La Viva Espania

Kyle Ryde the newly crowned British 125cc Motorcycle Road
Racing Champion has been in action again recently, this time though on foreign
soil, albeit the Spanish circuits of Valencia & Jerez.

Kyle has been taking part in the last two rounds of the
Spanish CEV Buckler 125cc series. This is for riders of 14 years and over and
runs alongside the 600cc Moto2 and 1000cc Classes.  This series attracts some of the world’s most
talented young riders, all of who have their dreams of progressing one day into
MotoGP, this is the world’s top class Motorcycle Championship, which is run by
the Spanish company of Dorna.

Grids in this Spanish 125GP championship usually total 30 or
more riders racing highly tuned 50hp, 140mph two-strokes machines. Honda and
Aprilia dominate the grids. However these two-stroke machines are being
replaced next season in the Spanish series, by the Moto-GP inspired Moto3
250cc, single-cylinder four-strokes.

Around 15,000 fans attended the Valencia Circuit for the
penultimate round of the 2011 CEV Buckler Spanish National Championship. They
were not left disappointed, after witnessing some good victories, high drama
and decisive crashes on a day of which rain from the early morning hours left a
very damp track and very tricky conditions for all the riders taking part in
the days events.

Kyle’s practise & qualifying were done in two groups and
Kyle was in B group of which over the two days he qualified 8^th in
his group and 15^th overall, which considering out of 40 plus riders
is no mean feat. Most of these riders were regulars to the series, some of
which had also been given Moto GP machines for these final two rounds of the
season, some of the machines in front of Kyle’s, were previously used by GP
riders such as Terrol, Zarco and even fellow British rider Danny Kent’s machine
was out there. So Kyle was going to find it very difficult to match the pace of
these riders and their bikes, with them having so much more power and
manoeuvrability than his RS Racing Honda.

Kyle on the race-day, laid down the challenge to his rivals
in this CEV 125GP Championship race with a superb first ride in the series to a
credible 12th place finish in this penultimate round at the Valencia race
circuit.

Kyle mastered the tricky conditions resulting from the
earlier downpours to gain several places as the race went on. He kept his calm
sense of riding in these conditions and was battling with his adversary from
the British Championship Wayne Ryan, closely pursued by his Racing Steps
teammate and Spanish race regular, Fraser Rodgers. This trio were together for
most of this eighteen-lap race, with Ryan eventually taking tenth spot in the
race and the honour of being the first British rider through the chequered
flag.

Fraser Rodgers was 2.5 seconds behind, with Kyle just under
seven-hundredths of a second behind Rogers. British
125 regulars Bradley Ray and Rob Guiver took 17th and 19^th places.

Newly Moto3-mounted Miguel Oliveira claimed the race
victory, the Portuguese, riding the Honda Racing-backed Monlau bike finished
almost six seconds ahead of second place rider Josep Rodriguez, and Alex
Marquez took the final podium place.

Oliveira, who stamped his authority on the race from start
to finish, is the first ever rider to win on a Moto3 bike in the CEV series.
But despite the victory the Portuguese is ineligible for championship points.

 This anomaly hands
the winner’s points to second-placed Rodriguez while Marquez and Rins collect
20 and 16 points respectively . Rins now heads into the final round at Jerez
with a 12 points advantage over Catalunya Caixa teammate Marque.  Where once again our Young British 125cc
Champion Kyle Ryde, will be out to show the Spanish Teams and riders exactly
why he won the British Title this year.

Final RoundJerez

Kyle and his father Sean spent a few days travelling south
to the Jerez circuit
for the last round of this highly prized Championship.

This meeting was to be a re-run of the previous weekends
race with the qualifying session taking place in wet conditions again and this
was reflected in Kyle’s grid position of 20^th with fellow Brits
Guiver & Ryan just in front, Bradley Ray was the quickest British rider,
qualifying a strong 3^rd place on the grid.

  Kyle had to master
these damp conditions again on the race day, but he was 10^th fastest
in the early morning warm-up, so this gave him an extra confidence boost and
this reflected in his placing, as by the first lap he was up to a strong 10^th
place tussling with fellow British riders McPhee & Ray.

After a few laps
Kyle and McPhee lost Ray from their sides as he retired from the race and
McPhee was now starting to slightly gain an advantage over Kyle, but the pair
were now being joined by Japanese Moto 3 rider Kenta Fujii and Italian Andrea
Migno, both of these are strong regular CEV riders and they did not waste any
time overwhelming Kyle first, then McPhee, with Migno actually going on to
finish third on the podium.

Kyle maintained his
race momentum and slowly moved up the leader-board with this pack of riders and by the time of the chequered flag coming down on his final race of the 2011 season, he crossed the finishing line in an excellent 6^th
place.

