My dad took me to the TT races on the Isle of Man when I was big enough to walk.
I used to go in his sidecar. That got me into bikes and when I turned 16 I got a little 50cc bike. I passed the test at 17 and have had bikes ever since. I love the freedom, the excitement. There's a really strong Scottish motorcycle community as well. I enjoy that. My current roadbike is a Honda Fireblade. Overall, I've probably had 10 different superbikes on the road.
I have been in the Navy for 20 years and am a weapons engineer. I live in Dunfermline, and am based on HMS Queen Elizabeth, the largest warship ever built for the Navy. I'm the only member of the Navy in the Scottish Motorcycle Racing Championship (SMRC) which takes at East Fortune and Knockhill. I'm also involved in the North East Motorcycle Racing Club Championship. In both, I'm riding a Yamaha R6. I've been doing really well this season so far. I'm eighth in the North East Championship and am well on the way to losing the Novice jacket before season's end. I'm also part of the Royal Navy/Royal Marines' road racing team.
Over the last couple of years I've been involved in efforts to promote the race scene in Scotland. It has grown to the extent that it now has more entries than it can accommodate. In my class, there are over 60 riders wanting to race, but only 40 can race at any one time, so there are quite a few disappointed people. The race scene is totally different from riding on the road. It has a much faster pace.
It all started when I tried my hand at a Ron Haslam track day at Donington Park. To my amazement I finished top out of a group of 40 riders. I remember thinking, I might actually be able to ride a bike after all. I spent last winter preparing the Yamaha, stripping it down. I launched it last March at the SMRC stand at the Scottish Motorcycle Show. Thousands of people came to our stand, including racing celebs like Steve Parrish and TT legend John McGuinness. It was quite humbling.
Later I took part in my first trackday/race meet, at the Croft track, in north Yorkshire. I had a catastrophic mechanical failure on the back wheel, during testing. I thought that was my weekend over, but that was when I experienced how friendly the race scene is. Everyone rallied round, with advice and spare parts. It was magnificent. The people in the paddocks are always exceptionally friendly.
I'm gratified to have done so well this season. At Knockhill in April, in the second round of the SMRC, I finished 18th in the first race, 16th in the third, and 15th in the fourth and fifth races. There are eight rounds in the Scottish championship and I can't wait for the fourth round, at East Fortune, on July 11 and 12.
It has to be said that getting funding is always a big challenge in this sport; unless you break it big at the top, everyone scraps around trying to get enough funding in order to race. I'm grateful to my own sponsors. Blackbird Corporate, Lime Salon, and Powered by Pops. Without them, racing this year would not have been possible.
Carl's website is www.cvracing.co.uk
Russell Leadbetter
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