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)

Disastrous Debut Grand Prix for Ryde

Venue Silverstone UK, Rider Kyle Ryde, race; Moto GP RedBull Rookies, this was Kyle’s debut at his home Moto GP and it started with a nightmare of a qualifying day on Friday!

The first free practise session, saw Kyle eventually settle into a rhythm and the morning laps saw him in a strong 10^th position. However for the afternoon qualifying sessions, it was decided to change the suspension settings but this put Kyle well off the pace for the first qualifier.  It really unsettled Kyle so much, that during the session he returned to the pit lane and spoke to the mechanic about the bikes movements, at this point he was some 6 seconds off the leaders time! The suspension was re-set the for the second qualifying race 1 hour later, this was much better and he was over 4 seconds a lap quicker, nearly back up to the morning times. However with the poor times in the earlier session, Kyle was in a lowly position of 24^th for Saturdays first race of the weekend, not what the Team 77 anticipated after such good showings in the earlier rounds.

Saturdays race was declared a wet race and Kyle normally would enjoy the wet conditions. However still suffering from poor suspension settings, Kyle remained at the rear of the field all of the first race and by the time of the chequered he was actually a lap behind. Not the ideal position that some one of Kyle’s abilities is used to, but sometimes not everything works out right in these high profile races.

Things just seemed to go from bad to worse for poor Kyle, as Sundays race didn’t see any improvement what so ever, but to come from the back of the grid at this level of racing, was always going to be a tough call, especially if the bike isn’t working in your favour, so with a combination of poor weather conditions and the bike set-up, Kyle was again in last position in the race.

This was possibly the worst race event Kyle has ever experienced in his years of racing at club level & more recently National & International level.  However this is all the part of the learning curve of a future champion and he will pick himself up and learn from this experience.  So bring on the British Championship race at the British Superbike meeting at Knockhill in Scotland and watch this space.

Read all about Kyle’s first year on the Tour…download here (PDF 3.2mb)

Rain is a pain for Ryde

Boy Racer; Kyle Ryde has been in action yet again over the Bank Holiday weekend this time at the former RAF airfield of Thruxton, near Andover in Hampshire.  This very fast 2.4 mile circuit was host to the 4^th round of the British Superbikes & all of it’s support classes.

The Pocket Rocket set the pace in the first free practise, along with championship rival Rob Guiver, in a close second place, but during the second free practise of Saturday, the pair was joined by ex RedBull Rookie rider and Spanish CEV Championship racer Fraser Rodgers.  Rodgers took the top slot from Guiver in the final few laps, but Guiver managed to find another 0.2 sec to regain the number one place on the timesheet, with Kyle coming in a strong third position, ready for Sunday’s qualifying sessions.

Sundays qualifying sessions were done in similar conditions to the Saturdays free practise, dry but windy.

The 1^st qualifier saw Kyle out early in the session, but then he was late coming back out into the field, by which time he was down as low as 10^th position on the leader board. But as the session came into the last few laps, it was just down to Kyle and Rob Guiver again as Fraser Rodgers had crashed in the final lap yesterday and would not be racing for the rest of the weekend.  So with no other contenders Guiver just managed to hold off Kyle’s challenge to the chequered flag with a 0.03 advantage going into the second qualifier later in the afternoon.

Again Rob Guiver and Kyle were to be the front runners in the second qualifying session, but previous race rival Luke Hedger was moving up the leader board, from 12^th place to 6^th then to 4^th, only to go and crash out before he had chance to fight with the two leaders.  At the end of the session Kyle didn’t have time to bed his new tyre in, so he could not better his earlier time, finishing with a combined time of 0.136 seconds behind Guiver, which gives him a front row start along side his fierce rival.

On the race day morning; pre race warm up, Kyle was back out on his new tyres and was the quickest rider in the session 0.251 from pole position setter Rob Guiver.

As the race day’s events progressed, so did the rain and by the time of the 125cc race the track was well and truly wet! So as the field left the start grid, early leader South African rider Jordan Weaving fell taking several of the pursuing pack with him, Kyle managed to ride around this melee, but lost his second place to Irish road race Champion Andy Reid, this put Kyle’s race pace out slightly and he lost ground to Reid and race leader Guiver, he was then being followed by fellow Red Bull Rookie James Flitcroft until he crashed out on lap 4.

