Lorraine Anson is lapping up life on the track

celebrating her 40th birthday, she also decided she wanted to become a racer.

Fast forward two years and the Great Wyrley biker sits second in a club championship and is loving life as a full-blown racer.

After joining the Bemsee Club Racing Championship, she eventually decided to race in the Yamaha Past Masters series, in the rookie class.

Anson completed in a few races in 2017and then last year her Yamaha TZR was given a full restoration while she entered the track day to keep her hand in – but this year she has taken it on full throttle and has come away with some top results.

“It started through friends and my boyfriend also started racing about four or five years ago with the Bemsee group,” said Anson.

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“In 2017, I joined the Yamaha Past Masters, through which you can hire a bike to race for the whole weekend and that can really help because the sport is so expensive.

“The first time I went out was at Snetterton and immediately I fell in love with it. I’d even bought my own bike by the end of the year, which was a Yamaha TZR 250.

“I didn’t really do much racing last year because we basically gave my bike a full restoration, which included a new engine we’d managed to acquire.

“Through the past masters programme you are also allocated team-mates, who are usually better than you and help you to improve.

“My engine was tuned for me by my team-mate, Len Whalin, who is also one of my sponsors. Our team is called Law & Disorder. This year I was determined to get in a full season because it’s amazing just being out there.”

Anson, who travelled to Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire for the Sidecar Revival meeting over the weekend, currently sits second in the rookie championship and has now scored her first national points.

“I’ve always been passionate about bikes, which started when I was about 18, so I’ve been riding for more than 20 years now but I only started racing two years ago,” she said.

“I got the bug straight away and just sitting on the start line, waiting for the lights to go out, there’s just nothing like it – especially when everyone is heading into the first corner.

“It’s all still really new to me and a lot of the guys and girls I’m racing against have been doing it for years.

“A couple of the riders in my group also provide me with some training, which takes place on the Friday before we race at the weekend.

“The person I follow round is Dougie Edmonson and the whole Bemsee group is just like one big family.”

Three championships are run together during the year, which includes the rookie, clubman and national classes.

It means Anson can finish down the field at the chequered flag but still pick up valuable points for her assault on the rookie title.

“When we raced at Donington Park there were 38 riders on the start line,” she said.

“My only goals are to finish each race and to try and improve my riding each week – although a top three in class is always brilliant.

“I did crash at Cadwell Park, which knocked my confidence a little bit.

“Riding the classic bikes was just how it worked out. I did try an M2 and also a Kawasaki Ninja 300 four-stroke machine but the TZR just felt better.

“I’d been watching my boyfriend, Chris Thay, who is also from Great Wyrley, race for a few years in the Minitwins and Thunderbike Sport classes.

“To join the past masters you just need an ACU licence to begin with, and it’s great fun.”

Anson last raced at Snetterton and enjoyed one of her best rides to date, despite the pouring rain.

“I finished 14th overall and scored my first two national championship points,” she said.

“In the rookie championship I came away with two second places and two third places, so I maintain second place i