Teenage sensation Stacey just cannot stop breaking records

The 17-year-old, from Staffordshire, became the youngest-ever rider to score a point in British Superbikes following another hugely weekend at Silverstone.

Stacey is being carefully nurtured by GR Motosport, run by team manager Brent Gladwin, who has put a programme in place to hone his talent.

The teenager, from Eccleshall, has been turning heads in the BSB paddock for years after becoming the youngest-ever winner of British Motostar race, in the standard class, aged 12.

He then finished third in the British Motostar Championship when he was 14 and 15, before joining the GR Motosport set up.

Stacey finished third in the National Superstock 600 championship last year – just missing out on the title on the final race.

But Gladwin immediately recognised his talent and said he was thrilled with Stacey's performance at the halfway stage of the shortened 2020 BSB campaign.

"He actually went for it on the last lap, making a move on Taylor Mackenzie in the last couple of corners," he said.

"He came into the garage and had no idea he had scored his first-ever BSB point. It was absolutely brilliant.

"The other impressive thing about it was he did having had a massive crash in qualifying.

"One of the bikes spilt oil all over the track and took down about five or six riders, all doing about 140mph.

"Storm had a sore bum, shall we say, sliding down the track but other than that he was okay.

"To get straight back on the bike, though, and then score his point really shows his character."

Nurturing such a precocious talent takes plenty of patience and skill – and Gladwin believes GR Motosport has the perfect package in place.

"We have a programme for him and the fact is he has been just off the points in every race he has competed in so far," he said.

"In nine races he has been in the top 20 every time – and within those he's had three or four 16th-place finishes too. Points start at 15th.

"His first official race in BSB was at Donington Park and had he been a little braver he could have scored his first points during the second race of the weekend.

"But over all he did the right thing and brought the bike home safely.

"Since those first races, all the way through, he's been pinching a little bit here and there.

"The fact is, at 17, Storm is the fastest rider we've ever had on a Kawasaki ZX10 around Silverstone – he was even faster than Claudio Corti last year."

Gladwin said that although the pandemic, which has already shortened the season, had caused plenty of problems for motorsport, behind the scenes it had given teams time to work on their machines, which ultimately had led to faster times on the circuit this year.

"The coronavirus has helped teams a little bit, with more time for some extra development," he said.

"Put it this way, had Storm done the same times he did at Silverstone last year he would've won the race.

"His fastest lap of 54 seconds dead also matched the riders in sixth, fifth and fourth place.

"The aim now is to improve times during qualifying so we can get him up the grid a bit, that way he can learn from the other riders around him, but over all he his doing very well.

"When we first put this programme in place we thought it would be nice if he could get a point this year – and he's managed to do it halfway through the campaign.

"His consistency has been the most impressive part of the season so far, and when you've got that it's easier to claim back a second here and there.

"We're over the moon with how everything has gone so far and it was great one of his sponsors, Euro Car Parts, was with us at Silverstone to see him take his first points.

"The only missing at the moment is the crowds and we're hopeful of seeing them back sometime soon."