Again Portuguese Miguel Oliveira claimed the race victory,
with Italian Antonelli 2^nd and Migno 3^rd.

This has been a great experience for Kyle and he has been
able to show to the highly funded Spanish Teams just what he his really capable
of and the reason behind his success in the British Championship.

Next year will see Kyle back in the Moto GP RedBull Rookies
Cup, but  he would also like to be out on
the circuits of Spain again,
chasing the Spanish Title on a new Moto 3 machine.

There will be a Fund raising event-taking place at the
Jacksdale Welfare Club on 7pm Friday
the 9^th December, in order to try and raise enough money to keep
Kyle racing next year, all are welcome.

Kyle Ryde becomes the youngest ever Motorcycle Road Racing Champion!

The Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit in Kent became the arena for the finale of the Sunoco British 125cc Motorcycle road racing Championships.

The series Leader 14 year old Kyle Ryde goes into this final round with an eleven point lead over Racing Step Foundation sponsored Wayne Ryan, who incidentally is on a new full specification Aprilia Grand Prix machine for this ultimate round.

Friday was the day for free practise and largely used for the set-up of the bikes. This day saw them using the 1.2mile Indy circuit. Due to the local council noise regulations, the qualifying sessions on Saturday they used the full Grand Prix circuit that come race day the riders will have to do battle on.  Fridays practise saw the main contenders for the championship title: Ryde, Ryan and local hero Rob Guiver, all putting in good lap times. However, towards the end of the free practise time Kyle dropped the bike at Druids; he himself was fine, just some minor damage to the machine.

Back out on track on Saturday, the two qualifying sessions saw the action become even hotter as the main two young Gladiators, Ryde & Ryan fought it out for pole position! The first session saw Ryan staying at the top of the Leader Board all through the 25minute session, with Kyle coming in a close second place with a 0.3 seconds difference. Rob Guiver was 0.1 seconds down on Kyle’s time making up the top three positions.

The second qualifying session was in the afternoon straight after the Superbike’s Qualifying session. Again the leading contenders were straight into the groove with Ryan, Ryde, Guiver, Hedger & Ray all showing their cards up front! As the second session developed though, you could see that it was going to be a psychological battle between the two youngsters at the front Ryde & Ryan, as lap by lap they became quicker & quicker, posting faster times through the various speed check sectors out on the circuit. By the ninth lap of this second session Ryan had been the quickest, but then Kyle managed to up his pace and put in a quick lap and by the tenth lap was 0.03 seconds in front! This was to be short lived as Ryan picked the pace up again on his new Aprilia machine and retained the top spot for the remainder of the session, finishing off by having a 0.6 second advantage over Kyle, who in turn has a 0.7 lead over 3^rd place man Rob Guiver.

The front row of the grid for the final British Championship 125cc race of the season was to be Ryan on pole with Ryde second, Guiver third and Hedger in fourth. Sunday’s race was delayed due to earlier incidents on the track during the previous races; it was also cut from twelve laps to nine. Kyle, for once, was nervous for the race and as he led the two sighting laps this didn’t really show as he was soon out there doing what he does best and that’s riding a motorcycle.

As the red lights went out the full pack of twenty-nine machines headed for the notorious right hand corner of Paddock Hill Bend.  Kyle led the pack down the hill and up to Druids corner for the first couple of laps but all the time Ryan & Guiver, his two nearest rivals in the Championship, were well on his heels! Eventually they both managed to get the better of Kyle, who only had to finish in third place to secure the Championship, so with the two contenders starting to really push the machines to the limits, Kyle just
took a back seat watched the action and enjoyed!

In the later stages of the race Kyle did start to come under serious threat from Luke Hedger & Bradley Ray who were having their own battle for fourth & fifth places and starting to reel Kyle in.

However, Kyle turned up the pace again and started to open up a safe gap between himself & Hedger in order to secure the Championship; this safety net paid off and he came through the chequered flag in a well thought out third place behind Ryan & Guiver thus making him the Sunoco British 125cc GP Motorcycle Road Racing Champion 2011!

Kyle’s achievement will go down in British Motorcycle Racing history as well as becoming the youngest to win a British Championship race  (5 in total now); he also becomes the youngest ever Motorcycle Road Racing Champion at 14 yrs 2 months and 17 days old!! Some achievement that will be very hard to beat!

Not only has Kyle won the British Championship, Kyle has also won the ACU Academy Cup, which is a separate Championship run within the 125cc Championship; this is especially for the young riders between the ages of 13 yrs of age & 16 yrs of age. For wining this title Kyle and the Team have the entry fees for the last two rounds of the Spanish CEV Championship paid for, which will be held at the Jerez & Valencia GP circuits during November.

