2018
This year Jake started riding for Mills Racing Team on board the Honda RS GP 125 in the TSGP cup with NG road racing.
We started the season not knowing how Jake was going to take to the bike as it is a lot different to any other bike he has ridden before, with it being a fully blown GP bike.
He surprised us all and started the season very competitively, running with the front runners from the beginning and getting on the podium at the first round. Jake continued to impress throughout the season with plenty of ups and downs. Through mechanical problems and crashes he kept smiling and confident and managed a podium at every round. Unfortunately he couldn’t quite get the top step until the latest round at Castle Combe where he took the win for the first time this year, on the last race of the weekend, and got presented his 1st place trophy by legend Steve Parish. To finish the weekend off he secured second place in the championship with still one round to go at Oulton Park.
Jake was also awarded Young Rider of the year award for achieving so much this year, racing against much more experienced riders and been the youngest, at 13, by 9 years .
2017
Great to see that Jake has progressed through the season, racing at some of Britain’s most famous race track’s like Brand’s Hatch, Cadwell Park, Donnington Park and many more, gaining some amazing memories and experiences along the way. During all this excitement, not everything runs as smoothly as planned. Jake suffered some major mechanical failures as well as some hair raising crashes.
This didn’t stop Jake’s determination for wanting more and he kept smiling all the way through the teething problems and kept pushing and trying hard to eventually gain his ‘clubman license’ halfway through the season.
Once Jake gained his clubman, license we then stepped into other championships on his Aprilia 125. Jake made massive improvements and progressed every race picking up podium’s along the way. Whilst all of this was going on we received an email from DORNA inviting Jake to the British Talent Cup selection process. He was selected from hundreds to try out at Silverstone during Moto GP week. Although Jake gave everything he had, it wasn’t his time and he didn’t get selected for the British Talent Cup 2018. Jake took it on the chin and said he will go back stronger next year.
With the season coming to an end, we have had to decide what our plans are going to be for 2018 and after long talks with various people and lots of decision making, we have decided to move onto a Honda GP RS 125 riding in a team for the season. They have also asked for Jake to ride the Honda in the Race Of The Year at Mallory Park on 22/10/17, which is a one off annual event with some top names from BSB riding there. In order for Jake to participate in the race on board the Honda as he is still 12, we have had to write to the ACU for dispensation to allow Jake to race which has been granted – and that is a big achievement in itself.
Over the year we have had many ups and downs with some amazing experiences and can’t thank you guys at Bradley Mason enough. We are so grateful for all of your help and support over the years.