Kyle the little kid

Huddersfield born Kyle Smith started his 2 wheel career age 5 when his Dad (Gary) bought him the children's favorite the PeeWee . . . a Yamaha PW50 auto. Gary spent some of his youth racing two wheels both dirt and tarmac and was a tough competitor, this was his passion and was always going to influence the next in line !!

So the family started trekking round the local MotoX circuits spanning Yorkshire and Lancaster riding with various MotoX clubs, his first trophy came the same year for 'best up and coming rider' Kyle showed good form and had a natural feel to riding the bike although he always looked smaller than the other kids but this didn't stop him.

Family relocation

At the age of 7 Kyle's family decided to up roots and move to Spain, within a year he and his older sister Stacey were both fluent in Spanish and were mixing with local life through school and sports, Gary and Lorraine searched out the local MotoX clubs and circuits in the region and entered Kyle into the events.

Progression

Moving up through the MotoX ranks Kyle went from 50cc to 65cc in 2002, by which time he became 65cc champion of Valencia at the age of 11 and also won the Supercross championship of Valencia,

The following year when his legs would reach he moved up to 80cc 'small wheel' class, Kyle got invited to join the Valencia/Catalan MotoX Team riding Suzuki, a three man junior team to which Kyle of course was the junior, this took the family all around Spain to compete in a national series which they enjoyed many top three finishes, this moved Kyle onto Large wheel 80cc class which he struggled to start the season as he was a slightly under sized kid for his age never the less winning the years sub championship in his class.
 

Pain & Gain

Ups and Downs, Pain and Gain
 

New Challenge

SuperMoto was the next stage where he impressed the locals no end, "el Nanito Volador" "The Little Flyer" they named him, he showed outstanding talent in this class and soon attracted local support from senior sportsmen from the region and some financial help from the town hall, particularly two top local riders in SuperMoto/Roadrace rider (Alfredo Morant) and SuperMoto/MotoX rider (Barranqui). these local guys have been a tremendous help to Kyle by spotting his talent and pushing him with training, advice and have all formed a wonderful friendship with him and the family.
 

Training

Barranqui takes Kyle to any local Moto events and if old enough to enter he will, Riding his 250cc Yamaha, he competes with older more experienced riders on 450cc machines and more often than not can show them the way.

They also travel to various training grounds where Barranqui makes sure Kyle keeps in top riding form knowing the importance of rider fitness, there program includes Mountain biking and Trail Riding.
 

125 Pre GP

Alfredo recommended they enter Kyle for a national 'Bancaja Championship trials just to see if he could ride a Pre-GP 125. for €60.00 nothing much to loose with over 200 entrants . . . He sat on the bike for the first time Friday, by Sunday to everyone's amazement in the two day trial he qualified 8th.

This qualified him to enter the series with half sponsorship from the series organization (Bancaja) Headed by the ex Moto GP 125cc champion Aspar Martinez, this pre-GPs series is designed to introduce and encourage youngsters in to the world of motorcycle racing and is aimed to give each young rider a fair chance by supplying all identical bikes, a mechanic and a coach. All bikes are power dyno tested to insure the same HP output. All of a sudden a new chapter begins...
 

First Season on Tarmac

The 2007 Bancaja Pre-GP series began with the first race in Majorca. Never having tried a practice start he struggled to get off the line but recovered back to a 10th finish which for a first ever race was a good beginning. Learning the ropes and mid season handling problems frustrated the flow of things but with a little help from home friend 'James Whitham' things were put right and confidence came back with a bang.

The season progressed and so did 15 year old Kyle and soon land his first Win at Valencia in September, with a 7 second lead and not looking over his shoulder his Mum and Dad realized "He needs a pit board". Excited by all this action Gary's long term buddy back in Huddersfield Dave, (Coddy) rallied round there friends and business friends around town to raise some sponsorship to help push the show, things were getting expensive and this proved to be a good thing as many of the Huddersfield friends who know or know of the family kindly put some money in the pot to support the program, this gives Kyle the track time and experience that he needs and so far he has turned it into a fantastic string of results with a wonderful potential.

Kyle has pushed his way to 3rd in the championship in his first year with one round to go.
 

Last round of the 125 series disappointment.
 

A Chance to ride a 600 SuperSport for end of season rounds

With a potential ride being offered to him riding a Supersport 600 machine in the national championships, this would be a big jump to a much different machine compared to a 125. Alfredo managed to enter Kyle into a territorial (regional) 6 hour endurance race.

A local team had one rider missing to make up the 3 man team, riding a pretty standard 600 Yamaha R6 Kyle adapted to the bike very quickly as you can see by the photographs, he was flying, lapping nearly 4 seconds a lap quicker than his team mates he qualified the team in 8th place.

His first ride on a full size 4 cylinder motorcycle was so impressive they voted him to start the race in an attempt to get to the front end of the field, He had a long hard day with the team pushing him out there as long as possible he managed to do 4 sessions lasting 50 minuets each. This was important valuable riding experience for kyle all squeezed into 6 hours of hard work. riding amongst one or two national and international teams he pushed the team to a 6th place finish, riding so hard for the whole race they ran out of tyres and had to nursed the bike home towards the end to an unexpected very successful 6th place result.
 

6th Round of the Spanish CEV National Championships.

This weekend turned out to be a big plus for Kyle and his racing career.

 After being invited to ride a CBR600RR Honda Supersport machine in the Spanish CEV national championship, the Italian HP Racing team travelled a long way to the fantastic Valencia circuit and provided some wonderfully prepared machines for the event,

Saturday qualifying was looking quite good for Kyle until a crash in the first session which unfortunately badly damaged the bike, the team reverted to bike 2 for the second session, this also resulted in a crash where Kyle pushed a little too hard and lost the rear, only managing around 8 laps all day Kyle surprisingly qualified 18th out of a 38 place grid where many full time riders actually failed to qualify ! This pleased the team very much being his first major race on a new and different bike.

The Italian HP Racing team managed to cobble together one bike from two for Sundays race, this became bike 2 (the practice bike) which was good just not quite as quick. The grid comprised of 4 or 5 world supersport riders and the best of the Spanish nationals. The race started out rapid with Kyle in a mid field position and he held that position for the 19 laps, a soft tyre moved his position to 21st, Kyle needed to bring the bike home safely after the weekends mishaps and pushed hard all the way, 21st was his result which delighted the team and created a lot of interest in the paddock.

Because his first touch of a race bike was only April this year it was a fantastic result, now some other team managers try to work out a future programme for him, until then the 2008 season looks good.