Kyle and his Family would like to say a huge thank you to all the sponsors and Team 77 fans!

Four out of Four

Kyle Ryde’s racing ability grows from strength to
strength, as this past weekend saw him in action again at the Silverstone Grand
Prix circuit in Northamptonshire, for the penultimate round of the British
125cc Motorcycle Road Racing Championship.

After tasting glory in the last three rounds of this series, which is run along side
the British Superbike Championship, young Ryde set the early pace in free
practise on Friday, by setting the fastest times, but by the second free
practise, Aprillia Superteen Champion Wayne Ryan was gaining on Kyle and had
closed the gap for the next day qualifying sessions.

In the first Qualifying Wayne Ryan came out on top with Kyle a strong second
place, however Kyle only managed around half the timed session as he was
suffering mechanical problems, so the team were under a lot of pressure to get
the machine running right for the second session later in the afternoon.
However the team persevered and managed to put Kyle out for the thirty-minute
session and Kyle got onto the pole position for the race on Sunday by 1.25
seconds over Wayne Ryan, one of Kyle’s fiercest rivals along with Rob Guiver
for the 125cc Championship Trophy.

Sundays race day came and Kyle was second
fastest in warm up, as Wayne Ryan’s Aprillia was really going quick around the
GP circuit and Kyle was certainly going to have a battle on his hands with this
other contender for the 125cc Title.  The
race itself was to be one of the last of the day and didn’t start until around 5.15pm, so tensions were mounting
high in the paddock as these young guns waited for their turn to enter the
arena.

The 125cc machines went out on their sighting lap as the final Superbike Race
winners were being given their awards and celebrating their wins, whilst they
had done their work for the weekend, for the 125 racers it was just beginning.

As the red lights went out, it was instantly showing that it was going to be a two
horse race, Ryde versus Ryan!  Lap by lap
these two youngsters, swapped places. This was really entertaining for the
crowd, which had stayed on to witness these two young warriors fighting for
each bit of the tarmac course. Kyle couldn’t break Ryan’s pace, as the Aprillia
was fast on the straights, so what Kyle’s Honda machine lacked on the straights
he had to make up on the bends and this he did every time Ryan got the better
of him and this was how the race continued with the rest of the pack a mere
twenty nine seconds behind!

As the final lap arrived; Ryde & Ryan were still changing places by every
corner, with Ryde using all his knowledge and corner speed in order to get the
better of the quicker machine of Ryan as they entered the final corner towards
the chequered flag, Ryan was leading just! Kyle grabbed an opportunity with a
manoeuvre up the inside into the last corner and taking the Flag by a mere
0.067 seconds. Rob Guiver came home in third place twenty nine seconds down
from the two youngsters’; this is Kyle’s fourth win in a row in this British
125cc Championship.

Kyle has now extended his Championship lead over Wayne Ryan from six points to
eleven points, with Rob Guiver sixteen points behind. Kyle is also leading the
ACU Academy Cup from Wayne Ryan by seven points.

The final round of the British 125cc Championship series takes place 0n Sunday Oct
9th at the Brands Hatch circuit inKent.

Hurricane
Ryde!

As ‘Hurricane Katia’ started to hit the shores of the UK
over the weekend, another Hurricane in the form of a youngster called Kyle Ryde
was whipping up a storm at the Donington
Race circuit; in order to stamp his authority on the British 125cc
Motorcycle Championship aboard his Ryan Saxelby prepared machine.

Ryde started the weekend’s event in a strong third place in
the Championship standings with only six points between himself and the
Championship leader Wayne Ryan, with Veteran 125 racer and twice runner-up in
the series Rob Guiver in second place, only two points ahead of Kyle.

Kyle attacked the practise sessions as he meant to go on
during the weekend’s proceedings and quickly set the pace for others to try and
follow.  So with Guiver, Championship
Leader Ryan, Hedger, Ray and Lincoln’s Lee
Jackson making up the top six places, this set the front row’s of the grid for
Sundays race, which took place between the main British Superbike races. Kyle
by the end of the two qualifying sessions was on pole with a 1.9 second gap on
Guiver.

Sunday’s races looked liked they could be hampered by the
winds of ‘Katia’ and this would have especially affected these tiny 125cc GP
machine’s with their also light riders on them!
However the winds were breezy but nothing like what the forecasters had
predicted, this was both lucky for the riders and the teams alike, as finding
the right gearing for these bikes in blustery conditions can be a bit of a
nightmare.

