Broaster Buzz
6th Place Finish for Genuine Broaster Chicken
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (June 4)— Kyle Wyman posted up a season-best 6th place finish Sunday after bouncing back from a Saturday crash at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Wyman rode his Genuine Broaster Chicken/SC Project Ducati Panigale V4 R to what was an impressive result.
The KWR team has been hard at work this season developing the new bike for competition, and this most recent result is a sign of good things to come for the small team. After a tough Friday qualifying day, where Wyman missed Superpole for the first time all season, the Broaster Chicken-sponsored team made some massive changes to the bike to get Wyman more comfortable.
After a terrible start in Saturday’s race one, Wyman battled through from the back of the grid to run in the lead group, running lap times the same as the leaders for the first three laps of the race. Wyman made a mistake on lap four, was late to the brakes in turn one and ran off track. In an effort to slow the bike, he crashed in the gravel trap just short of the tire wall. The crash ended the bid for a season-best result on Saturday, but with big promise for Sunday.
“Saturday’s race for me was just really weird,” Wyman said. “I think I was just flustered from the moment I woke up that morning. After missing Superpole I was frustrated and felt like I was on the back foot all weekend. I got a terrible start in the race, ran off in turn 5 on the first lap, then worked my way back up into the lead group only to run off again and crash. It was hectic and not a race I’m proud of. Too many mistakes. It’s a real shame because the bike felt the best it has all year long.”
Sunday was a new day, and Wyman went out in the morning warm-up session with some additional changes to the chassis on the Panigale. The bike began to overheat after 5 laps into the session and the KWR team was tasked with their biggest challenge of the year.
“It turned out that in the crash from Saturday we punctured a tiny hole in the new radiator,” Wyman added. “We only had one of the new H2O radiators from Italy and no spares, so we took it to a local shop to get fixed. They couldn’t fix it, and we were in a mad scramble to put together the bike with a stock radiator for the race. My guys got the bike back together just in time for the sighting lap.”
Wyman left for the sighting lap straight from the truck, with more big changes to the chassis for race two. After an excellent start from the fourth row, Wyman found himself in a race-long battle for 6th place with fellow riders Jake Gagne, Cam Peterson and Jake Lewis. Wyman passed Gagne on the final lap and held on for 6th, matching his best finish of the season.
“Race two was awesome, and so much fun,” Wyman said. “There’s nothing I love more than a big battle at Road America and coming out on top of it. My bike was the best it’s ever been, so I think we’ve finally found a good setup on the Panigale V4 R and the top speed of the Ducati was good enough to hold off the BMW to the line – and we still have a completely stock motor. After all the drama of almost missing the race, it feels amazing to have come away with a solid result to get us back on track.”
“After such a long, tough year last year it’s an amazing feeling to be back in the battle for some respectable positions. The Ducati adventure just grabbed a gear and I couldn’t be more excited for what’s to come the rest of the season. I want to extend a huge thank you to Genuine Broaster Chicken for their title support at Road America, SC Project USA and the loyal KW Army for continuing to support me no matter where we finish. Looking forward to Utah in a couple weeks.”
Wyman holds down 10th overall in series standings leaving Road America.
The 2019 MotoAmerica Series continues June 15-16 for round five, at Utah Motorsports Campus in Tooele, UT.
Visit www.kylewymanracing.com for more news and updates.
