Young racer steps up to big league on dad’s bike

A YOUNG Melksham motorbike racer stepped into his father’s footsteps last weekend  when he competed on his dad’s motorbike in his latest round of racing in Pembrey, Wales.

Paul Korkus reports, “Last weekend saw the penultimate round of the N G Road Racing championships at Pembrey in Wales and Melksham’s 19 year-old Travis Vince competing in his second meeting after he made his race debut earlier this season at Castle Combe.

“Travis is the son of former multiple N G Champion Darrell Higgins who, after the Castle Combe round, decided to hang up his leathers after many years of competing.

“At Pembrey Travis had his first meeting riding Darrell’s Yamaha TZ 250cc machine and competed in the ACU National 250cc championship and N G Cup races where he lined up alongside three national 250cc champions and after qualifying was 13th fastest.

“He was racing using the same number 38 that Darrell used during his years of competing. In his first race on the Saturday he finished in 11th place overall and first N G Cup rider home. He followed this up with 12th overall in Sunday’s race and again top N G Cup rider home.

“During his second race Travis put in his fastest lap in a time of 1 minute 06.69 seconds and a speed of 78.59 mph and is currently in joint fourth place in the N G Cup class with Steven Howard.

“Travis said afterwards that he enjoyed the experience of competing on his dad’s 250 and even had advice from some of the national competitors including double national 250cc champion Phil Atkinson and is looking forward to the final round at Thruxton.”