Blasting out of Wrexham in North Wales comes 28 year old Tom Gigg who, until the current Covid-19 crisis, was set to unleash a new bike on the unsuspecting riders with the Wirral 100 championship as he looked to build on an impressive series of PB's around the beautiful Anglesey circuit in 2019. A dropped valve in cylinder 3 on the pairs first outing together had put a doubt over Round 1 before all racing was postponed indefinitely giving Tom the chance to check and recheck everything and have them both raring to go when the light finally go out. (Header image curtesy of Andy Hatton)
Q1 - Race number? 143.
Q2 - Club / Championship? Wirral 100 (W100) in 2019 and all being well 2020!
Q3 - Class / Classes? Formula 600, a new bike for 2020 although we've had a few teething problems when it dropped a valve just as we were getting up to speed.
Q4 - Debut? March 2017, Anglesey with Wirral 100 (What an eye opener!).
Q5 - Honours / Titles? Preston and District Motorcycle Club (PDMCC) 3rd place in Newcomers Championship. PDMCC 2nd place in Pre-Injection Championship. W 100 first race win in Pre-Electronic Powerbikes.
Q6 - Favourite Circuit and Favourite corner? Cadwell Park, favourite corner has to be Peel at Anglesey, I can never get the right line through but the view as you drop down the hill!!
Q7 - Boyhood heroes? Never really had one!
Q8 - Toughest rival? Myself, always myself.
Q9 - If I could swap places with any other rider? Anyone at top level making money from racing bikes.
Q10 - Biggest accident? Oulton Park 2017 on a track day! High sided out of Knickerbrook, dislocated my shoulder and suffered a huge hematoma in my lag.
Q11 - Biggest influence on your career so far? Probably the parents and wife, they're always pushing me to do better and helping any way they can.
Q12 - Rossi or Marquez? Rossi.
Q12a - If I wasn't racing I would be? Playing rugby probably.
Q14 - Nickname? Don't have one (That I'm aware of anyway!).
Q15 - If money was no object I would? Be racing as much as possible!
Q16 - Brown or Red sauce, Coke or Pepsi? Brown sauce and Coke.
Q17 - If I could be one person for one day I would be? Tough one! I'm not really sure.
Q18 - Cost to race per season? I dread to think! Roughly £600 - £700 a meeting.
Q19 - Dream bike? BMW HP4 Race. Hand-build craftsmanship and fully carbon chassis and rims.
Q20 - Training regime (Gym rat or bike fit)? Gym and running.
Q21 - Dogs or Cats? Dogs.
Q22 - From October to March I can be found doing? Working daft hours to save up money for the racing season!
Q23 - Dry track, wet track or not fussed? Not fussed, I used to hate the wet until I won my first race in pouring down rain.
Q24 - Best ever race? To be fair I've had a few great races between W100 and PDMCC, hard to choose just one!
Q25 - Special thanks to? Anyone that helps me out with my racing, friends, sponsors, family, Club 43 members and most importantly the wife.
And that's it from Tom, hopefully I'll be catching up with him at Anglesey soon. Up next is Preston based Joe Walton.