Troy Ryan started road racing motorbikes just over a year ago and has recently competed in the 2017 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK).
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The year nine Gloucester High School students loves reaching speeds of up to 200 kilometres per hour and is now aiming for the World Superbikes.
Troy is only 15 and can’t legally drive a motorcycle on the road. However, he’s able to compete in the senior series after completing a road test.
In April, Troy travelled to Winton, in Victoria for round two of the ASBK series, looking to compete in two classes – Supersport 300 and Yamaha R3 Cup. Here Troy was named ‘Best Presented’ by Australian Motorcycle News magazine and was placed in the early April edition as the centrefold.
His mother, Belinda was so proud she bought all the copies from the Gloucester newsgency.
Each round of the series consists of three races per class run over a weekend. Usually the Friday is for practice, with riders getting four 20 minute sessions on the track per class. Saturday morning is devoted to the two qualifying session per class, which also determines the grid position for each rider. Saturday afternoon, anywhere between 35 to 42 riders compete in the first race with the remaining races taking place on Sunday. The top 20 riders are awarded points based on their finishing position.
Troy qualified sixth in the R3 class on his first go and five rounds later, when he travelled to the famous Phillip Island track, where he had his best performance of the series, finishing sixth overall.
“It comes naturally to me,” he said.
Troy is a fourth generation road racer and he says he is born to ride. He has no fear when hitting the high speeds and isn’t fazed by the contact with the track when taking on the turns.
He recently discovered a new talent. When racing on a wet track he noticed he was able to get ahead of the other riders, finding his groove when sliding around the corners.
His mum, Belinda only attended two rounds.
“That was enough. It’s hard to watch him race,’’ she smiled.
However, Troy’s father, Patrick, a former racer, really enjoys watching him compete, travelling with Troy to the events as his pit crew.
During the race the only thing Troy is thinking about is getting past the rider in front of him.
As Troy can’t legally train on the road tracks until he is 16, he trains on a dirt bike on the family farm in Gloucester. Two weeks after he finished the ABSK series, he broke is collarbone while training, so now he is forced to take a break until he recovers. In the meantime, Troy and his family will be working on getting sponsorship to help him compete next year.