After a two-year wait, motorcycle fans were excited to see the most prestigious two-wheeled championship in the world back in Great Britain.

All eyes were on Silverstone circuit this weekend for round 12 of the MotoGP, especially all those who have been following the progress of Jamie Lyons, the 16-year-old member of the Enniskillen and District Motorcycle club who has been competing in the Honda British Talent Cup (BTC) series, whose tagline is ‘The Road to MotoGP’.

This MotoGP weekend includes two BTC races and is considered a taster for what all these young competitors can only dream about, and sharing the paddock with the best and most successful riders in the world can be a thrilling experience for all.

The weekend didn’t start as planned – when the Lyons privateer team should have been arriving at Silverstone, instead they found themselves stranded off the Welsh coast in a broken-down ferry, missing their arrival slot by several hours.

The team were initially afraid the weekend would be finished before they started, but thanks to the organisers making an exception, they arrived just in time for the mandatory riders briefing and tour of the circuit.

Conditions were good for the free practice sessions and Lyons quickly forgot about any earlier hiccups and set the pace with the fastest lap times in both sessions.

The youngster pushed hard during the qualifying session and despite his best efforts missed qualifying on pole by just 0.4/seconds, but was more than happy with his second-place front row start on the grid.

Saturday’s race was set to be a tight challenge, but as the start lights went off Lyons had a great start, and within minutes he and previous race winner Casey O’Gorman started to break away from the remainder of the pack.

The teenage riders continued to push their Moto3 machines to the limit, dicing throughout the 12-lap race, both showing that they were in a league of their own.

By the time the final lap dawned, their gap to the rest was up to 15 seconds, with O’Gorman in the lead attempting to break away, but Lyons was never far behind as he kept the pressure on and with a breathtaking swoop, Lyons snatched the lead with a clean move up the inside and crossed the finish line only +0.013 seconds ahead of his rival to take the win.

Competing against other factory-backed teams is never easy, and emotions were running high for the privateer team as they watched Jamie take the top step on the podium at the British Grand Prix – a proud moment for all who have helped support the team with their journey so far.

The Lyons team, however, had little time to celebrate as preparation was needed for the second race on Sunday, which now saw Jamie on pole position as he had the fastest lap in Race One.

The race again was for 12 laps with Lyons getting caught up in the pack, however quickly making his way to the front once more.

This time the leading pack consisted of five young riders with fractions of seconds between them. It was not until there was only five laps to go that a small gap started to form, with again Lyons and O’Gorman breaking away.

Lyons appeared comfortable as he took the lead in the final few laps, but O’Gorman was not for giving up, and despite Lyons’s best efforts the lighter rider was able to slip past.

With a fraction to spare, Lyons came home in second place.

Overall, a successful weekend, with Lyons now sitting in fifth overall in the championship standings. The next BTC round is this weekend at Snetterton race circuit.

In other news

Enniskillen and District Club members headed to Mondello Racetrack in Naas, Kildare.

With three races in each class over two days it was a busy weekend with a large entry. Some of the club members were keen to get some track time in before the next road race.

Keith Richardson finished in 10th, 7th, and 6th in the Supersport 600 A race, with Darren Clarke finishing in 14th, 19th and 18th place.

In the Supersport B race, Adrian Heraty finished with a 7th and two 6th place finishes, and Fivemiletown’s Trevor Quinn, who was at Mondello for the first time, finished his races with 10th and two 7th place finishes.

Michael Carr was on his 400cc machine in the lightweight class, and finished the weekend with two 5th and 14th place finishes. In the same class Connell Fury failed to start in one race and finished in 13th in the remaining two.

In the pre-injection class, Kesh man Slane Maguire had a 9th and 16th place finish, but did not start his third race.

The next outing for short circuit riders will be on September 4 at Kirkistown Racetrack, and the next Road Race will be in Cookstown on September 10 amd 11.

The Enniskillen-based motorcycle club is the first step for anyone who would like to get involved with the sport.