Wyman fights for top-10 finishes in Jersey for One Cure Ducati

TUCSON, Ariz. (Sept. 13) -- The One Cure Ducati team scored three top-10 finishes this past weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Kyle Wyman battled through adversity to finish 8th-7th-8th in three races over the event.


Wyman was 9th overall on Friday and qualified 9th on Saturday morning, going into Saturday's race one with a third row starting position. On the opening lap of race one, Wyman was hit by another rider and pushed off the race track, having to run into the grass in turn 7. He rejoined the race in last place (26th), and was able to fight back to finish 8th at the stripe. Wyman passed 18 riders in 20 laps to claim his position and his starting grid spot for race two.


"On the first lap I was running 6th or 7th, and just got blindsided by another rider who had a mechanical and couldn't stop," Wyman said. "I fell off the inside of the bike but was able to save it and gather it up before I rode off into the grass. After that I just put my head down and had to force my way up the order. I knew my fishing position in the race would determine my grid spot for Sunday so I was in a hurry to pass as many people as I could, and was able to find myself in 8th after making my final pass on the second-to-last lap. It was a pretty fun race, even though I wish I could have finished that first lap in the front group."


Starting from 8th on the grid, Sunday morning's race two would see Wyman struggle in the opening laps with a less than ideal setup change that was a step backward. After some attrition, Wyman was able to bring the One Cure Ducati home in a lonely 7th place.


"After the pace we had in race one, I was eager to give it another go in Sunday's races," Wyman added. "We tried some changes for morning warmup that I didn't feel were enough to find any significant progress, we didn't go any faster, and there was only an hour before our second race at 11am so we made a couple minor adjustments but it was the wrong direction. I struggled a lot in the beginning and was able to inherit a 7th mid-race."


The One Cure Ducati team went to work between races two and three, making significant changes to the front end of the motorcycle to make a gamble for the afternoon. Wyman's third race got off to a much stronger start, where he was able to latch on to the front group and run the first few laps in the top 6. He battled with Hector Barbera and Toni Elias briefly before falling into a race-long duel with Bobby Fong, and eventually besting Fong for 8th overall.


"Our third race was much better than race two and I was able to learn quite a bit from the setup change we made," Wyman said. "I missed out on some good laps in the beginning just because I had to kind of learn the bike, but overall the pace was better and the overall race time improved. Fong kept me honest for most of the race was he sat on my back wheel, I had +0 on the board each lap with no gap. Fortunately I was able to hold him at bay and put in a solid ride."


"It has been a trying weekend as we've come back from our mid-season injury hiatus, but after some experimenting with our Ducati Panigale V4 R we feel we have some good ideas on how to make our bike perform well at the season ending round at Barber. I look forward to a few days of rest before we go right back to work in Alabama."


MotoAmerica returns to action for the final round of the championship with another three-race triple header, at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, Alabama - September 17-19, 2021.