Looking back at 2018 it was a brilliant year for me. After 5 successful years riding minimotos where I won 5 Scottish titles and the British Championship in 2017, 2018 was my step up to ‘big’ bike racing.
It turned out to be another trophy winning season where I won the Knockhill, Melville and Melville Open Championship, and set a new Knockhill lap record.
I was also selected to ride in the British Talent Cup for 2019, which will be a big step up getting to race with the fastest riders in the country at World Superbike, BSB and Moto GP events.
I’m also going to be riding a Honda Moto 3 bike in the Bennett’s British Superbike Championship, this will be another great experience as I learn all the new circuits throughout the year as part of the countries biggest race series.
2019 is going to be a big challenge. At 13 I’m going to be one of the youngest in the Talent Cup and BSB and I've also got lots of new tracks and new machinery to get used to.
I’m aiming to learn and progress over the season and hopefully get some good results along the way. The plan is that by 2020 season I’ll be up challenging for trophies at each race weekend.
I’ve been working hard over the winter to keep my fitness up and keep me bike fit for the coming season. I play football with my local team and also with my school, so I usually have 3 training sessions a week and a game on Sunday if I’m not on my bike. I also do a lot of high intensity training on the days I’m not at football which helps push me hard with short recovery periods.
I’ve been doing a lot of off road riding to keep me sharp over the winter, obviously the weather isn’t always kind to us so I’ve spent a lot of time riding at the new indoor Imoto X tracks in Glasgow. Neil and the guys there have let me have a lot of track time and it’s really helped my bike fitness.
On road I’ve spent a couple of days in February down at Teeside Autodrome on Shirlaws Kawasaki Supertwin 650, this has blown the cobwebs away and get me up to speed coming into the season.
We picked up my new Moto 3 bike at the beginning of March and headed over to the Pro-Test at Cartagena in Spain. I had 4 days on circuit which really helped me as I got used to the new bike, I got faster every session and by the end of the test I was happy with my speed but I know I’ll be able to improve even more with time on the bike.
I had a practice day at Knockhill circuit on the 24th of March, the weather was typical of Scottish springtime freezing and wet but it meant I got some good laps in the tough conditions. It dried up in the afternoon so we had the slicks on the cold circuit and put some decent times in.
The British Talent Cup have a test at Valencia at the beginning of April. I can’t wait to get out there and try the bike and circuit for the first time. It’ll be good to be part of the Dorna set up and get all my new gear they are providing for us. Our first Talent Cup Race is at Silverstone 2 weeks after the Valencia test and then my first BSB race is 2 weeks later in May at Oulton Park.
It’s going to be a really exciting season for me, I have some great sponsors on board for this year but obviously racing at this level means high costs, so if anyone would like to help me and join me and the team then please get in touch.
Any supporters coming to the BSB or Talent Cup rounds please come and say hello if you see me in the paddock 👍🏻
Ross Maguire
British Talent Cup calls up Ross Maguire