Thrills outweigh spills for Pete Wright and Martyn Siviter

In fact, he simply brushed himself off and went on to claim the No Limit Racing Endurance Cup with riding partner, Martyn Siviter, at just the second time of asking.

Wright, aged 51, from Tividale, decided to switch from motocross to circuit racing three years ago after selling his bike – only to realise he could not live without one.

Swapping a Honda Fireblade for a Kawasaki ZX6R, he entered his first season of racing with Hottrax at Cadwell Park in April last year.

But it did not start well when a big fall in the last race resulted in the break, which put him out for the season.

He was back on the bike in October 2015 and it was then Wright and Siviter, 42, from Blackheath, decided to team up and race the No Limits series.

Both run their own businesses in between their weekends of racing under the doube22two-racing.com banner for anything up to eight hours.

But after claiming the newcomers' title, they sold their winning bike, bought a new model and have already set their sights on the clubman series, which is one step above the rookies.

"I've never raced professionally and we both have our own businesses," said Wright, who is married with two daughters and a son.

"Martyn owns Lightning Express Limited, a storage and haulage firm, while I own MBF Home Improvements Limited, in Oldbury, which I have run for 20 years now.

"But we've both ridden motorbikes from a very young age, although that was in motocross."

Siviter, who is married with two daughters, went from downhill mountain biking to motocross racing from an early age. He became great friends with Wright through their passion for bikes and racing but his motocross career was cut short after a bad accident at Bromsgrove, which resulted in a severely broken leg.

After nearly a year out he hopped back on a bike and got back up to speed before bad luck struck again when he was hit by another bike during an endurance race while stationary, which again resulted in a nasty leg break.

Still as determined as ever, he again got back on and the lure of racing inevitably returned – and rest is history.

"I'd had a few injuries too and decided to sell my bike but I couldn't bear not having one," said Wright. "I bought a road bike, a Fireblade, but was getting nothing out of it so I bought the Kawasaki and I did a track day, eventually deciding to get my licence.

"Even after my collarbone injury all I was thinking about was how long it would take to get back out on the track because I was hooked by then."

The pair hit the ground running during their rookie season, making the podium in the clubman class numerous times, as well as becoming the first ever newcomers to finish third in the top National 600cc class at Silverstone.

"We shocked quite a few people with our performances because we were the first newcomers to hit podiums in every class," said Wright. "It had never been done before."

The beginning of each endurance race is a sight to behold as 50 teams are usually on the start line – and it gets going Le Mans-style, where one rider holds the bike while the other runs from the side, jumps on the bike and the race begins.

"All the fans come down to pit lane and it's quite a spectacle," said Wright.

"The races vary from three hours up to eight hours, which is at Snetterton. We try and ride for 45 to 50 minute stints but if we can get an hour in that's always good.

"We're buying another Kawasaki for next year and once we've got that we want to familiarise ourselves with the tracks again and hope to get some testing done in Portugal or Spain.

"We're pretty optimistic about the new season and making the step up to clubman after finishing on the podium a few times last season.

"We have to mention Alison Wright and Darren McQueen who tirelessly worked in the pits and the pit wall, including the eight-hour race we won at Snetteron.

"A massive thanks goes to RUS Scaffolding, which has really helped us and I doubt we would've made all the rounds without them. We'd also like to thank BMA Carbon, REVS Racing, MBF Home Improvement Ltd, Lightning Express Storage and Haulage, Cradley Kawasaki and Demon Tweeks."

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