A wet afternoon in Sheffield was the catalyst for bike rider Adrian Wilkinson to take up circuit racing.

And within six weeks, the 35-year-old lighting technician from Colne had chalked up his first class win in a national championship!

Adrian, who runs Industrial Light and Sound Ltd at Lomeshaye Business Village, Nelson, had ridden road bikes for over ten years.

But a typical summer's day in South Yorkshire proved to the turning point, as he explained: "I'd been out on a ride, but the weather was cold, wet and miserable, and I felt the same. At that point I decided I'd had enough of road riding and it was time to go racing.

"I'd thought about it for a while, but the time never seemed right. Now it did."

Within six weeks, he had sold his two sports bikes and bought a Suzuki TLR 1000 - on Ebay.

He said: "I did it the way you shouldn't, on the internet and without seeing it! Luckily for me, the seller was an AA patrolman based in Glasgow, and he was straight as a die. When I went to pick it it up, it was everything I'd hoped it would be.

"Once I got it back home and into my 6ft x 4ft shed, I stripped off all the standard road bits such as the suspension, brakes and tyres and replaced them with pukka racing items."

With the bike now sorted and armed with a racing licence, Adrian entered his first race - at the daunting Cadwell Park track in Lincolnshire.

"I decided to enter the Sound of Thunder' national race series, which is designed for bikes like mine," he explained.

"And the format of four six-laps races over a weekend suits novices like me, who needed plenty of practice!

"Although there were only two rounds left in the championship, I still managed to finish eighth overall in the novice class, thanks to a class win in the final meeting.

"The whole experience was fantastic and the results were very encouraging."

He added: "I don't have any sponsorship, everything is paid for by me and my girlfriend Nancy, who comes to all the meetings.

"But I've decided to take the plunge and compete in the full Sounds of Thunder' Cham-pionship this year, starting at Cadwell again on March 15-16."