Kyle was settled into a safe and respectable third place with his nearest threat for his position over 20 seconds down on him, this being fellow youngster Wayne Ryan, Kyle seemed settled after all of the earlier crashes and was opening up a gap on Wayne, but unfortunately was not gaining on the leading two riders, but as he came into the Brookland’s corner of the circuit on lap ten of this very wet twelve lap race, he parted company with his bike and that was Kyle’s race finished.

Kyle was ok from the spill and sat out the rest of the race with the marshals at the side of the track.

Guiver was the overall winner with Reid second and the youngster Wayne Ryan Third.

Kyle and the team would like to Brindley Machinery Moving Ltd for sponsoring this event which was very much appreciated.

Kyle’s next race is in two weeks time at the Moto GP at Silverstone, this is with the Moto GP Red Bull Rookie squad, he hopes to see you all there to cheer him on in his first ever home Grand Prix.

Photographs courtesy of Steve Gough

R S Racing Honda’s Kyle Ryde has been rewarded the second Speedy Spirit Award of the season following his performance in the second round of the Sunoco British 125GP Championship at Oulton Park, when he was voted from the shortlist of nominations as “going the extra mile”.

Ryde had started from the back of the grid, as he was competing in the Portuguese round of the Grand Prix when the qualifying session took place at Oulton Park. He had travelled back to be on the grid in Cheshire and then put in an astounding race performance to carve through the pack and finish second. His result at Oulton Park was made all the more impressive as he had also been involved in a frightening lightening strike incident during Portuguese GP.

Ryde said: “I am really happy to have won the Award. Before the race at Oulton Park I was expecting to be in the top ten as it isn’t easy starting from the back of the grid. I thought halfway through the race that I could be third and then on the last lap to finish second was a really good result for me and the team. I think to win the Award, getting more votes than the other nominees is really special, I hope I can have a good result again now here at Croft.”

The Speedy Spirit Award will reward teams and riders at every round of the championship; following each event a shortlist will be published, who in the opinion of seasoned aficionados including Series Director Stuart Higgs and BSB Radio presenter and commentator Fred Clarke, “went the extra mile” to achieve success and reward displaying Speedy Spirit.

Ryde’s performance was voted the winner of the Award from the second round following combined results through the Official BSB Facebook page and also online on the official BSB website. The team were voted ahead of John Hopkins becoming the first American to score a BSB victory at Oulton Park circuit, Ben Wilson recording the first ever double victory in the Supersport class, Alex Lowes’ front row start in the second BSB on an EVO spec machine, MSS Colchester Kawasaki’s first BSB double podium and Keith Farmer winning the Metzeler National Superstock 600 Championship race, in only his fourth ever circuit race.

                                                                                                                      Awey the Lad!

Kyle Ryde, the 13yr old 125cc motorcycle impresario was in action again this weekend.

Kyle and Team 77 were attending Round Three of the British 125cc Road Racing Championship; this Championship is held as a support race with the British Superbikes and took place at the North Eastern circuit of Croft near to Darlington Teeside.

Kyle’s first day of the weekend event was free practise time. It was dry at the start of the practise session and Kyle was the quickest rider out on track, but was eventually piped by 0.08 sec! By Jon Vincent.

The rain eventually started to dampen the track, so no one managed to achieve a faster lap.

Saturday saw two qualifying sessions; the first being around lunchtime and Kyle came out all guns blazing! The track was dry but a very windy session with plenty of fallers yet again. Kyle managed to keep a cool head and set a very quick pace, as he was the only rider in the 1min 28 sec in this first session. He finished the qualifier in first place setting him up for his second pole position in three rounds!

During the day Kyle was summoned to the podium to be presented with an award due to the huge support which he’d received on the BSB website. He won the ‘Speedy Spirit Award’ for his tremendous 2^nd place at the previous round at Oulton Park, coming from the rear of the grid and passing 30 riders to achieve it!

Kyle told Stuart Higgs, the BSB Race Director and presenter of the award to Kyle, I am really happy to have won this award. Before the race at Oulton Park  I was expecting to be in the top ten, as it isn’t that easy starting from the back of the grid. I thought halfway through the race that I could maybe get a 3^rd place, but then on the last lap to finish in second place was a good result for me and the team. I think to win this award and receiving more votes than the other nominees is really special, I hope that I can have a good result again now here at Croft.

