BRANDON THE BIKE
by Al
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| Brandon Demmery explores the limits. Of traction, in this case. |
Brandon Demmery is Australia's youngest road racing competitor. He's ten.
When Brandon was two, his grandparents gave him a a Suzuki 50cc quad. Sick weirdos they be, who will not have to pay for their drinks in any bar in which the Supreme Riding Soviet of BIKE ME! drink.
Brandon loved that thing. He was often seen following Pop around the farm on his little bike trying to copy everything that his beloved Pop was doing. However when his bike was taken from the farm to the local bike dealer for its first service, it was stolen from the back of his father's ute. Brandon was shattered. His parents could not afford to replace the bike as his mother was at university studying, rather than out sweeping chimneys to keep her young son supplied with vehicles.
Brandon had to wait for another 2 years to get a replacement bike. He ground his teeth a lot, and got childhood diseases to pass the time.
His uncle Paul was at a farm clearance sale and spotted a JR50 that he purchased for Brandon. Two wheels was a steep learning curve for Brandon, but every time he fell off he got back on, and he managed to keep a good part of his epidermis intact.
At age six, Brandon informed his parents that he was going to be a motorcycle racer when he grew up, whether they liked it or not. They decided to encourage. Stupidly, they did not compare the price of, say, cricket and Rugby League to the price of motorcycle racing.
Brandon's first ever "race" was a nippers demonstration at the Sapphire
Speedway at Candelo on the NSW South Coast. He is quoted as saying when he
came in after that first ride "you better be getting me one of those KTM
things" after being soundly beaten by the more powerful 50cc bike.
The tooth fairy or Santa Claus or someone brought Brandon a second hand KTM
50 shortly after. Brandon quickly came to grips with the more powerful bike
and went on to win many races on Orange Horror in motocross, grass track and
dirt track events.
In September 2006, Brandon turned nine. He could now have a 65cc bike. The
bike of choice was again "one of those KTM things". He woke on the morning
of his birthday to find one sitting in the lounge room. His Mum and Dad went
up two places in Brandon's list, relegating the tooth fairy to third.
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| Brandon and the KTM thing |
Things turned sour three weeks before Christmas 2006 when someone broke into the house and took both his 50cc and his new 65cc bikes. Police searched for a metre high burglar, to no avail. Home Contents Insurance, however, covered the loss, and provide us all with a lesson: always park your bike in the lounge room.
And Brandon could go racing again.
Brandon had always indicated that he would like to eventually road race.
Australian laws at the time stipulated that he wait until he was thirteen
before he could give it a try.
In 2007, the minimum age had dropped to nine years in all states except
NSW. After plenty of begging from Brandon, a trial was organized for him on
a Metrakit 70ccSP at the Woollongong Kart Track. The crew from VIPerformance
in Melbourne bought the bike to the track and a host of kids were given the
opportunity to get a taste of road racing.
Brandon has not looked back since that first ride. And he has not ridden a
motocross bike since. His passion is road racing.
"I love the speed and I love getting it all right to get the best lap times I can", he says.
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| Brandon's just like any other ten year old. Only faster. |
He got a fourth place at the Metrakit titles in his first year.
He won the first two rounds of his second year in the 9-13 years age group.
He got a sponsorship from Skins compression garments.
His enjoyed the demonstration laps at this year's MotoGP on the 3-5th October.
He competed in the Metrakit Festival of Champions at Broadford motorcycling complex on 11th October. The first 3 place getters were to be given the opportunity to travel to Valencia in Spain for the Metrakit World Titles, and Brandon had already started learning Spanish.
He lunched a big end. There was no way to fix it at the track.
Brandon didn't behave like, say, Casey Stoner would behave in similar circumstances. He helped out in the pits, and one of his mates, Hayden Demamiel, got second place.
The engine's being rebuilt. Brandon should be OK for Phillip Island in November.
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| Brandon demonstrates that of two otherwise identical bikes, the black one is always faster. |
