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Rider Profiles
Name: Matt Norman
Series: National Superstock 600
Team: MNR Racing
Matt started racing at the age of 6 in
the Automatic group with a couple of local clubs in
Schoolboy Motocross. He soon made an impression winning
the club championship in his first year !!!!!
He moved up to the 60cc class aged 7 and spent the Next
2 Years riding at club and national level picking Up a
few wins and many podium positions and a huge collection
of trophies for his efforts along the way !!!!!
At the age of 9 he moved up into the 80cc class and Continued to get better and better, his style improved with guidance from the then British and Ex World champions Rob Herring and Paul Malin and we found ourselves travelling all over the country to race at different venues and on a variety of surfaces……
The next step was to move into the 100’s
which Matt did from the age of 11 through to 13 and as
the competition increased so did Matt, still picking up
many top 3 placings and missing out on another club
Championship only through injury !!!
At 14 Matt spent a year aboard a new 125cc bike but a
recurring injury and a dislocated shoulder blade meant
he didn’t get to ride as much as in the previous years,
and having gone along to a road race try out day as a
spectator he ended up aboard a 500 and thoroughly
enjoyed it
The instructor encouraged Matt to take up the sport as he had a ‘natural talent’ so we acquired an Aprillia RS 125 and joined the MRO and entered the Aprillia Challenge series which is widely acknowledged as the breeding ground for future champions it was a major step up and Matt found the first year quite difficult – learning the tracks and the bike etc.
The T.V. and media coverage was
encouraging and the 2nd Year saw a marked improvement
with regular low teens and a few top 10 finishes against
the best talent in the country !!!!
At the end of his second season we managed to borrow a
race ready 400cc Honda from our local supplier and Matt
had a try out At Cadwell and Mallory park and took to
the bike really well, picking up a podium position on
his second outing !!!! The bike really suited Matt and
we therefore moved up into the Supersport 400 group for
the following season…….
We decided that the Kawasaki ZXR 400 was probably the best bike For the series and after obtaining the bike and having it very highly tuned, and a nice new set of leathers, a nice paint job and a few Sponsors also coming on-board to help with the ever increasing costs Matt rode the bike to many wins and podiums in the first year, and culminated the second year by winning the Championship and becoming the Club Champion !!!!!!!!!
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2006 Having had such a great season
during 2005 which resulted in winning the
A mad panic resulted in a late night dash to Kawasaki Headquarters for parts, while a combined effort from English, French and Italian teams saw the bike stripped. Friday night and Saturday saw the bike re-built, scrutineered and passed to ride with literally 10 mins of the last qualifying session left !!! Matt rode well and qualified 34th (only 35 qualified – 6 didn’t make the times required) onto the race on Sunday and down onto the grid with the air–horns 130,000 fans and a T.V. interview !!! After a good start and a close race Matt managed to climb to 21st eventually finishing 24th and beating team bikes and works riders in the process. A weekend to remember for ever, and one that will probably never be repeated……. 2007 Having had such a good first
year aboard the 600 Matt has decided to stay
with the bike for 2007 running in the major club
championships and the ACU rounds again (if it
runs – currently under doubt)…It should give us
much more track time on the bike and if all goes
well Matt will enter the British Superbikes as a
‘Wildcard’ for the last few rounds aboard a 1000
in the National Superstocks with help from the
Astro Kawasaki team, and MSS Discovery……… |
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