As Ryde headed out on the warm-up lap of the 2.48.mile Grand
Prix circuit, he was soon to realise that he was having problems with his
clutch, as this was beginning to show signs of it starting to slip; this
dilemma came to his father attention once they reformed on the grid for the
start of the race. All that Sean could say to Kyle was that he would have to
ride around this problem and do the best he can with it!  This was going to cause major problems if he
didn’t take too much care, but as the red lights went out young Ryde just saw
the red-mist and off he went straight into the lead by Redgate Corner, the
first right corner on the circuit.

Kyle even with the severe clutch problem, stayed ahead
during the entire race and consistently put in good lap times.  Whilst further back; battles were taking
place for 2^nd 3^rd and 4^th and 5^th
places respectively. The first battling duo were Kyle’s ex-team mate from
several years ago Bradley Ray chased by Rob Guiver, with Ray having his best
ride all season and eventually brought his machine home in a very credible
second place, Guiver was third, with championship leader Wayne Ryan eventually
taking fourth place, Luke Hedger was 0.2 seconds behind Ryan crossing the
finishing line.

Ryde set up a 16.1 second buffer on the pursuing pack when
he came through the chequered flag, setting yet another very convincing win in
this championship, along with a new lap record in the process. He has now had
four wins, two second places, one sixth place and two DNF’s (Did Not
Finish).  This now gives Kyle a six point
lead in the 125 GP Championship with Ryan second and Guiver now in third
place.  Kyle is also now leading the ACU
Academy Cup by two points from Ryan, this Championship is run as separate
results, especially for the younger riders between the ages of 13 and 16yrs of
age. This Academy Cup has an end of season prize of two paid entries into the
Spanish CEV Championship, which takes place at the Valencia & Jerez circuits
in November.

Kyle’s next round is the penultimate round of this British
championship at the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit in Northamptonshire during
the weekend of the 23^rd-25^th September.

                                                                                                                             Photograph
Kindly supplied by

Steve Gough

Grande Ryde

After his huge impressive Bank Holiday win at the British Superbike meeting at the Cadwell Park
circuit in Lincolnshire, youngster Kyle Ryde then flew off to the small Italian principality of San Marino and the Misano circuit.

Here Kyle was taking part in the final round
of the season of the Moto GP Redbull Rookies, a Championship that is part of
the Moto Grand Prix fixtures around the European circuits.

During the previous round of this Championship series at the Bruno circuit in the Czech republic, Ryde
possibly had his best result to date with a grid position of 10^th
and finishing 11^th in the second race, Kyle overall was starting to
feel he was now getting somewhere with his machine set-up, which he had been
struggling with all season.

After his recent successes in the British Championship, Kyle was on a high and this
reflected at this final meeting in Italy as Kyle commented on the Rookies
website  “I’ve at last got the bike working for me, the forks are stiffer with more rebound so
the bike turns in faster and I am really enjoying it, can’t wait for the race
tomorrow.”

After his best qualifying ever and a 3^rd place on the grid, giving him a front row position
along side German rider Alt and French rider Techer, Kyle was eager for the
race day to arrive.

The Rookies race was late on the Saturday
afternoon; however the daytime temperature was still high at 86°and track temperature was also
well up, so it was to be a strong battle against the heat!

As the red lights went out, Kyle went for the
hole-shot, similar to what he did at Cadwell Park meeting the previous weekend,
but he couldn’t get away from this pursuing pack of a round ten closely
battling adrenalin hyped up rider’s, including the top two Championship
contenders Italian Lorenzo Baldassarri and Australian Arthur Sissis.  Kyle didn’t give up easily and he actually
led for over half of the first lap, but was soon to be overtaken by Sissis with
Portuguese rider Lopes hot on his heels.
This was an intense battle amongst these youngsters and this went on for
several laps were Kyle held on to a strong 4^th place, it was then
that the race developed into two groups at the front, with the main four rider
group of the two German riders of Alt & Oettl and Baldassarri & Sissis
trying to get the better of each other, whilst Kyle was now in the second group
challenging for positions 5^th to 10^th and again places
were constantly changing through out the race.

As the race continued into the final laps, on lap 13 of the 17 lap race Sissis who
was in the pack of the front four riders, was forced wide as Baldassarri kept
to his racing line entering one of the corners, this then put Sissis back into
Kyle’s pursuing group, Sissis slotted in the pack just in front of Kyle in 6^th
position. Kyle managed to hang onto Sissis for a further three laps and at
certain points on the track he did overcome the former Championship
leader.  However, on the final lap Sissis
went all out to win the Championship and managed to fight his way back to an
incredible 4^th place, leaving Kyle fighting it out with French rider
Alan Techer and Czech rider Tomas Vavrous, crossing the line with just 0.09
seconds splitting them all. Kyle finished his final Moto GP Redbull Rookies
race of the season in a well-deserved 7^th place; Kyle’s best ever
result in this World Class series.

