"British Army soldier from Amesbury will race at Thruxton"

Please see the Salisbury Journal Article here

By Jordon Elkins

12 Aug 22

A SOLDIER from Amesbury will make his national motorcycle championship debut at Thruxton this weekend.

Stephen 'Tommo#21' Thomas, 30, holds the rank of sergeant in the Royal Military Police and has served for 11 years.

The father-of-one is supported by the British Army Road Race Team as an elite sportsman which recognises that he competes at the top national level of his sport.

Racing with a supersport spec 2013 Triumph Daytona 675, SGT Thomas will be competing in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship (BSB) which is held at Thruxton Circuit.

Sgt Thomas started racing in 2017 and has lived in Amesbury for six years while posted at Bulford camp. He is the only member of the military that races in the BSB.

One year later, he won his first championship - the 2018 Thundersport GB A&R Racing Pre-National 600.

He said: “I jumped into it with both feet and ended up being pretty good compared to some of the other riders that had been racing longer. One thing led to another and I was getting quicker."

Five days after winning the championship, SGT Thomas was deployed to Africa for 10 months.

He came back strong in 2020 and went on to win the Thundersport GB Sport 600 Class, a "particular achievement" after not racing for almost a year.

"Racing has its highs and lows but when you are winning championships it’s a good feeling," added SGT Thomas.

Likening his current situation to "David and Goliath", SGT Thomas runs his small, independent, family-based team. He said: "It's difficult. We compete against a lot of factory-backed big budget teams with riders who do this full time and are professionally paid.

"We're not the only independent team trying to stick it to the bigger teams, but we're doing what we can with the resources at our disposal."

During his practice session at Thruxton he had an engine issue which required a replacement.

"It all got sorted with about 10 minutes to spare before qualifying!" added SGT Thomas.

Despite driving to Ipswich on Friday night and returning to the paddock at 4am on Saturday, 13 August, SGT Thomas had some strong finishes at the BSB.

It costs £45k to race in BSB for a season and SGT Thomas's team covers "about 75 per cent of it".

"Going forward I want to get to the point with a team where we can compete in whatever we want to and all the funding is covered by sponsors.

"In my current situation I have to put money in to balance the books."

The motorcycle champion is sponsored by local companies Hart Sprays and Signs in Motion of Salisbury as well as JMF Heating & Plumbing and Southern Quarter Gym & Coffee shop of Amesbury.

The televised event runs from Friday, August 12 to Sunday, August 14 and will see racers go head-to-head at up to 200 miles per hour.

For more information about Stephen Thomas's race team, click here.

Tickets for all three days of the racing event are available from Thruxton's website.

Please see the Salisbury Journal Article here

By Jordon Elkins

12 Aug 22