At last, the first race weekend arrived for Kyle and new Team Ilusion racing in Portugal at the Circuit of Estoril, a long standing circuit loved by many motorcycle racers but for Kyle this would be his first visit to the circuit. Kyle is competing in the World Junior Championship in the European Talent cup class which brings together the most talented and fastest junior racers on the planet, so yes a tough challenge to say the least.

Due to exams, Kyle had a late flight on Wednesday night so with no chance to even walk or view the circuit, FP1 would be a steep learning curve seeing Kyle setting a respectable marker of a 1 min 54 sec lap. FP2 would see Kyle start to understand his new bike and the circuit and improving his time to a 1 min 52 sec lap.

Friday morning and with the Sun shining, Kyle set to work in FP3 improving further to a 1.50.6 lap edging closer to his goal of a sub 1 min 50 lap time. As the afternoon approached it was FP4 and the wind decided to add another dimension. Kyle matched his time from FP3 and missed the last 5 minutes due to a small mechanical issue finishing practice 20th from the 26 riders and a good days work.

Saturday consisted of 2 x 40 min qualifying sessions where Kyle headed down pitlane focused on his goal but unfortunately after just one flying lap the rain started falling in two sectors of the circuit seeing all riders entering the pits. The rain continued to fall just enough to make it impossible to set a faster time so all efforts would have to go into QP2.

QP2, a full dry track and a little breezy, Kyle got to work and on lap 8 set his best lap of 1.49.8, just 3 seconds from the fastest lap set achieving his goal and finishing 19th from 26 in his group. This means he would progress to the B race on Sunday morning.

Sunday morning was a little overcast and very very windy. Kyle found himself moved up a few places to 10th on the grid after other pilots received penalties for various reasons during qualifying. After a great launch, Kyle found himself 8th after turn one and in the main group. The wind made every lap a new experience as Kyle was a little caught out and over run into turn one losing 1.5 secs, unfortunately resulting in losing the group meaning riding alone for the final laps and managing to bring it home in 13th out of 22 starters. A great result!

Next stop Valencia, the Ricardo Tormo circuit which Kyle is a little more familiar with and looking to make another step towards joining the best in the world in the battle for points.