Kyle’s second qualifying session of the day was later in the afternoon on Saturday, but yet again Kyle set an early pace and his only real threat came from veteran 125 racer Rob Guiver; but fortunately Kyle managed to fend off Rob’s attack on his previously attained pole position, so Kyle went into Sunday’s race sitting on Pole position on the grid, with Guiver, Jackson and Luke Hedger all making up the front row for the big race day on Sunday.

Race day came and the 125cc race was the last of the days events and what an epic this turned out to be!

As predicted Guiver became Kyle’s thorn in his side and the pair were sharing paint from their fairings throughout the race. Guiver led for around six laps then Kyle pushed the Ryan Saxilby machine through to lead for the next three laps or so! Guiver again came back at Kyle, but the youngster was having none of it and kept hold of his advantage over the veteran racer Guiver.

But age and experience got the better of young Kyle; as on the penultimate lap, Rob Guiver came through and took the chequered flag around half a second in front of Kyle, Luke Hedger was third with

Lee Jackson, Wayne Ryan and Tarran Mackenzie, rounding off the top six in the race.

Kyle’s next round in the British Championship is on the Bank Holiday weekend, at the British Superbike meeting at the Thruxton Circuit in Hampshire on the 28^th to the 30^th May

Photograph kindly supplied by Steve Gough

As Fast as Lightening

Local young Motorcycle Racer Kyle Ryde has been racing at the Estoril circuit in Portugal this weekend with the Moto GP Red Bull Rookies squad.  This circuit was first used for a Motorcycle Grand Prix in the year 2000 and lying very close to the Atlantic coast this tricky circuit can often be made even more demanding by the strong and blustery winds that cross over it. It lies on a beautiful stretch of coastline on the outskirts of the capital city of Lisbon.

The weather played a huge part in this weekend’s qualifying sessions for Kyle and the first session was halted after just a few minutes when a thunderstorm hit the circuit and a lightning bolt struck the track just two metres from another young rider causing him to crash; then came the torrential rain and loss of power to the track communications. This caused the second qualifying session to be run over an hour later and still on a very wet track.

Again, as before in the first qualifying session, there were a number of fallers and this time Kyle was one of them; so with only having completed six laps of the circuit compared to the a lot of the other riders thirteen laps, he qualified at the rear of the grid for race day.

Saturday’s race saw Kyle get off to a good start and after scything his way through the pack on this damp circuit, he settled in a third bunch of riders all fighting it out for 9^th to 12^th positions.  There were only 3 fallers in the race by the tenth lap of this sixteen-lap race, as young Kyle continued this 4-way battle to the end of the race, thus completing his third only ever Moto GP RedBull Rookie race and achieving a credible 12^th position in the final lap, loosing out to American rider Joe Roberts by 0.1 sec.

Sunday’s race day saw much better race conditions with only a few damp patches, but relatively dry for the race.

As before, Kyle was at the rear of the grid again, but he got a good hole shot and settled in with the third bunch of riders yet again, but this time it was a eight bike train all within a few tenths of a second band of the race pace, when on the tenth lap, Italian rider Migno and German rider Albert took each other out right in front of Kyle!

Kyle managed to avoid hitting these two fallen riders and after some hard riding with the rest of the bunch, and after changing positions so many times during the race, Kyle came through the chequered flag in the same position as race one, this being 12^th position.

An early lead by race one winner South African Brad Binder, saw his hopes of a second race win diminish as his bike low sided him early in the race and gave the win to Australian rider Arthur Sissis.

Kyle is now equal eleventh place overall in the Rookie Championships with twenty-one points.

Photograph is at Estoril Portugal courtesy of Moto GP Red Bull Rookies

Flying back Sunday night from Estoril, Kyle travelled overnight North to Oulton Park for his second British Championship round on the Bank holiday Monday BSB event, this is following on the back of last weekends disappointing meeting at Brands Hatch.  That event saw Kyle with a DNF after setting a blistering pace all weekend, then with the bike suffering a mechanical failure and throwing him off! All this happened in the in the final few laps of the race after establishing a six second lead.

Oulton Park also saw Kyle start from the rear of the grid yet again! As due to Kyle being in Portugal over the weekend, he missed out on the qualifying races at the Oulton Park meeting, but he can race, providing he completes five compulsory laps, this then allows him to start the race from the rear of the grid.   Not only did Kyle do the compulsory five laps, but also he was the fastest in warm up.

