Motor Cycling: Hill on Top of Heap After Hard Ride

Typical of the sport itself, motorcycle racing in this country has a simple and effective system for discovering and nurturing future British world champions. The Yamaha R6 Cup reached the conclusion of its second season recently by crowning Richard Wren as the latest prospect to follow in the footsteps of last year's winner, Tommy Hill.

Wren, 22, and Hill, 19, won their respective championships and the guarded respect of the bike world by beating opposition on a playing field so level that talent had to be the only arbiter. The R6 Cup is for riders aged between 16 and 22 with no more than three years' national racing experience. The clever part is that the 600cc Yamaha R6 bikes are identically prepared by a company run by Rob McElnea, a former motorbike champion who also heads the Virgin Mobile Yamaha British Superbike team. The reward for the winner is a leap from virtual obscurity to being a member of McElnea's coveted squad.

This time last year, Hill could barely believe his luck. But sceptics doubted whether a novice could safely make the transition without being a menace to himself and, more importantly, the seasoned veterans taking part in the British Superbike Championship, second only to the MotoGP world series in terms of sheer competitiveness and ferocious racing.

It is one thing to race a standard bike on road tyres; quite another to get astride a pure racing machine that would need little excuse to test the quality of the slightly built rider's leathers by pitching him on to his bony backside. Hill not only proved the doubters wrong, but he also became one of the stars of the season, working his way up the grid to qualify on the front row at Mallory Park and then at Castle Combe, where he reached the podium with third place in the season-ending race.

'First time I rode the bike, it felt real, real stiff; very hard to ride,' says Hill. 'I just couldn't get on with it. I couldn't turn it, couldn't change gear properly, couldn't do anything. So I started getting a bit cocky with the bike, making sure I was in control rather than the bike being in control of me. Then, suddenly, during a pre-season test, everything clicked. Instead of really struggling, I was right on the pace. I was having more fun, letting the bike wiggle into corners, move about more. The Yamaha R1 is basically a forgiving bike. Or it is until you get high-sided and it throws you 15 to 20 feet into the air. That's when you either end up with broken bones or being seriously wounded. You learn that lesson very quickly.'

Hill may have been a boy among the bruisers at the start of the season, but his mental approach was that of a mature adult - much to McElnea's surprise.

'To be honest,' says McElnea, 'Tommy wasn't my ideal type of guy to work with last year. He had a different head on. He had a completely different make-up and it was one he had to have to win the championship. He didn't mix a lot, didn't do a lot with me, he just had that total goal.

'Since winning the R6 Cup, he has come to the party with the mentality of a first-year apprentice. He's been unbelievable in the way he's wanted to learn everything. He's been getting closer to the front end of things while earning attention and respect. Considering his age and experience, he's handled it brilliantly.

'I've seen guys who get that far and that's good enough. Doing a few quick laps in practice and being patted on the back is sometimes enough for some people. But it's nowhere near enough for Tommy.'

McElnea concedes that the discipline necessary to succeed within the tight confines of the R6 Cup - there have been seven different winners this year - played a large part in the preparation necessary to deal with the cut and thrust of the BSB Championship.

'It's so close and there is so much to lose in R6 that you have to be consistent and learn to put the bad days behind you and move on. That's what Tommy did last year,' says McElnea. 'He had that mindset from day one and that's definitely helped him this year. But, more than anything, it's the way he takes things on the chin. He's so gutted when things go wrong, whether it's his mistake or the bike lets him down, but, within 10 minutes, he's back round again, "Let's go; next race." He has been a terrific example to the guys in this year's R6 Cup because he's shown what's possible.'

McElnea, a hardened racing man, is so enthusiastic about Hill's progress that you suspect he will win a place on the works Yamaha team at the expense of one of the existing and more experienced riders in 2005.

'Tommy has been a fantastic ambassador for everything we have done; not just the pure results and where he has got to, but his demeanour, the way he conducts himself, promotes himself,' says McElnea. 'The whole thing has come from this R6 academy. We go down to the grass roots, we find a Tommy Hill, the first year is a paid and financed berth from Yamaha and Virgin Mobile and, the following year, he steps into a Superbike team on merit. That's where he's at. I'm sure he'll get a ride in 2005. From there, who knows? World Superbike and then MotoGP. A British rider on the way up. And, in the meantime, we have Richard Wren coming through to take his turn. British bike racing couldn't ask for more.'