The two Germans Alt & Oettl were 1^st & 2^nd
respectively, whilst the Italian rider Baldassarri finished 3rd just in front
of Sissis, to take the overall Championship win. Youngster Kyle Ryde finished in
19^th place overall in the Championship, out of twenty-five riders
with a total of 43 points and has been informed by the Moto GP Redbull Rookie
Team that his place in next year’s series is secure.

Here Youngster Kyle Ryde leads the race, in pursuit are; number
61 Arthur Sissis, 75 Ivo Lopes, 47 Tomas Vavrous and behind him is the number 7
machine of Championship Winner Lorenzo Baldassarri.

Ryde’s next race outing is at his
home circuit of Donington Park this coming weekend, where the circuit plays
host to round ten of the British Superbikes. Kyle is only six points behind the
Championship Leader Rob Guiver in the 125cc British Championship, after
Donington he has two more rounds; Silverstone and then the final round at
Brands Hatch, where hopefully Ryde could tie up the overall Championship win
and possibly become the youngest ever British Motorcycle road racing
Champion!

MOUNTAIN TO CLIMB FOR RYDE

Young Motorcycle ace Kyle Ryde; the 14 year old whiz kid
from Jacksdale in Nottinghamshire, has literally had a Mountain to climb this
weekend, whilst racing in the 9^th round of the Sunoco British 125GP
Championship Races, this being the Mountain Circuit of Cadwell Park in
Lincolnshire over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Ryde went into the weekends races placed in 3^rd
position overall in the Championship, with the Leader being Essex
veteran Rob Guiver with another young hopeful Wayne Ryan in 2^nd
place.

Kyle was looking to try and make his deficit points up,
which he has lost during his Moto GP Redbull Rookie races in Europe,
so that this puts him back in the running for the winners rostrum at the end of
the season.

Fridays free practise was just a warm up really for the
two qualifying sessions to come, with these it became a two man battle between
Kyle & Rob Guiver, as most of the other contenders were around two seconds
behind them both.

The second session was a wet one and this was worrying for
the team, as Kyle had lost much of his confidence in the wet conditions, after
his crash at Thruxton whilst in 3^rd place early in the season.
However; Kyle’s Father Sean had sent Kyle in the morning session out on slick
tyres on a damp track, this must have given Kyle his much needed confidence
back, Guiver didn’t go out in this wet session, however Kyle finished up in 2^nd
place 0.025 behind him. So with these two sessions out of the way, this set the
scene for them to do battle.  With Guiver
on pole position, Ryde 2^nd and placed in the centre , then Wayne
Ryan taking up the final slot on the front row of the grid.

Ryde had laid his cards out all weekend to the other
riders and after the morning warm-up on race day, Kyle commented on how good
the bike felt, he said it was handling much better than during the previous
qualifying sessions, this was soon to be reflected as he set the quickest time
in the raceday 10 minute warm up session and was 0.45 quicker than pole sitter
Guiver, whilst being 0.25 quicker than his best own qualifying time, this was
surely going to give him the edge that he required to win.

Race day and due to earlier incidents in the race schedule
tensions were running high in the Team 77 camp, so as the timetable for the event
was running late, the event organisers reduced the race laps by two to a twelve
lap race.

As the lights went out Ryde went for the hole-shot and
took the lead straight away, soon getting into a good race pace and setting
consistent lap times lap after lap, This was to leave Kyle out in front with no
worries of his race position being compromised.

Meanwhile, Guiver,
Ryan, Watson, & Jackson were all battling it out for 2^nd, 3^rd
4^th & 5^th respectively.  This became the scene for much of the race,
with Kyle gaining seconds on this pack by each lap, until on round ten, as
Guiver attacked the Mountain section his chain came off the sprocket and that
was to be the end of this round for the Championship leader.

By the end of the twelve-lap race, Kyle came through the
Chequered flag an astonishing fourteen and a half seconds ahead of the second
place rider of Wayne Ryan, followed by Watson, Jackson & Tom Carne in fifth
place.

This result has now put Ryde back into contention for the
Championship, he’s now in second place with only 6 points adrift from current
leader Guiver, with three rounds remaining it’s now anybodies for the taking,
‘watch this space’.

Kyle’s next race meeting is the Final round of the MotoGP
Redbull Rookies Cup at the Misano circuit in Italy
at the weekend.

Then he will contend the three remaining British Rounds at
Donington on the weekend of 9^th / 11^th Sept, Silverstone
23^rd / 25^th Sept and the Final round of the series at
Brands Hatch on the weekend of 7^th / 9^thOctober.