The afternoon race approached and Kyle had a huge hill to climb to move through thirty two other riders from the rear of the grid to the front runners, but with a steady head on his shoulders he picked his way through the pack and by the end of lap one he was already in mid pack!  Kyle kept his cool through a race marred with crashes and mechanical failures and he finally caught the front pack of three riders. Luke Hedger, the winner from Brands Hatch, suddenly became another faller and then this opened up a two-way battle for Kyle with the Australian rider Matt Davies. This battle went on up to the final two laps of the race, then as they went into Lodge corner it was all about who could get the drive out of this final corner and Kyle managed to grab the lead to take the chequered flag for a second place position, beating Davies by just 0.066 of a second, the race winner was Rob Guiver.

Kyle also won the David Jeffries ACU Academy Award for the first youngest rider across the wining line at the Oulton Park meeting.

Kyle’s next British Championship race is in 2 weeks time at Croft in the North East, whilst his next Moto Gp Red Bull Rookie race is at the British Grand Prix in June.

Regards John Holmes

Busy times ahead for Nottinghamshire Youngster

BRANDS HATCH

The Easter weekend was the beginning of the British Championship 125cc and Kyle was down at the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent.

So after all the previous weeks of preparation, the first big event had arrived and Kyle set a scorching pace all weekend at the Kent circuit.  After being the fastest rider in each of the practise sessions and then becoming the youngest ever rider to qualify in a pole position in a British Championship race, kyle’s fastest lap time was a 49.5!!

He was prepared for the big race day itself on Easter Monday.

A Huge crowd was at Brands Hatch to watch the televised event and Kyle was out to entertain the crowd.

Sitting in pole position saw Kyle go straight into a commanding lead in the race and lap by lap he edged away further & further in front of the leading pack quite quickly, eventually building up a six second lead on his nearest rivals Luke Hedger, Ryan Watson & Harry Hartley.

Kyle owned the race and held his own, he was outstanding, No one could even get close! The 13 year old continued to lead the race and show the thousands watching there and at home what he can do.

Then on the fifteenth lap of this nineteen-lap race, which had been shortened due to a start line incident at the beginning of the race, Kyle’s engine gave up and the race was over for this fast touting lad from Nottinghamshire!

But all was not lost because the British Championship riders & teams all now know that this Rookie from the Midlands has made his mark on this years Championship scene as well as the Moto GP Red Bull Rookies, so bring on Oulton Park!

Kyle is in action again this coming  Bank holiday weekend, first two races at the Estoril circuit in Portugal Saturday and sunday, with the Moto GP Red Bull Rookies squad, then he and his family fly back Sunday night in order to be out starting at the bck of the grid at the British Championship round at Oulton Park on the Monday.

Good luck must prevail for this talented youngster.

Pics courtesy of Steve Gough

Season opens for Ryde

Jacksdale village young motorcycle racer Kyle Ryde, opened this seasons racing with some convincing wins at the recent North Gloucester Club meeting at Brands Hatch.

He was taking in some valuable track time with regards to bike set-up, track knowledge and team bonding with his new team Manager Ryan Saxelby, who he will be racing for in the British 125cc Championship this year.  After wining all of the 125cc races at the Kent circuit meeting, Kyle wanted more track time, so they also entered him in the 450cc class.   Starting from the rear of the grid and after some pretty smart moves during the race, Kyle came through to win this class also, setting both new lap records for the 125 & 450cc classes on the Indy circuit at Brands Hatch.

After coming home from Kent with a bagful of race wins, the team prepared for his next outing, which is the beginning of Kyle’s International career, with the Moto GP Red Bull Rookies.

This first race meeting for young Kyle was the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez, which commenced on Friday April 1^st until Sunday the 3^rd. In this series are 25 of the world’s best teenage racers representing 14 countries from as far apart as Malaysia, Australia and the USA and also most of Europe, from Finland to Italy, from the Czech Republic to Portugal, as they face off in the greatest opportunity for their future racing careers.
This year sees the number of Rookies races increased to fourteen so the young riders get more occasions to develop their skills and prove themselves in front of the Grand Prix fans, teams and worldwide media.  These races are at eight of the Moto GPs in Europe at: Jerez, Estoril, Silverstone, Assen, Mugello, Sachsenring, Brno and Misano, all featuring two of these Rookies races with events both on the GP qualifying day and on the race day itself, so plenty of action for young Kyle to be involved in.

