Racer of the week – Callum Alderson

This year was one I’ll remember for a while, regardless of the step down from the 600 Supersport to the Yamaha R3 class, I’ve gained copious amounts of experience and exposure I wouldn’t have got other wise, stepping down onto the smaller bikes again let me really experience a lot of new things, these small bikes are so easy to get right to the limit and you learn to have a much better feel for the bike and you gain more respect for the power of the bigger bikes.

Honestly, at the start of the year we had high expectations of myself and it was fair to say they where achieved, but that’s not without the incredible assistance from all my sponsors and supporters.

I’m the past I’ve ridden a lot of different bikes and a lot of different set ups, 80’s 150’s 125’s 600’s 300’s and 250’s. 300 has helped me immensely both for the present and the future.

With the help from Andy Offer from AARK racing I’ve secured a ride for 2017 in ASBK SuperSport aboard the Yamaha YZF R6, we made this decision based on the fact that Yamaha are bringing the new model R6 to Australia in 2017 and we intend to get our hands on one of them and start development onboard that in Australia, another reason as to why we’ve purchased brand new bikes instead of previous race bikes, fresh engines are much more reliable and we know what we’ve done to them and we know that all the work on the bikes is 100% to the rules instead of just taking someone’s word for it!

Over the years Dad and I have done it tough, little set up support and track support for sure, but this year with the results I was able to get within the first few rounds, helped me gain incredible help, not just on track support though.

We had the option to race in the newly formed WorldSuperSport 300 class alongside AARK racing, but financially that was not an option, thankfully with the continued support from Andy and Yamaha aswell as my current and new sponsors, we’ve been lucky enough to have a solid ride for the year ahead.

We’ve still got a lot of room for improvement that’s for sure, but in saying that, I’m much stronger and much more confident in myself knowing that I can run up the front at a national level.

My highlights from the year are almost endless

There was at least 1 every round because I just kept improving each time I got on the bike, regardless of the finish result.

Round 1 at Wakefield was the first time I stood on a national senior level podium

Round 2 at Eastern Creek I took the clean sweep and 2 lap records

Round 3 at Barbagallo I took out 2/3 race wins including 1 with a 7 second lead over 2nd including another lap record

Round 4 at Morgan park I took another clean sweep aswell as 2 lap records

Round 5 at PI I was lucky enough to ride the AARK racing SuperSport bike and beat my PB lap time and dip lower into the 38’s

Round 6 at Winton I was able to get 2/3 race wins and 2 more lap records and finish on the podium in both classes for the year.

That being said, the new competition will be a lot more cut throat, the riders at the Supersport level are far more experienced and are always giving 100%, if I was to chose someone I’m looking forward to riding against I wouldn’t be able to pick just 1, especially for the fact that a lot of them are progressing to superbike next year and I might not see them in the Supersport class next year!

This year has made me have a more professional  outlook on my racing, consistently being on the podium all year made me focus just that little bit more on making sure I acted the right way every time to ensure I gained the sponsors I needed to keep racing, I could go on forever about how much I enjoy racing and how much I appreciate the immense support from all involved in our little operation we have going on here in Melbourne, but I’m genuinely thankful for the experience on and off track I’ve gained through out my 14 years of riding, I’m only 18 and still have a lot to learn, I’ve been through some incredibly tough times so far in my life but I’ve also had so many amazing experiences with the racing family and I can’t wait to have more.

Next season is going to be a big one, the AARK racing Yamaha SuperSport team is going to come out kicking!