Ollerton racer enjoys a successful return to the circuit

Buoyed on by the recent success of his older brother Keaton, Lyndan who retired from racing at the end of last season, dusted off his leathers, and competed in the ultra-competitive No Limits Pirelli Super Series Sport Trophy.

‘For a number of reasons, I had decided to take a break from racing having raced for the past 9 years, which was really difficult decision to make. I had recently become a father, I need an operation on my shoulder, and the sport has become so expensive. An opportunity arose for me to compete in this one round of the championship, and I was keen to give it a go.’

Despite not having sat on a race bike for 7 months, and without the pre-season Spanish warm weather testing enjoyed by fellow competitors, Lyndan rode the teams trusty old GL Fabrications R6 Yamaha to a superb 3rd place in qualifying. Not bad bearing in mind the bike was a totally stock machine compared to the larger capacity tuned motorcycles of his rivals.

‘We sold the bikes that I had campaigned over the past two seasons, so it was back to basics on the old stock machine, also used by my brother, and a real challenge to try and keep up with the quicker bikes.’

Race 1 saw a steady start with Lyndan holding a top 6 position, still getting used to riding the less powerful machine. Some classic late braking overtakes saw him finish in a great second position, only a second down on race winner, Manx Grand Prix rider Eddy Wormald.

Race 2 saw electrical gremlins strike, with Lyndan unable to cleanly change down gears using what is referred to as a ‘blipper’. This means that riders do not have to use a traditional clutch to change gear and it saves valuable tenths of seconds every lap. Nonetheless he battled on and brought the bike home in 5th place.

The team battled to fix the fault for what was the final race of the weekend, and their efforts were rewarded in what proved to be the best race of the meeting.

The top 6 riders battled it out throughout the 9-lap race, thrilling the crowd in the Donington sunshine with some great racing. Lyndan had to use all his experience to overtake in the braking zones, with his bike well down on power compared to the larger capacity rivals.

‘It is really frustrating to overtake someone, only to have them power past you again on the straights, but that’s racing and I guess what makes it a fun challenge.’

Putting in the fastest lap of the race on the last lap, his fastest ever lap on a standard bike at Donington, he claimed another superb second place, less than half a second down on the winner.

‘I was really pleased with how the weekend went, having done no preparation in advance. It’s disappointing that I won’t be able to complete a full season, but it is so expensive to race nowadays. Huge thanks go to my family for supporting me over the years and for facilitating last weekend.’

Lyndan is on a waiting list for a much-needed shoulder operation, so depending on when that takes place, and dependant on finances, he hopes for an opportunity to compete in one further round, but until that is sorted it’s back to fatherly duties.