Birthday Bonus for Ryde.

Moto GP Redbull Rookie Kyle Ryde, has been in action nearer home this weekend at the 8th round of the British 125cc Championship on the International Brands Hatch circuit in Kent. Youngster Ryde, who incidentally had his fourteenth Birthday only a couple of weeks ago, is hoping to gain some of the pace and race Leader board positions back; after having missed the last round at Oulton Park in Cheshire, due to his Moto GP Redbull Rookie commitments.

Friday At Brands Hatch was a day of free practise time so this really was the day to dial the machine in ready for the two qualifying sessions on Saturday and Kyle did just that finishing the session in 2nd place overall.

Saturday though was to be a different day! The first qualifier Kyle came out fighting and for the first 5 laps of the session was the fastest rider out on circuit. Then all the other riders upped their game and it led into a close knit battle between Scotsman McPhee, Championship Leader Guiver, Rogers, Ryde and Hedger. Kyle and Luke Hedger were constantly swapping positions, so this saw the pair moving from a position on the front row to a place on the second row. Kyle eventually got the better of Luke Hedger and finished in fourth place in the morning qualifier.

By the afternoon Youngster Ryde was really out to try and better his early morning times. This was almost a repeat of the morning session, but instead of Kyle having to fight with Luke Hedger, it was Racing Steps Foundation rider Wayne Ryan that he had to contend with. Again positions were changing every lap and with 6 minutes to go, Kyle pitted, then he returned out to put in a quick lap, which hoisted him to second place on the grid with around 3 minutes of the session remaining. However in the last remaining minutes both Ryan and Guiver fought back and overhauled Ryde to gain 2nd & 3rd places respectively, with 0.05 seconds difference between being 2nd or 4th on the grid! So for Sunday’s race Kyle at least has a front row start position.

Race day and Kyle threw down the gauntlet in the early morning warm up session. During these 4 warm up laps, Kyle went from 5th fastest to end the session 2nd by 0.01 seconds difference from Ryan, with Guiver third quickest. Spanish Championship riders McPhee & Rodgers had decided to not take part in the race, so as not to interrupt the Championship positions.

The mid-day race was delayed by around ten minutes and was also reduced in laps from a fourteen lap race to an eleven lap one.

So as tension mounted on the grid, the lights went off and the pack headed towards Paddock Hill Bend, Luke Hedger who started at the side of Kyle had a very poor start and by lap two was down in eleventh position. Kyle was in a strong third position with Guiver in front and Ryan setting the pace.

This was how the race was going to be set out, with these three taking the lead and making a break from the pursuing pack. On the fourth lap Kyle had set the quickest lap of the race, achieving a 1.35.634 minute lap of the full International circuit, but he was still in 3rd place! By the next lap he had managed to overhaul both Guiver & Ryan and took the lead for the first time; this was to be short lived. As by lap seven he was back in 3rd place again with Championship leader Rob Guiver taking his turn to take the lead role and Ryan second.

As the final three laps remained, Ryan managed to take the lead once again and it looked for a period of time that Kyle was being dropped off the pace a little, but as the final lap approached Kyle was once again on the back of Guiver’s bike and looking for a way to pass, coming into Clearways he had managed to get a manoeuvre on Guiver and got onto the rear of leading rider Wayne Ryan. Entering the start and finish line, Kyle was looking to go for the chequered flag and he did so. Kyle took the race win by 0.035 seconds from Ryan in 2nd place and Guiver in third, Luke Hedger with his poor start managed to crawl his way back to a well deserved 4th place.

This was Kyle’s second win of the season in the British 125cc Championship. His next race is with the Moto GP Redbull Rookies at the Czech Republic circuit of Bruno on the 12th & 13th August. Whilst his next British Championship round is the August Bank Holiday meeting at Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire.

Please note: Photograph Kindly supplied by Steve Gough

Germany Motogp Red Bull Rookies Cup
Ryde is on a Mission

Teenage Motorcycle racer Kyle Ryde was out and about again this weekend in the Saxony Region of Germany. Youngster Ryde is racing in the 10th round of the Moto GP Redbull Rookies Cup at the Sachsenring circuit close to the city of Dresden.

This 2 ¼ mile circuit came onto the Grand Prix calendar in 1998 once the track was brought up to specification after the unification of East & West Germany and has featured on the GP calendar ever since. It is a challenging circuit as it is a very short; the shortest on the GP circuit and is also a very twisty circuit with many undulations. Also it is has another strange feature; this being that it has ten left hand corners and three right hand corners, most racing circuits usually have more right hand corners, so this again will catch a lot of the riders out, as it puts more pressure and wear onto the left side of the tyres, something the riders are not used to.

