Kyle Wyman Wins Second Consecutive Superbike Challenge

June 25, 2017

Utah Motorsports Campus

Grantsville, UT

Kyle Wyman took the checkered flag in the Utah Sport Bike Association’s (UtahSBA) fifth Superbike Challenge event this past weekend. This is the second year in a row that the event has been held as a support event for a MotoAmerica round, and it is the second consecutive year that Wyman claimed the top spot. In 2016, the UtahSBA was the first club racing organization to be allowed to run a support event for a MotoAmerica weekend, doing it so successfully that they were invited back this year. To date, only the UtahSBA, WERA, and the AFM run support events during MotoAmerica weekends.

The Superbike Challenge is a Pro-Am race “open” class event in which any rider holding an expert license from a recognized sanctioning organization, or any MotoAmerica rider that is not in the top 5 of their class can enter. Even though the race is an open class event, there are always a fair number of 600cc bikes entered even though there is little chance they will finish anywhere near the top. The reason so many riders on 600cc bikes register for the race is that they get to race on the same track and under the same conditions that the MotoAmerica riders experience, so it is an excellent opportunity for them to compare times against their professional counterparts; because of the way temperature, wind, and other conditions affect the way a bike performs on the track, the Superbike Challenge is one of the only times a club racers can collect accurate information in an attempt to compare their times to the times of the MotoAmerica racers. For any rider that has aspirations to race on a national level, an opportunity like this is worth its weight in gold, and not easily dismissed.

This year’s Superbike Challenge had a grid that was a bit smaller than last year, but it featured Kyle Wyman, Melissa Paris, and some heavyweight club racers from around the country to include Michael Bradshaw of the UtahSBA, and Ryan Burke, who races with the Motorcycle Roadracing Association (MRA) in Colorado. Jesse Sherstan (a previous #1 plate holder for the UtahSBA), Ryan McGowan, and Steve Kozicki all made the long journey from Canada to participate in this event.

The competitors gridded up for the 12 lap race with Kyle Wyman in pole position. Three riders emerged from their garages just a bit too late and were forced to start from pit lane. Two of the riders, Sherstan, and up and comer Sean Thomas, immediately started charging the field to make up lost ground. Kyle Wyman took the hole shot, and never looked back. He started to gap the field almost immediately. The rest of the field jockeyed back and forth for the advantage for several corners, but the field eventually settled into the positions they started in, at least through position 7. Burke and Bradshaw settled into second and third respectively, neither challenging the rider in front, nor being challenged by a competitor from behind. The top three riders put on a demonstration of consistency as they completed lap after lap mistake free. The next three riders weren’t as secure in their positions. Jesse Sherstan, after making an unbelievable charge through the field, settled into fourth position and had a respectable lead over Melissa Paris, but it wasn’t large enough for him to relax at any point during the race. One mistake could see him lose at least one position, and possibly two, because Aaron Risinger was glued to the back of Paris’s bike for the entire race. David Purcell followed Risinger around the track, but wasn’t able to make any headway in closing the gap, and he ended the race crossing the finish line ten seconds after Risinger. Thomas, a 15 year old hailing from Colorado also made an impressive run through the field after his start on pit road. He was one of four 600cc bikes on the grid, and after just four laps had stolen the lead over the rest of the 600cc bikes and occupied tenth position overall. His pace was fast enough that it looked like he might be able to pass one more bike to take 9th overall, but a mistake on the brakes in turn 5 ended his race early, giving local Duncan Biles top honors for the 600cc class. Thomas was uninjured, and obviously disappointed in the way his day ended, but he was very excited in his lap times. The first seven racers across the start/finish line finished in the exact same positions they started in. John Borst, who started in the 15th position, was the only rider in the top 10 to gain any positions, eventually finishing the race in 8th place.

Overall, the Superbike Challenge was a successful and exciting race. Some competitors experienced bitter results as they crashed out or had mechanical failures that ended their race early. Other competitors laid it all on the line to find out if they could keep up, and even though Wyman ran away from the pack, the second and third steps of the podium were occupied by club racers. The UtahSBA is already looking to the future, hoping for bigger grids, planning for bigger purses, and would like to extend a warm welcome to any expert club racer or MotoAmerica competitor that meets the requirements to the next iteration of the Superbike Challenge.

The Utah Sport Bike Association is a Utah Non-Profit dedicated to promoting education, safe riding and competition in the Intermountain West. You can find more information about the USBA, upcoming events, and schools at www.utahsba.com or find us on Facebook at www.utahsba.com

Overall Results:

1. Kyle Wyman (Yam YZF-R1)

2. Ryan Burke (Yam YZF-R1M)

3. Michael JR Bradshaw (Kaw ZX-10R)

4. Jesse Sherstan (Suz GSX-R1000)

5. Melissa Paris (Yam YZF-R1)

6. Aaron Risinger (BMW S1000RR)

7. David Purcell (Kaw ZX-10R)

8. John Borst (Apr RSV4)

9. Steve Kozicki (Yam YZF-R1)

10. Duncan Biles (Yam YZF-R6)

11. Steven Zoumaras (Kaw ZX-10R)

12. Kevin Dolan (Suz GSX-R1000)

13. Christopher Terranami (BMW S1000RR)

14. Sean Thomas (Yam YZF-R6)

15. Mark Rhoades (Kaw ZX-6R)

16. Ryan McGowan (Kaw ZX-10R)

17. Shannon Moham (Yam YZF-R6)

600cc Results:

1. Duncan Biles (Yam YZF-R6)

2. Sean Thomas (Yam YZF-R6)

3. Mark Rhoades (Kaw ZX-6R)