By Steve Day

13-year-old Wayne Ryan from Lydd in Kent closed the gap to Championship leader Andy Reid this weekend at Donington Park as the Aprilia Dunlop Superteens were present as a support class at the World Superbikes.

Having qualified in second, Wayne had six tenths per lap to find as pole sitter Matt Davies from Australia set the pace on a muggy Friday afternoon with points leader Andy Reid struggling down in tenth.

In race one, Wayne and Matt both got away well and immediately stretched a gap out to third place Lee Jackson who was unable to catch the pair.

Ryan was quicker into the first sector of every lap but by the time they’d reached MacLean’s corner, it was the young Aussie that had the better of Wayne all the way to the finish line.

Lap by lap, Ryan closed in on Davies but it wasn’t enough as Wayne was made to settle for second overall but take a crucial 20 points which put him just eight points behind Connor Tagg who finished fifth, with championship leader Reid crashing out of the race, his first fall of the campaign.

In race two, Wayne grabbed the hole-shot and looked determined to better the first race result by taking glory, but the duo were joined this time by a quicker Lee Jackson who was able to catch the pair and attempt to win the race himself.

With Reid in ninth further back, it was an excellent opportunity for Tagg and Ryan to catch the Ulsterman and close the huge gap at the top of the points table and with Connor in fourth, fending off Gautrey and Wayne leading Davies going into the final lap, it looked like they were to take the chance with open arms.

With two corners to go, Wayne headed into the Melbourne loop on the inside line forcing Davies to take a wide line which is when his Aprilia RS 125 lost its grip and sent the young Aussie into the kitty litter and leave Wayne to take his fourth win of 2009, moving up to second overall and obliterating the lap record by a full three seconds with a lap time of 1.55.054.

Lee Jackson came home in second whilst Tagg secured third when Gautrey also dropped out on the last lap meaning that Ryan leads Tagg by just a single point but more importantly, the pair have closed the gap on leader Reid to just 51 points.

“Me and Matt set a quick pace all weekend and in the first race, it was important for me to learn where he was quicker than me. He won fair and square in the first race but I was up for race two and I knew I could win when I saw the last lap flag. I just kept a tight line on the last few corners and I didn’t even know Matt was down until I crossed the line! Big thanks again to Paul, Emma, Kev and all the team at TAG, roll on Snetterton’’

More pics of Wayne in acton at Donington Park