This weekend sees the first ThundersportGB meeting of the year, held at Leciestershire’s Mallory Park. Series boss Dave Stewart is ready for the off and so is his team.
It’s a huge undertaking, one which many thought would fail before it even started, but it hasn’t and many of those are now eating their words.
Stewart is confident the series will go from strength to strength and he is more than aware of where British talent is coming from, and that is youth development.
Seven unique classes will make up race day starting with the J&S Aprilia Superteen series, a resurrected championship which was the proving ground for a young James Toseland and Casey Stoner.

The three main Thundersport GP classes will make up the bulk of the racing. GP1 is sports production motorcycles bikes with very few restrictions, GP2 is predominantly a 250 two stroke class up against 600 four strokes encouraging two stroke development. Finally the GP3 class which is made up of 125 two strokes and 250 four strokes.
The weekend’s action is on Motors TV (Channel 413) at 7pm on Monday 31st March.
Stewart had this to say:
"So, at a time when we have three young British riders capable of challenging for podium positions and maybe even the world championship itself in 125 GP, why is there a feeling that “More must be done to encourage youth development in motorcycle sport”?

The thing that Bradley Smith, Danny Webb and Scott Redding have in common, is that they all reached a point in their careers where they had to leave Britain and race in Spain to get into Grand Prix racing. The conventional wisdom says that racing in Spain has insurmountable natural advantages such as a warm climate and a proliferation of high quality circuits that we can’t match in Britain.

Yet the current Moto GP Champion Casey Stoner travelled halfway across the planet (from a warm climate) to start his career in Britain in the Aprilia Superteen Challenge. We have more permanent race circuits in Britain per square mile than any other European country (including Spain) and there are also a greater number of regulated race meetings here than anywhere else in Europe.

The difference is money.

There is a high level of local government and National government funding in motorcycle racing in Spain and Italy as opposed to virtually none in Britain. The circuits and organisers here exist in a far harsher economic climate and it shows.

Conversely, the British Superbike Championship is hailed as the best domestic Superbike series in the world, yet there are currently no British riders in the premier class of the World Superbike Championship. There are young riders in World Supersport and they will hopefully step up into the main series at some point in the future.

So it would seem that once a rider reaches the age of 14 or 15 years of age, the choice is simple. Take the road south to Spain if the objective is world championship Grand Prix racing, or find a good team in the British Championship if domestic fame and fortune is the goal.
So how can a brand new venture, on limited funds, contribute to British success at world level in any meaningful way?

As a tiny organisation, Thundersport GB has a mission to ensure that there is a constant stream of good quality riders in the pipeline to fill both of those career paths and to be on hand to advise riders, which is the best route for them individually.

At the same time, we are trying to build a series that will attract youth riders from other northern European countries such as Holland, Finland, Norway and Sweden. It is not beyond our capabilities to create a microcosm of what has happened in Spain, right here in Great Britain. The contacts have been made and the initial feelings seem positive, so watch this space.
We are building something from the ground up, but as individuals we have a good track record of being able to do this.

Negotiations are already well underway with three different parties to create another series for 80cc machines to cater for younger riders in a more controlled environment to learn the skills they will need before entering the Aprilia Superteen series. This may even have its first outing as early as August 2008 but will definitely be up and running for 2009.
We have big ambitions for British riders and we hope that everyone here today will look back at this first small step on the ladder and enjoy watching it grow, knowing that you were there right at the start."
Admission costs £12.00 with free entry for children under the age of 16; parking and paddock access are also free. Tickets can be booked on line at www.mallorypark.co.uk or telephone 01455 842931 and select option 1.
For more details on this weekend, click here
Download the Mallory timetable here