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SPORTS GRANT: 120mph ace Fraser is only 12
BRITISH motorcycling, which hasn't produced a world champion since the late Barry Sheene in 1977, could be on the verge of a golden era.
And Fraser Rogers, from Hullavington, near
Malmesbury, is on the front row of the grid - and competing at an astonishing 120mph.
While Gloucestershire's Scott Redding was becoming the youngest ever winner of a motor cycle Grand Prix at Donington Park on the Sunday before last, Fraser won one of the supporting races on the programme which attracted 89,000 enthusiastic fans.
Malmesbury School student Fraser is just 12 years old.
"Motorcycling in this country suffers from a lack of publicity," said Fraser's stepfather, Ian Harris.
"When Lewis Hamilton won his first Formula One Grand Prix, the papers were full of it.
"Scott's win got nothing like the same coverage and yet he is only 15.
"With kids like Scott, Fraser, Danny Webb and Bradley Smith, British motorcycling could be very strong in five years' time."
Fraser, who has made an instant impact since he was able to step up to the Aprilia 125cc Challenge series, is awarded this month's Wilts and Glos Standard Sports Grant.
The £100 prize is kindly donated by Helen Hall and Margaret Atkinson of the Active Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic on the outskirts of Cirencester.
It is an initiative to support young sportsmen and women, who have the potential to excel in their chosen field.
After ten of the 17 rounds so far in 2008, Fraser is not only ahead in the Nitro Newcomers series for rookies, but he heads the overall Aprilia standings against some kids seven years his senior.
Last weekend, he followed up his Donington success with three further victories at Snetterton - and came home with a van load of trophies.
"We were looking for a top-ten finish in his first
season, but things have worked out better than we expected," said Harris.
"Fraser has been very consistent and has made the podium at every meeting."
The Aprilia 125 Challenge, also known as the J & S Superteens, has already proven a stepping-stone to stardom as Australia's Casey Stoner, the 2007 MotoGP World Champion, won it back in 2000.
Britain's James Toseland is another Superteens recruit.
Fraser, originally from Lambourn, moved to Hullavington three months ago after living for four years in North Somerset.
He was given his first motor-bike - a Yamaha PW50 - at just five years old and showed precocious talent from the start.
After spending 18 months competing in motocross events, he moved to circuit bikes and won the Mini Moto Championship in 2005, at the age of nine.
The following season was a virtual write-off because of injury.
Ironically, motor racing was not the cause of his temporary setback.
Instead, it was a fall from a school playground climbing frame, which dislocated a shoulder, broke his arm in three places and also his wrist.
In seven years of motor cycling, he has only ever broken a bone in his hand.
He bounced back in 2007, comprehensively winning the Metrakit 70 British Championship with 11 victories in the 14 races.
He also found time to finish runner-up in the Mini Moto series as well.
Should Fraser continue his meteoric rise through the ranks, Harris is hoping he will be selected for one of the main schooling grounds in the sport.
"Scott Redding's family were able to find the £50,000 necessary for him to race in the CEV Championships in Spain last season, sometimes known as the "Cradle of Grand Prix", but we simply haven't got those kind of resources," he said.
"We are hoping he gets selected for either the Red Bull Rookies Cup or the MotoGP Academy.
"The Red Bull series is an all expenses-paid event which requires him to go for testing in Italy, and then they race all over Europe.
"The MotoGP Academy is based in Spain and takes just three riders from Europe each year.
"They fly out every other weekend and there is a lot of physical conditioning and classroom work as well as the actual motor cycle races.
"Fraser is already better than the three kids selected for the Academy this year, so we are hopeful."
Fraser's next outing in the Superteens series is at Mallory Park on Sunday, July 27, and his progress can be monitored on Motors TV which broadcasts his races.
Active Physiotherapy can be contacted on 01285 643080 or log on to www.
activephysiotherapy.net.
10:20pm Tuesday 1st July 2008
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