Jamie Thomas, 22, races motorbikes with the world’s oldest motorcycle racing club – the British Motorcycle Racing Club, known as BMCRC or “Bemsee”. The former Beacon student, lives on Eridge Road and works for a glazing firm in Edenbridge.
Last year was Jamie’s rookie year and he raced in a class called Rookie 600. Jamie describes his performance:
It was an up and down season. I had a few podiums at Brands Hatch when I raced with a club called ThundersportGB. I had a 1st, 2nd and 3rd over that weekend. I also had a couple of crashes last season including one big one at a track called Snetterton. I highsided in the wet which I was lucky to walk away from unhurt with just a sore neck.
Now its the 2019 season and he has jumped onto a 1000cc, racing in the newly-formed Thunderbike Ultra series on his Suzuki GSXR 1000. So he’s up against experienced racers on a much more competitive grid. The first round of the year was held at Brands Hatch over the weekend of the 9-10th March. He was delighted to finish on the podium in the final. Jamie sent CrowboroughLife his race report:
Well that’s the first race weekend of the season done and what a weekend! All weekend I was suffering with horrendous
pain from arm pump and was struggling to do more than six laps without having to pull in. I knew I had to ride through the pain in the races! I managed to put in a decent qualifying time which put me on the third row of the grid. AdvertisementRace 1 got off to a good start keeping up with the front runners. Then after the 6th lap the dreaded arm pump took over and slowed me down but I managed to finish the race in 4th! Second race was a similar story but finished in 5th.
Then Sunday races came and I knew I had the pace to keep up with the front runners! Race 1 was a strong race but still a 4th. Then in Race 2, I had a great start and pushed hard and rode through the pain of the arm pump all race and it paid off by finishing in 3rd! My first non-rookie race weekend and I finish on the podium!
Hopefully with more to come!
Jamie’s team name is Team Ruby Racing – named in memory of his Nan. If you want to follow his progress through the season, you’ll find his updates on Instagram. Jamie’s looking for sponsorship – if you are interested you can get in touch via his email jamiethomasmt@gmail.com.
