09/12/2025
Season Review
This year was a bitter pill to swallow.
After a tough but promising introduction to modern 600 racing in 2024 coming off a great year in Pre-Injection in 2023 I had high hopes and goals for what I wanted to achieve next.
We kicked off 2025 at Snetterton on the Yamaha R6. It became obvious straight away that the level across 600 classes had stepped up Mechanically. Back home, we had to rethink how to make meaningful progress within a realistic budget. Unfortunately, switching to the Triumph 765 opened up a can of worms. Chasing the horsepower gain without the ongoing cost of tuned engines meant we overlooked the drawbacks of the triumph and to make matters worse, the engine was running with a blown head gasket. That issue wasn’t resolved until after three rounds filled with crashes and running less power than the R6.
The one positive? Despite everything, I was nearly faster at every round except one where a collapsed wheel bearing and an injury held me back. That alone showed real rider development, even on what was arguably a lesser bike.
Trying to do all of this alone became completely exhausting, and eventually I had to wave the white flag. After some honest reflection, I’ve gone back to the drawing board and decided to move into CB500s with the intention of bringing up Jess’s skills and some 125 racing inbetween. With more experience and a clearer understanding of the true cost of racing, I’ve had to face an uncomfortable truth that there’s nowhere further for me to go in the bigger bike classes without compromising everything else in life. It’s not as glamorous, but it’s sustainable, realistic and puts everyone involved in a much better position.
Keep your eyes peeled, some exciting winter testing is just around the corner.
Thank you to everyone who has helped and cheered me on.
