overall this was a very positive weekend to start my debut.
The second round was Silverstone, a support race for Moto GP which is a super cool opportunity and experience for the younger riders. Being such a big track there is limited laps to learn the track. However in qualifying Kyle worked hard and managed to get down to a 2:22:430 which put him P12 on the grid for race 1.
Race 1: A solid finish in P11. a good start I got away with the front group but the lead group still had a bit more pace than Kyle could find so started to slip back and lose touch. He fought a hard battle with a few other riders and ended up matching my best finish yet.
Race 2: Another good start but unfortunately another rider fired up the inside of everyone and Kyle had to take avoiding action to avoid the collision. Having to go wide while the carnage unfolded separated him from the front group. Kyle led the chasing group braking away taking two other riders with him and had a great battle with them crossing the line ahead resulting in his best finish to date P10. Overall another positive weekend.
The last round of the summer was Thruxton which to say the least is one of the strangest circuits on the calendar having only 2 real brake points, a very new experience for Kyle. Friday went well improving a second per session ending 3 seconds from the front. Saturday came qualifying and on the last lap Kyle found myself with some of the front riders in front of him and he produced a stunning lap of 1:22:300. Putting him P7 on the grid, best qualifying result of the season. This set Kyle up perfectly for race 1.
Race 1: I had a great launch gaining a position but did not quite have the pace of the front group and ended up in a huge group of 6 riders in a battle for 8th, the battled continued right to the end. Unfortunately leading on to the back straight there was a multi bike slip streamed effect leaving Kyle no where to go into the last braking zone crossing the line in P12 when he definitely had the pace to finish higher.
Race 2: this race was a tough one for Kyle to take, on the opening lap he misjudged a turn point on the fastest corer due to the strong wind and ran onto the grass putting me down to P19. I fought my way back to P16 however I ran out of laps to make any further progress as the race was cut short with a red flag!
Kyle will be returning to the UK for one last outing in 2024 at the Donnington Circuit in the last weekend of September with 3 races over the course of the weekend aiming to finish inside the top 10 for the first time this season.
