Australian motorcycle racer, Tom Toparis, 23, has secured 7th spot on the leaderboard of the British Superbike Championships after round two.
Toparis has been competing in motorcycle racing since he was 14 and won the Australian Championship in 2019 and 2020, two consecutive years in a row. He’s now taken his passion for the sport further and is racing in the Quattro Group BSB, almost 17,000 kilometres from home his Goulburn home.
Toparis has currently raced the 1st and 2nd Round of the Championship. After the 1st Round he placed 3rd on the Championship leaderboard but dropped to 7th after the 2nd round, due to being disadvantaged by a crash in the first lap of the feature race, which was held at Oulton Park in difficult conditions.
“I had to race in the rain which was something that I was dreading because I knew that in the wet conditions, I was definitely nowhere near as good as I was in the dry,” Toparis said.
Toparis is currently adapting to a change in lifestyle while living over in the United Kingdom until October when the Championship ends. Toparis said that living in the UK part time has had its challenges, but may be what he needs to do in order to make a successful career out of racing.
“The drive that pushes me I think would be if I want to make a career out of racing then the time is now to actually do something about it and get results and if I don’t do something in the next year or two or three then I sort of missed the boat,” he said.
“It’s just easy for me to live at home and work at home and hang out with my mates on the weekends.
“It’s definitely a sacrifice to move to the UK where I kind of live out of a suitcase…if I want to make a career out of racing motorbikes, I’ve definitely got to do something about it right now.”
Toparis isn’t going to let his setback at Oulton Park stop him from hopes to get back on track for a podium finish at Donington Park this month and has set goals for himself that line up similarly to his performance in the 1st Round.
“If I can get back to a track here I know at Donington… and just set a goal for myself to be top three in all those practises and leading into the races and then I’ll hopefully get on the podium, but at the same time if I get an opportunity to win a race it would be unreal to win, just mentally, for me to get some confidence again.”
Image: Tom Toparis at Oulton Park.
