Wayne Ryan came away from Snetterton this weekend with some new found confidence after taking another bite out of the lead that Andy Reid has in the illustrious Aprilia Superteen Championship.

Qualifying sixth, a place behind Reid on the grid, Wayne had the likes of Connor Tagg, Lee Jackson, Aussie Matt Davies and pole sitter Danny Murphy to deal with up ahead also as in race one after a bad start, he settled into third spot.

But after a few laps, Wayne crashed out due to a mechanical failure, leaving Matt Davies and Lee Jackson to battle for the win up ahead. Luckily for Wayne though, three of his title contenders including that of Andy Reid, Lee Jackson and Connor Tagg, had all fallen and Matt Davies went on to win the race ahead of Ben Gautrey and Newcomer Tommy Mountain.

Race two was a chance for Wayne to set his stall out as a five bike freight train formed to battle for the podium places. With a few laps to go, Matt Davies crashed and with Wayne and Lee Jackson a few bike lengths ahead of Reid and Murphy, it was a straight two way fight for the win.

Across the line, Jackson had the edge, winning by 0.17 of a second ahead of Wayne who was pleased to get some solid points ahead of Reid who had battled to finish third.

In race three, the excitement was almost too tense to watch for Wayne’s TAG racing team, Jackson and Matt Davies were again both involved but on this occasion, Davies got Wayne on the line by 0.03 of a second ahead of Jackson in third.

So to the final race, and Wayne was determined to win, his closest rivals for the weekend had so far beaten him to it by the most slender of margins and Wayne decided it was time for him to do some slipstreaming work of his own as he and Jackson fought for victory ahead of Davies who later retired.

On the line, Ryan got the deserved win by 0.09 of a second from Jackson and the pair were a full 14 seconds clear of the chasing pack that was in the end headed by Tommy Mountain.

“I like Snetterton and after doing well here last year, I knew I’d be quick but I didn’t realise how close it was going to be. Because of the long straights, you can’t get away in front and we were just slipstreaming each other all weekend. It’s great that we’ve got some solid points and I’m really feeling at one with the bike now”

After the slow start to the campaign, Wayne’s tenth podium and fifth win of the season has moved him to within 23 points of Andy Reid in the lead of the championship.
Lee Jackson in third has also closed the gap, just 20 behind Wayne, and Connor Tagg is a mere three points behind Jackson.
Wayne and the TAG team travel to Donington next as they join the other Thundersport GB classes as support races for the Moto GP next weekend.