Qualifying day at the Spanish round in Jerez was a fine dry day and after some good sighting laps, Kyle managed to put together a good consistent time and achieved a solid 9^th place on the grid for his first ever Moto GP Red Bull Rookies race, which was taking place the following day, Kyle was also the 2^nd quickest of the fourteen new rookies for this season.

The first race day came and once the Moto GP stars had done their qualifying race, all the rookies moved onto the grid in preparation for their very first race of the season. A warm pleasant day with a temperature of 75f Kyle was on the third row of the grid, so as the flag marshal walked off the grid and the lights turned to red, the pack headed up the hill towards the first right-hander.  After a hectic start the race developed into groups of riders and for most of his race Kyle was in a group battle of five riders jostling for 8^th position, eventually after much swapping and changing of paintwork!  Kyle finished in a very respectable 13^th place, an excellent result for his first ever International race.

Sundays race day was surely going to be different, this was down to a sudden change in the weather, the previous days warm and blue skies had all but disappeared and it was now a lot cooler and raining.

Kyle is very much used to these types of conditions, it’s a case of having to be racing in the UK’s climate.  So once again the pack of young-guns headed up the hill and started on the second of the 16 lap races.  Kyle settled into a good rhythm and it showed, as quite a few of the early front runners started to fall in the wet & slippery conditions, Kyle battled on using his skills honed on the circuits back in the UK and he held this momentum right up to the chequered flag, finishing in an even more respectable 6^th place!  Kyle after these first two rounds in Spain is lying in 7^th place overall in the Championship.

I’m sure that ‘Team Kyle Ryde’ are finally starting to make a mark on the racing scene, so start to take note of this13 yr old youngster from Jacksdale as I’m sure that you are going to be hearing lots more about him in the coming months ahead.

Kyle’s next meeting is back at Brands Hatch at Easter, this is at the British Superbike race meeting being held over the Bank Holiday, he will be competing in the British 125cc Championship, on last years wining bike of team owner Ryan Saxelby, then the following weekend, he is back out on his Moto GP Red Bull Rookies Bike at the Portuguese Grand Prix at the Estoril circuit.

                                                                         Brands Hatch NG meeting for RS Racing

Its just 4 weeks until the first BSB race meeting of 2011 at Brands Hatch.

So Nottinghamshire teenage Motorcycle Racer Kyle Ryde decided to take in some valuable track time with regards to bike set-up, track knowledge and bonding with his new team Manager Ryan Saxelby at this Kent circuit, this was courtesy of the North Gloucester Road Racing Club.

The track was in a very poor condition on Saturday morning due to the previous nights rain becoming frozen overnight, but the Club Officials & Marshals, did a fantastic job to get the track ready for the weekends racing.

New parts where being tested and adjustments were being made on the RS Honda 125 machine, this was for most of the sessions during Saturday, however Kyle still managed some very impressive lap times and learnt a lot about the circuit and this new machine, all this is in preparation for this years assault on the British 125cc Championship.

Sunday was supposed to be much as the same as the previous day with regards to testing new parts and settings, but again Kyle seemed to be happy with everything that the Team had tried and his lap times just kept on getting better by every race.  So not content with just the 125 races available; Kyle wanted more track time, with this, the team approached the race officials, to see if it was possible to put him in any other of the days races and they came up with the option of going in the open 450cc race.

Kyle seemed to enjoy this class as he started from the back of the grid in race 1 and won that.

Then race 2 he started from pole position and won that, with fastest laps in each of the races.

It was then time again for the125 races which again; Kyle started from a fair way back in the field, but he still managed to win race 1, then from pole position in race 2 he won that race also, achieving the fastest laps in both races, this included a new NG Club lap record of 50.16 seconds taken away from BSB 125 regular Rob Guiver.

Team Manager Ryan Saxelby & Team Kyle Ryde Racing, headed north back home, feeling far more confident towards this years British Championship.

The Team would like to thank the North Gloucester Racing Club, Officials and Marshals for making them feel so welcome and for putting on such a first class racing event.