The FIM World Junior championship travelled to Italy and the Misano Circuit for the first round of 2024. This would be the first time at the circuit for Kyle and his team Ilusion racing looking for a strong start to the season, they did not leave disappointed.

Thursday and Friday practice days were positive with both wet and dry practice sessions to learn the track and quickly got to grips with the famous ultra fast “CURVONE” section with a best lap time of 1 min 48.01 seconds.

Saturday consisted of a Free practice session and qualifying. Based on the practice lap times set during practice, the rider either progresses directly to Q2 and a guaranteed spot on the grid for the main races or Q1 where you have to fight it out for the final 4 spots in Q2. Kyle found himself in Q1 and for the first time in this championship faced with a fully wet track for the session. With only a 15 minute session to understand the track and figure out how much to risk to put in for a hot lap, focus had to be 100 percent and in the final minutes Kyle set the 4th fastest lap time progressing him to Q2. For the first time in his FIM career he progressed to the main feature races, a great achievement for the both Kyle and his team.

Starting P27 out of 30 for both races the target was simply to finish higher up the order than his starting spot which at this level is no easy feat.

Race 1: A good start off the line and a few places gained, unfortunately as the concertina effect kicked in at turn 4, Kyle had to take some avoiding action to not hit the rear of another rider resulting in running off the track demoting him to last position. Not one to easily give in, Kyle worked hard on finding his rhythm and started to catch the group ahead. A good battle with two riders in the final laps finishing P20 and lots of experience gained.

Race 2: A good launch off the line but again had to take avoiding action to miss a four bike crash at turn 2 and found himself again at the back of the pack. Focused on bettering his race one result, Kyle quickly got down to business of getting past the first few riders ahead. The second half of the race in a heated three rider battle, drawing from his experience in race one and confident in his pace against the group, he pounced on the last lap taking P18 and a career best result in the championship.

Next stop Estoril Portugal on the 4th/5th of May where the expectation is now set and the ambition heightened.