A life in racing – of all kinds…
FIRST RACE
Pete’s dad was a keen amateur grasstracker, so it wasn’t long before his son joined in the fun. This shot is of Pete (second from right, bike #100) about to start his first ever race, at Ludford in Lincolnshire.
BANTAM POWERED
It wasn’t just riding that Pete learned from his dad – he picked up on the mechanical side of things too. Above he’s on his first bike that his dad made from a BSA Bantam motor and an unknown frame that was lying around in the shed.
OFF TO THE BEACH
With Mablethorpe just down the road and his dad’s grasstrack bikes in the shed, Pete inevitably ended up beach racing as a teenager. This and the early grasstrack forays perhaps explain how he took so easily to speedway later in life.
STEADY AWAY
Pete’s dad raced off-road because he couldn’t afford to go road racing. But when he saw the level of Pete’s enthusiasm, he sold his bikes and bought his lad this – aDucati 250. Pete’s on it above, in his first ever road race at Cadwell Park in 1980
FIRST MANX
It’s 1982 and 18-year-old Pete (right) is racing at his first ever Manx GP. He was no stranger to the Island, though – he’d been there almost every year as a kid on family holidays: “I can’t remember a holiday that didn’t involve racing”.
GETTING BETTER
Pete raced against Barry Sheene on this Suzuki RG500, though his real hero was Mick Grant. ‘Sheeney was obviously fantastic, but I liked an underdog, so I always wanted Mick to win. Plus I loved those Kawasakis he rode in 1978...’
LEARNING ON A TZ
On his Yamaha TZ250 at Cadwell in 1990. The TZ was the weapon of choice for most club racers of that era, but it was a fickle beast to set up. When Pete got hold of a Honda CBR600 it was a revelation.
THE BIG TIME
By 1992 Pete had a Yamaha OW01 and was regularly in the top ten of Superbike races (he’s at Scarborough in the pic above), fighting the likes of Ron Haslam, James Whitham, Carl Fogarty and Rob McElnea.
STARTING SPEEDWAY
Three weeks racing dirt track in America was enough to prove to Pete that he needed to improve his sliding, so he took up speedway. A talent scout spotted him and he ended up racing professional
