Biker's Norton NRS Takes Britain's Got Biking Talent Title

• Thursday, 26 November 2009

After six months deliberation, judging by an expert celebrity panel and the casting of over 20,000 votes the winner of Britain’s Got Biking Talent with motorbike insurance provider Carole Nash has been revealed at the UK’s biggest bike show.

Tony Haywood was presented with the award today (Thursday November 26th) by England cricket legend Darren Gough at Birmingham’s NEC which is hosting the Carole Nash International Motorcycle and Scooter Show.

His lovingly restored Norton NRS took first prize after a four year project costing £25,000 which involved extensive research and a painstaking search for parts which included enlisting the help of Norton Motors’ boss.

Speaking after accepting the award Tony, of Burton upon Trent, said: “It’s absolutely brilliant! I’m an average chap with a bike made in a shed at the bottom of my garden who’s just overjoyed that its now in the Carole Nash calendar.” He added that the award was special because it’s voted for by his fellow bikers: “They’re the people who know and I’m chuffed.”

Rebecca Donohue, head of marketing at competition organisers Carole Nash, the UK’s biggest motorcycle insurance specialist, congratulated him, saying: “Tony’s Norton sums up what’s great about British biking and bikers. It’s a product of passion, devotion, commitment and a can-do attitude. It’s also a great tribute to a true motorcycling great.”

As well as having his JPS-liveried bike professionally photographed and included in the Carole Nash 2010 calendar which is distributed free to over 100,000 bikers, Tony has won VIP trip with Pole Position Travel to a European MotoGP motorcycle race, including flights, accommodation, paddock pass, an invite to the opening night party and grandstand tickets.

To win Tony’s Norton first had to be shortlisted by an expert panel of bikers which included comic Ross Noble, Hairy Biker Si King, around-the-world motorcycling adventurer Nick Sanders and Marc Potter, editor of Motorcycle News. The Norton then had to battle it out among 60 bikes in a public vote.

The title is just reward for a bike which began life back in February 2005 when Tony asked Derby-based racing motorcycle specialists Spondon Engineering to recreate the frame of a 1991 factory JPS Norton. He then visited bike shows and museums to photograph remaining original bikes before recruiting ex-riders and engineers to ensure he could build an exact replica. He even roped in Norton staff to assist, including managing director Richard Negus who helped track down an original 1992 race engine.

The second prize in Britain’s biggest competition for ordinary bikers went to Blackburn biker Graeme Balshaw for his Ducati 1000s Sports Classic Mike Hailwood Replica. The bike was created in honour of the legendary motorcycle racer who won no fewer than nine world championship trophies. It was ridden last year by Mike’s son David Hailwood during the Ducati parade lap at the Isle of Man TT races.

Graeme will now be set to enjoy his prize of a motorcycling trip for two to the French Battlefields with MCI Tours.

In third place was the sleek, eye-catching custom dubbed Tradewinds by its creator, Gary France, of Tewin Wood, Hertfordshire. A frame created by legendary American engineer Paul Yaffe bestows this extraordinary machine with a low slung beauty which is enhanced by a stunning red and polished chrome livery. Powered by a Harley-Davidson Screamin Eagle 1800cc Gary has made a bike not just to catch the eye and win awards – it has already taken Best In Class at the H.O.G. euro Festival – but which is practical on the road. Third prize at BGBT has now earned him a Trackday at a UK Motorsport Vision circuit.

You can now even get a bike insurance quote online with Carole Nash just click here or call us for a FREE motorcycle quote on 0800 804 7952.

• For high resolution images of any of the winning bikes or contact details for winners please email pressoffice@carolenash.com or call Andy Loynes on 0161 280 1433 / 07855 345108

Editor’s Notes:

1. This is the third consecutive year that Britain’s Got Biking Talent with Carole Nash has run. It is organised in conjunction with MotorCycle News whose readers decided the ultimate winners through online voting. Entries to the competition rose by 15% this year with hundreds of bikes competing in six categories: Choppers, Classics, Concours, Sports, Street Modified and Streetfighter. The panel created a shortlist of ten bikes in each category, which went to the public vote. The two bikes topping the poll in each category won a professional photo-shoot, inclusion in the 2010 Carole Nash calendar and VIP trips to the Carole Nash International Motorcycle & Scooter Show where their bikes feature on a special BGBT stand.

2. Carole Nash, lead sponsor of the International Motorcycle Show, employs over 300 staff and is the UK and Ireland’s biggest motorcycle insurance specialist. It provides insurance for some 300,000 classic, vintage, modern, custom and off road motorcycles – around one in four of all licensed machines. It has been voted Most Used Broker by bikers polled for the independent RiDER Power survey conducted by Ride magazine in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Ends
cnic/r353

Issued on behalf of:
Carole Nash Insurance Consultants, Trafalgar House, Manchester Road, Altrincham, WA14 1NU

By: Carole Nash PR
Pure Marketing Communications. Tel: 0161 280 1433/ 07855 345108 Email: pressoffice@carolenash.com

This press release was distributed via SourceWire, a service from Daryl Willcox Publishing, on behalf of Stickyeyes. For more information visit http://www.dwpub.com/pressreleasewires