Friday free practise session came and young Kyle was out there to try and prove his worthiness to be competing at this level of racing. For once the weather was on his side, sunny! The last three rounds have all been in wet conditions, something that Kyle has hated since his spill at Thruxton in the British Championship. Kyle’s free practise session went well and was placed a creditable 10th place.
The Qualifying sessions came during Friday afternoon. Here the riders had set their stakes higher and during these two sessions Kyle came in 19th & 17th respectively, making him 17th on the grid for the first race on Saturday, only 1.7 seconds off of pole position, so some very close qualifying times by all of these youngsters

German Philipp Oettl was on pole position for the weekend, with Czech rider Thomas Vavrous 2nd and the third place rider is yet another German Florian Alt.

Saturdays race was run in excellent conditions for a change! so slick tyres were the order of the day.
Kyle was to get a good start and by the first lap was up into 14th position, but as the race progressed the leading group of eight riders broke away, so the race was split into a race of two halves and Kyle was in the second main group battling it out with the other younger riders of Lopes, Azmi, the other British rider James Flitcroft & American flat track ace Joe Roberts.

This second train of riders were battling close; as was the front pack of riders. Mistakes were to be made by both packs of riders, with riders constantly changing positions and two laps from the end of the race Flitcroft & Roberts who were both in front of Kyle crashed out ! However Roberts did manage to remount but Flitcroft failed to continue. Kyle tried hard to catch Azmi to eventually come home in a well-earned 12th position.

Pole man Philipp Oettl was race 1 winner, with Brad Binder 2nd & Scott Deroue 3rd. Championship Leader Arthur Sissis was 18th after having to start from the pit lane after his machine failed to start on the grid for the warm up lap.

Kyle’s race on Sunday was yet again a battle of the Titan’s. This battle saw Kyle and six other riders all fighting it out for for tenth position in this second race of the weekend. As the race came towards the final laps Kyle was in close quarters with Migno, Azmi Lopes and Enderlein, to finally end the race with just 0.007 seconds between 10th placed Italian rider Migno and himself taking the chequered flag in a strong 14th place.

Frenchman Alan Techer took the race win, with two Germans riders Florian Alt & Willi Albert coming home in 2nd and 3 respectively.

Kyle’s next race is at the Bruno circuit in the Czech Republic on Saturday August the 13th.

Tuscany Thunder

Young Motorcycle racer Kyle Ryde has been in action again on his fifth consecutive weekend.

Kyle & his Father Sean flew to the beautiful Tuscany circuit of Mugello near Florence on Thursday; this was for the 9^th round of the Moto GP Redbull Rookies Cup.

As of the previous two rounds, qualifying was a nightmare for youngster Ryde, again the rain fell during the qualifying session and he failed to achieve a good qualifying position. This was very disappointing for both Kyle and his Father Sean, as during the dry free practise sessions Kyle did put in some quick lap times, which had they have been during the qualifier, they would have put him a lot further up the pack rather than his lowly 23^rd place on the grid.

The heavy thunderstorms continued into the rookie’s race day on the Saturday and Kyle’s race was declared a wet race. However, the sun came out and a dry line appeared around the Tuscany circuit, so with 24 bikes all fitted with wet tyres, this was going to be a case of watching for tyre degradation and all about who could preserve their tyres the most!

The Red lights went out and as the pack charged up the first of many of the hills on this fast sweeping circuit, Kyle settled in for a hard race to try and make some head way into the field of riders in front of him.

The race broke into packs of five riders or more, all having their own race, Kyle was in one of these packs for most of the race eventually having a final tussle with Joe Roberts (USA) Azmi Hafiq (Malta) Max Enderlein (Gemany) and Kevin Argino (Italy) he did get the better of Enderlein & Argino, coming across the finishing line in a hard fought 18^th place just behind Roberts & Hafiq.

Race winner was yet again 18yr old Australian Arthur Sissis, followed on to the podium by Thomas Vavrous (CZ) and in 3^rd place Aaron Espana  (Spa)

Kyle’s weekend didn’t finish in Tuscany though! No sooner had the race finished, Kyle and his Father were on the plane back home to race on Sunday at the BSB Meeting at Snetterton in the British 125cc Championship.

Kyle arrived at the Snetterton circuit in the early hours of Sunday morning, so not much sleep before the early morning warm-up, where he had to do a maximum of four laps in order to be able to qualify to join the race from the rear of the grid, a position that Kyle is only becoming to familiar with!

After achieving the required four laps and being the seventh quickest, he felt comfortable for the afternoon race on the beautifully prepared bike of team owner Ryan Saxelby.

