Pacedayz TrackDay’s wild card rider Kyle Ryde was the fastest British racer in the opening World Supersport free practice outing at Donington Park. The Motorpoint British Supersport contender set the third quickest time this morning - a 1’31.895, and narrowly missed out on P1 by 0.2 seconds from multiple-champ, Puccetti Racing’s Kenan Sofuoglu.
Initially it was Sofuoglu who set the pace after ten minutes, and was the first rider to reach the 1’31’s. But former MCE British Superbike racer, PJ Jacobsen and Ryde were hot on his heels. The Brit went up to third quickest on the sheets, followed by fellow British Supersport racer, Profile Racing’s Luke Stapleford but the number 88 rider fell off the pace, but reigning Pirelli National Superstock 600 champion, Ryde held firm.
But Stapleford and fellow garage buddy, Sam Hornsey were not edging off the gas and with a handful of minutes remaining went into the third and fourth spots, going quicker than Ryde. But at the flag the Pacedayz rider found that added pace to reclaim third on the sheets. Kawasaki Intermoto’s PJ Jacobsen ended the 45 minute session second quickest, with a 1’31.784 lap.
MV Agusta’s Jules Cluzel snatched fourth on the timing-screens leaving Stapleford and Hornsey taking fifth and sixth spots, with a 1’31.938 and 1’32.004 respectively. British Supersport stalwart Andy Reid is riding in place of Ratthapark Wilairot for the Core Motorsport team and has swapped his usual TTC Yamaha for a Honda CBR600RR. The Northern-Irishman rounded off the top ten with a 1’32.590 rotation.
CIA Insurance Honda’s Gino Rea missed out on a top ten time by one tenth of a second from fellow Brit, Reid and stayed eleventh on the sheets. Pata Honda’s Kyle Smith and CIA Insurance Honda’s Kieran Clarke finished the first free practice session at Donington Park in seventeenth and 21st this morning.
