Kyle Ryde (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) put himself fourth on the starting grid for tomorrow’s FIM Supersport World Championship race at Phillip Island after making great strides in Superpole qualifying.
With #kenansofuoglu now back at home after missing the first round through injury Ryde had been flying solo in his pit garage during his first race weekend for the championship-winning #kawasaki Puccetti squad.
Despite struggling in the recent tests and first day of race qualification yesterday Ryde relied heavily on the advice of his team and the 19-year-old went fastest in #worldssp Superpole 1. Having thus qualified for Superpole 2 he went out to improve his performance even further and earn a fourth place starting position, with a time only 0.355 from pole.
Ryde will now start his first race from the leading place on the second row of the grid, in a race that has been shortened to 15 laps from the scheduled 18.
Kyle Ryde, stated: “That improvement was down to the team; trusting in what they want to do with the bike. This morning the set-up was not how I liked it but I had Jonathan Rea, the Superbike champion, telling me to just ride it and ride it. And then I had Andrew Pitt, who was a Supersport champion, telling me just to ride it and ride it. That is what I did this morning and it felt a little bit better. I went into Superpole with a new front and a new rear tyre - and it just clicked. A 1’33.4 today is a brilliant achievement compared to yesterday, and put us on the second row. I still feel that I have got a little bit left in me. That is a good sign as it was not a perfect lap but for my first race with #kawasaki Puccetti #racing it is a brilliant outcome. Where I was on Monday and Tuesday at the test I was devastated to be down the order. Yesterday, in 16th place, I was also down in the dumps. I knew I could do well today, but I did not quite expect this. An awesome job from the team.”
Gino Rea (Team #kawasaki Go Eleven) was seventh in Superpole continuing his learning process on the Ninja ZX-6R at good pace. Michael Canducci (Puccetti #racing Junior Team FMI Kawasaki) was 12th after Superpole 2, with Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Orelac #racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) and Nacho Calero (Orelac #racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) right behind him in 13th and 14th positions. Lachlan Epis (Response RE #racing Kawasaki) was 21st fastest in Superpole at his home round, and Kazuki Watanabe (Team #kawasaki Go Eleven) placed 23rd.
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