Race Report - Moto Mini FIM World Series

Sarah Humphries
2 days ago
5 min read

We were back at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia this year for the Moto Mini FIM World Series (previously known as the FIM MiniGP World Finals). It was a long week, but we knew what to expect given this was our 3rd time attending this amazing event. With a new supplier of leathers for this year, it made things so much easier. Previous years we’ve always had major issues with the leathers fitting but this time, they fitted amazingly so thank you Giuseppe for this.

We got the bike released on Monday and quickly got to work with transferring all of the data across, making adjustments and getting things set up for Tyler as we know how he likes a bike to feel after all of the testing from throughout the year.

Unfortunately, the suspension set up was totally different this year from last year’s bike but we got there and got it working.

Tuesday, we headed out for FP1 which went pretty well, got to grips with the track again and the feeling of the bike. With still needing to find roughly 1 second from P1, we weren’t far off. Tyler did say that he wasn’t getting much feeling from the front of the bike and rear was sliding a bit but we put this down to the track being fairly green.

FP2 started well and started to push on, unfortunately he tucked the front into the last corner on a hot lap which bent the bike up a little but we got it sorted and back out. He lost his confidence a bit but it came back.

FP3, we got some of the issues sorted and got a decent enough feeling from the bike, it just kept sliding on the rear. We ended the day P6 overall which was a great result considering.

FP4 on the Wednesday we made some more adjustments and headed out. He pushed on as much as he could but still complaining about the feeling of the bike not being right. However, at this point it was just a little too late and he had to complete Q1 as only the top 10 went straight to Q2. He was sitting P11.

Q1, went ok and managed to push through to Q2. He went straight onto Q2 and couldn't really put a decent lap together which was really unfortunate but it was down to a number of things but mainly just not getting a clear lap and getting a bit frustrated which made him ride too tight. This meant he had to then go straight into Qualifying Race 1, starting from P1 on the grid. Got off to a great start and pushed hard, crossing the line in P2 putting him through to Race 1 on Thursday. It was at this point we noticed that our tyre pressure gauge was faulty and reading 5 psi too low so had been putting 5psi too much pressure in tyres over the past couple of days. This answered a lot of our worries as to why he wasn’t getting much feeling or having any grip. We got that sorted and used someone else’s tyre pressure gauge from then on. It definitely helped but unfortunately we had messed about with the bike set up to compensate for the tyres, we didn’t know where to start back at. However, we got there in the end.

Race 1, starting P17 on the grid, we had a plan. That was to take as many positions as possible in the first sector as we knew these kids would take off given half a chance. It did not go quite to plan as a couple riders came off in turn 3 which Tyler got caught up in, he came off and bent the right handle bar and wrecked the foot peg but he got back up and pushed as much as possible to gain as many points as possible, crossing the line P13.

Race 2, same grid position for the start of this race. He rode his butt off gaining 10 places and having loads of fun passing through the riders. Finishing P7.

Super final race, starting from P8 this time, we knew he couldn’t do too much but hoped that he could just hold it all together and finish the race Top 10. He definitely did that. Passed 3 riders in the 1st lap and sat P6 then some of the lighter faster kids started to catch and put the pressure on. Unfortunately being passed by 3 riders throughout the race he sat a comfortable P8 then on the last lap on the last turn, 2 riders collided. He then crossed the line P6 and took 7th overall in the world out of the top 26 riders. This also made him top UK rider overall.

Couldn’t be more proud of Tyler and how he handled everything thrown at him. We wouldn’t have been on that grid had it not been for Ohvale UK (Harry and Micky) and Peter Hickman. Thank you guys so much for everything. It was definitely never on the cards for this year but honestly it’s been a great year for the team, Tyler loved it. Of course there were ups and downs but overall a great year and to come away with top British rider in the world and overall best placed team out of everyone, the boys did the country proud considering everything was against them from day 1.

A huge thanks to the GRYD - MLav Racing team for coming over to support Tyler. Jordan was incredible with taking the time to download the data and go through everything with Tyler. It genuinely was the best thing we could have asked for, it was exactly what he needed and allowed him to perform at his best after everything.

Thanks also to Alex Radu for the calls and guidance through the week.

The Scottish Championship on the 300 had to be put on pause for the remainder of the year which we were obviously gutted about but it worked out in the end. Lots of things put up against the wee man this year but in the end, we all came out the other side.

We are super pumped for next year and beginning our journey in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship paddock aboard the Fibre Tec Honda - MLav Racing NSF in the Moto4 British Cup (previously British Talent Cup). We all can’t wait to get to work with the team and see how Tyler gets on.

For us, Minibikes are now done. It’s been an awesome 5 years and we now move to bigger and better things. We will still make our way to the British Mini Bikes Championship paddock throughout the year and maybe ride the pitbike for fun and mainly to support the legend that is Parker Racing Pit Bike Supplies. Thanks for everything throughout the years mate and we wish you all the success with the BMB in the future.

We’ve still to sort through the GoPro footage and put together the vlog from our time in Spain (although we didn't get a chance to video as much as we'd planned with everything going on) The YouTube is a work in progress and we'll learn as we go.

Thanks to all of our sponsors and supporters throughout the year. It’s been something else but we couldn’t have done it without you all.

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