Scott Redding #45 Year 2004

From then on the second places were converted to first at meeting after meeting. The following year started in much the same way but missed meetings, following an emergency visit to hospital, took away any chance of an overall Championship win. In 2003, he continued to dominate on his minimotos, now riding in two classes and occasionally being sent out with adults to give him more opposition.

Added to his UK riding were several visits to Italy, the home of minimoto, to race against the very best in Europe. These visits ended with Scott gaining fourth place in the "European" series. Also during the year a Conti 50 was added to the stable for Scott to ride in the "Conti Cup", a series that he went on to win. A trip to France with the Conti, where the opposition was expected to be much stronger, resulted in Scott struggling for once to run at the front.

The opposition came however, not from the Conti riders, but from a different, and new, direction.  Two of the new Metrakit MiniGP50s, ridden by French and Spanish riders, had also arrived at the same meeting. Only inspired riding from Scott enabled him to keep up with, and eventually beat, the superior handling MiniGPs.   Inspired riding that immediately caught the eye of the Metrakit export manager Enrique de Juan, an ex 250 GP rider. An offer of a ride on the MiniGP at the end of the meeting was eagerly accepted.

The ride must have impressed as, on return to the UK, a MiniGP was purchased from BEK, the UK Metrakit importer. Unfortunately the Metrakit bikes were not allowed to race against the Conti bikes in the UK so Scott, not old enough at 10 to ride at ACU events, could only use the bike for practice. At this time even 12 years old Chris Jones, very successfully acting as test and promotion rider for BEK in the UK, had had to have special dispensation from the ACU to compete on the Metrakit.

Scott Redding, born 4th January 1993 in Quedgeley, Gloucestershire has a natural talent for road racing that is not often found. In 2001 at the age of eight, at the suggestion of Julian Hayward of Minimoto Racing, who had seen him riding on an indoor circuit, he was entered in a minimoto meeting. Although his pre-race riding on the loaned bike was limited to just the practice and qualifying for race day he finished second in all the four races he rode in.

So Scott had just one competition ride that year when, with Chris, he was invited to ride in December at the first Metrakit MiniGP Festival at the Grand Prix circuit in Valencia, Spain. The races were open to riders of the Metrakit MiniGP-SP70 and attracted 45 riders not only from Europe but also the USA and Mexico. At the end of two races Chris Jones finished third overall on a literally "out of the crate" bike loaned by the factory. Unfortunately, and disappointingly for Scott following his quick qualifying times, carburation problems on his bike led to two DNFs.

By the start of 2004 BEK, realising that to get riders as young as eight on to proper GP style bikes was not going to happen the ACU way, had set up an agreement to run Metrakit MiniGP50 races in conjunction with the Minimoto Racing Association, organisers of the British Minimoto Championship. These events run throughout the UK mainland at Pro Kart race circuits, usually around 1000 metres long, are an ideal training ground to hone bike control and high corner speed without the straight line speed being much over 60mph. To ensure that it is the rider and not the bike that produces the lap times a portable dyno is used at the meetings to keep things strictly under control. With the series in place Roger and Robert Keys from BEK decided to set up FAB-Racing (FAB is for "Fifties and Bigger") to promote and run the series. Scott, and of course other Metrakit riders, even as young as eight, now had a race series to ride in.  Again, although Scott did not win every race and had to miss one meeting, he was always the rider to beat and ended the year 17 points in front of second place Danny Kent, another young rider of great talent. That one missed meeting Scott was away riding in the French 50cc Open Championship. In search of top position, and even more track time for Scott, a Metrakit MiniGP50 fitted with a Pro50 engine kit giving 19.6bhp at the rear wheel (not bad for a modified moped engine!!) was used in France. Again this was a series win for Scott; until it was realised that an 11 year old should not have been riding in the series!!  However, it seems the several new lap records set, over two seconds quicker in one case, will be allowed to stand.

The Story Begins ......