Cycle News Staff | June 22, 2021
The Panera Bread/KWR Ducati Superbike team has withdrawn from this weekend’s MotoAmerica Superbike event at The Ridge Motorsports Park. After the crash and subsequent injury of rider and team owner Kyle Wyman, the team will forgo participation in round four of the championship to focus on the following race event at Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Kyle Wyman will miss The Ridge round of the MotoAmerica Championship with an injury. His exact return is not yet known, though he hopes to be back for Laguna Seca.
Shortly after winning the King of the Baggers race on his Harley-Davidson Road Glide, Wyman crashed his Ducati Superbike in race two on Sunday, June 13, at Road America. The slow low-side crash saw Wyman catch his left elbow on a sharp curbing edge on his way down, resulting in multiple fractures of the Olecranon bone, a significant structural component of the elbow joint.
Wyman had a surgical procedure to conduct a fixation of the bone with a plate and seven titanium screws. Wyman’s complete prognosis is still unclear, but he will not be able to ride at “The Ridge” in Washington State for the event scheduled for June 25-27, 2021. KWR will not field a replacement rider in MotoAmerica Superbike at The Ridge and will focus on the Laguna Seca round of the series.
“Obviously this is a big setback for our season, specifically for the Superbike program,” Wyman said. “The crash was so slow and simple I just got really unlucky the way I fell and caught the concrete edge and knew immediately that something was broken. Fortunately, I have some of the best doctors around me and they have bolted me back together to get me healthy as safely and as quickly as possible.
“The priority this week was to arrange my surgery and recovery to give myself the best opportunity to come back soon, and strong,” Wyman added. “With these challenges, we decided as a team not to force the issue and put together a Superbike entry at The Ridge with another rider. If I am not fit in three weeks’ time, we will revisit that scenario for Laguna Seca.
“At minimum, I want to be healthy enough to finish the job there in the Baggers Championship. The best-case scenario is that I will feel strong enough to race both bikes and compete in both classes again. Right now, it is too early to tell.”
For more information on MotoAmerica, visit www.MotoAmerica.com
