RIDER PROFILE - ALFIE WALKER


March 25th, 2020.


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We're kick-starting the series by turning the spotlight on two super-fast young guns in the form of Robbie Wood and Alfie Walker. Both now 15-years-of-age, Robbie and Alfie have left the youth ranks and have their sights firmly set on causing something of a stir when they take on the adults in the Clubman Elite category.

First up is Alfie Walker who has already had a taste of racing in the adult classes.

The youngest of the legendary Walker family, Alfie was brought up on a diet of quad racing and it was pretty inevitable that he’d following the footsteps of dad Stu and older brother Harry. His eldest brother George, sister Charlie and mum Nicky have always been in and around the scene too, but horses were more their thing; “Horses weren’t for me,” said Alfie, “they don’t have an engine.”

Alfie started racing on his sixth birthday at Wroxton. He wrung as much power as he could out of an automatic Lawnfly and never looked back. He has been racing competitively ever since. He quickly worked through the quad classes, progressing to a Cobra 50cc at the age of seven and then got straight onto a geared 150 aged nine. He won the British Geared 150 championship in 2017 prior to moving up to the 250 British Championship and taking third overall in his first season. Fast forward to 2019 and it wasn’t quite the start to the season young Walker anticipated. He sustained an injury at the second round of the Nora-MX series, while leading the championship. Finding himself sidelined, he lost several points and, confident that arch racing rival Robbie Wood go on to win the class, he decided to wait until his 15th birthday and have a crack at the Clubman Elite. “I had no chance in winning the championship as I knew Robbie wouldn’t have any problems. He’s a consistent rider and I’d rarely seen him crash, so I moved up to the Clubman Elites a few days after my birthday.” Walker contested the final two rounds of the Nora-MX 2019 championship and finished second overall behind series champion Gary Atkinson, winning three of the six races.

2019 was quite a year for Walker. He won the junior class of the annual Connor Smith Memorial event at Cingoli in Italy. Together with Jamie and Axel Bone, he finished 26th overall at Pont de Vaux, collecting the trophy for being the youngest rider in the adult race in the process. He then went on to take an impressive ninth overall and fourth in the 450cc class at the Weston Beach Race, and topped off his year by charging from last to 13th overall at the AMCA Skegness Beach Race. His highlight of the year was Pont de Vaux; “The atmosphere was amazing. It was my first time doing the 12-hour race and competing against so many top riders – it really was on another level.”

Walker has a new 2020 PAR Homes Yamaha 450R ready for when the racing season gets back on track and, while he is mainly focussing on the Clubman Elite classes at Nora-MX and NETT, he hopes to have a few wildcard rides in the British QX Championship for experience. He then aspires to contest both the British and European championships.

Outside of racing, Alfie enjoys going to the gym. He should have been sitting his GCSEs this year but that has been scuppered thanks to the current worldwide situation. He still hopes to take on an apprenticeship in vehicle upholstery before joining the fire service when he’s 17. He says is inspired by Anthony Joshua in terms of mindset, and has followed his dad in terms of racing. He has a good relationship with brother Harry, but reckons he is worried about the day his younger brother is on his level. He is grateful to his family for their support and Paul Rowlands of PAR Homes – “He’s done something for me every year.”

Asked about the future, Walker simply said, “I just want to go racing!”

Next up; we’ll head north of the border to turn our spotlight on another youth-turned-adult racer in the shape of Robbie Wood.

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