High school plans now reality

EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS: Hawke's Bay's Bradley Wilson-Dean (centre) checks on his opponents on his way to another victory in Britain. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

MIND DRIFTS Hawke's Bay solobike rider Bradley Wilson-Dean experienced during his days at Karamu High School have become reality in Europe.

Wilson, 20, often admitted he struggled with academic assignments during his secondary-school education. It wasn't uncommon for his mind to drift to speedway as he sat in the back of classrooms.

That "pre-planning", as some of Wilson-Dean's supporters have described it, is paying off. After eight weeks with the Eastbourne Eagles national league team in Britain, his racing diary is dominated by highlights.

"The highlight so far would be when I won the Champion of Sussex title in my fourth week here. Also scoring a 15-point maximum against Kings Lynn was a great achievement for me," he said.

Wilson-Dean, a son of veteran Hawke's Bay rider Darrin Wilson, agreed the numerous trips around the globe since taking up the sport as an 11-year-old had also been a key factor in his success. The GM-powered 500cc bikes with methanol engines that produce 80-plus horsepower are similar to the bikes he raced in New Zealand and are another advantage.

The two-time New Zealand under-21 champion gravitated towards solobike racing at the age of 11 after a solid motorsport grounding in motocross. In 2011, he finished fourth in the world under-17 championships in Sweden.

As part of his buildup for Sweden he had a stint in California, where he won 32 of his 40 races during a five-week tour, and a training school in Australia. Wilson-Dean has also raced in Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Germany, Croatia, Poland and Sweden.

"I guess all the years of experience building up to this is what has helped me so much," Wilson-Dean said.

"I think the team are pretty happy with me. I've come to England as a complete unknown to most people, on an assessed 5.00 point average. I have already improved that to 10.26 and I'm set to go to No.1 in the team after our next meeting against Mildenhall in the National League this weekend," he said.

Wilson-Dean recently turned down an offer to race at a Speedway Grand Prix qualifier in Italy.

"Basically, I turned it down because I'm not ready for that level of racing. Those guys are riding on bikes so heavily tuned their engines alone are worth more than $10,000 and they are a lot more experienced than I am.

"I also had two meetings for Eastbourne, which I didn't want to miss.

"Invercargill's Hayden Sims represented New Zealand instead and scored one point, while I scored 20 over the weekend riding for Eastbourne. It's a completely different level of racing, but I think I'd prefer to stay at home and put on a good show rather than go out in a competition that I knew I wasn't good enough for and trail around at the back. You can't benefit from an experience like that," Wilson-Dean said.

He will return to the Bay in October and is hoping to race at Meeanee in the summer before returning to Britain in February.