The race came, red lights out and the battle commenced, By lap one Kyle was up from 30^th place on the grid to 18^th and slowly but surely he picked off the other riders. By lap 3 of this twelve lap race he was up to 11^th place, well past half the field.  However, a group of five riders at the front were really setting the pace and had managed to break away from the pursuing pack of riders, not a scenario that Kyle wanted to happen, as they would be hard to catch.

By lap six Kyle was in sixth position and this is where he was to stay for the rest of the race, as by this time the leading five riders had drawn out a ten second difference on Kyle from the fifth placed man and fifteen seconds from the race leader.

So Kyle was to come home in a good 6^th place from the rear of the grid, with the race win going to another youngster Wayne Ryan, followed by Guiver and Watson.

Kyle is now 23^rd in the Moto GP Redbull Rookies and is still 2^nd in the British Championship on 75 points, twenty points behind the Championship leader Rob Guiver.  Kyle is leading the ACU Academy Cup from Luke Hedger; this is a separate Championship for the younger riders within this 125cc Championship.

Kyle’s next race will be in two weeks time, again with the Moto GP RedBull Rookies at the Sachsenring near Dresden in Germany.

Ryde takes the High Road to Scotland

Young motorcycle racer Kyle Ryde was competing at the 5^th round of the British Superbikes 125cc British   Championship race at the Knockhill Circuit in Fife, Scotland at the weekend.

The 13year old was looking to improve on his poor results of his last two race outings that he has taken part in; these being the 4^th round of the British Championship at Thruxton a couple of weeks ago, where he was in a very commanding 3^rd when he crashed out.  Then last weekend Kyle was with the Moto GP RedBull Rookie squad at the Grand Prix at Silverstone; here Kyle was suffering with poor machine set-up and was close to the back of the field throughout the two races.

So Kyle went to Knockhill with a mountain to climb in confidence, as set backs like the ones he has experienced in the last two races, can have a profound effect on a competitors confidence in both themselves and their team members.

Friday’s free practise was a wet session as was the qualifying sessions on Saturday. These two qualifiers saw Kyle 22^nd & 16^th respectively, which put him in 17^th on the grid for the Sunday race, not a position that Kyle has been used to this season!

Sunday’s race day saw a slight improvement in the weather conditions, which hopefully would improve young Ryde’s position during today’s race, Kyle shown this; as he was 9^th fastest in the morning warm-up session, so things were already starting to look and feel better in time for the race later.

12.45pm and the green light was given for the sighting lap, they reformed on the grid and as the red light went out Kyle went straight into race mode all guns blazing! 22 laps of shear adrenalin.  On lap one Ryde was up two places to 15^th place, there were a few fallers in the first lap and leading rider Irishman Reid was under steward’s investigation for a start line incident. However Kyle was slowly picking away and again by lap two he was in 12^th place and by lap three he was in 10^th place, this was seeing him going in the right direction up towards the front of the pack!

At the end of lap 5 of this twenty two-lap race Kyle was now up to a very strong seventh position, but due to yet another faller, the race was red flagged and Kyle returned to the pits in order for a re-start once the incident out on the circuit had been sorted.

With all the riders back out on the grid for the re-start, Kyle was now in a better position to challenge for the lead. As once the race was stopped, they reform the grid with the positions in which they were once the race was stopped, which meant Kyle was now on the second row of the grid in 7^th place, ideal place for a challenge.

Kyle got a good start and by the end of lap one he was into fifth position and by lap two he was fighting for third place and a podium! Again the Irish Road race Champion Reid was in front with Kyle battling it out for second place with the Championship leader Rob Guiver,

Guiver made a mistake and went down, however he did manage to re-mount the machine, by which time he was a lap down on Reid and Ryde and for a time he did hold on to the leading pair in order to un-lap himself.

Kyle kept the pressure on Reid and on lap thirteen of what was going to be an epic battle to the chequered flag, Reid’s chain snapped!

So with the contest over Kyle Ryde the 13year old motorcycle impresario took his first ever win of a British Championship Race, also setting the fastest lap in the race of a 55.162 sec, which equates to 82.96 mph.

He now joins the likes of Casey Stoner, Leon Haslam and Chas Davies of becoming; or possibly being; the youngest rider ever to win a British 125cc Championship road race, at the grand age of 13yrs and 332 days old!

Kyle is now second in the British Championship and First in the ACU Academy Cup, which is run for the younger riders taking part.

Kyle’s racing mentor (Father) Sean, could not have wished for a finer present on Fathers Day!

Kyle’s race schedule is a hectic one and he is back racing at Assen in the Netherlands next weekend, with the Moto GP RedBull Rookies at the Dutch Moto Grand Prix.

(Please note: Photograph Kindly supplied by Steve Gough)