LAST year Tom Swan from Easton near Wickam Market finished third in the Eastern Centre 125cc Schoolboy Championship and this season the 18-year-old will be moving up to the junior class of the Eastern Centre adult championship.

LAST year Tom Swan from Easton near Wickam Market finished third in the Eastern Centre 125cc Schoolboy Championship and this season the 18-year-old will be moving up to the junior class of the Eastern Centre adult championship.

Tom started riding competitively aboard an 85cc machine at the age of 14 and in 2005 he entered both the Norfolk & Suffolk Junior MCC and Norwich & District MCC 125cc Schoolboy championships.

In 2006 he continued in the same championships, finishing third in the Norfolk & Suffolk Junior MCC championship and second in the Norwich & DMCC championship, as well as picking up awards from both clubs for best improved rider.

This year Tom is riding a 2007 spec Yamaha YZ125 - a 125cc two-stroke machine - and he has already performed well in a number of race meetings.

His latest meeting was with the Norwich & District Schoolboy & Adult MXC at Belstead where he competed in the adult class against other competitors riding 450cc machines. Even so, he finished 5 th, 4th and then 9th - after a small spill two laps from the end of the third race - placing him 8th overall.

Tom is treating this season as a year learn and improve his skills, as well evaluating how quick his 125cc 2-stroke machine is against the bigger 4-stroke machines. In 2008, however, he is expecting to have a consorted effort at moving up to the expert class to take on some of the quickest rider in the Eastern Centre.