THE future of grassroots motorcycle racing in Britain may have been saved by the innovation of Chester entrepreneur Bill Smith.

The former Isle of Man TT rider has designed a new bike that will help young riders take their first steps in motorsport.

Motorcycle companies are gradually phasing out their two-stroke road and race models due to laws on carbon emissions – which means race classes like the 125cc and 250cc will eventually disappear.

These lower categories are the training ground for future Superbike and MotoGP stars but Smith, in partnership with Stretton-based RLR Motorsport and Yamaha, has come up with an alternative – a one-stroke, off-road Yamaha 450WR adapted for road racing.

“For young people to get started in racing it has to be affordable and the bike has to be suitable,” said Bill’s son Mark, part of the development team at Bill Smith Motors in Boughton.

“If the less powerful two-stroke bikes are no longer being made, the classes could disappear and it is not practical for someone just starting out in racing to hop on a 400cc or 600cc monster.

“This bike has not been designed to replace them as such, but it would bridge the gap they would leave if they did disappear.”

The one-stroke engine emits less carbon than the two stroke and RLR Motorsport recently took the prototype bike – the Yamaha RLR 450WR – to the Motorcycle Show at the NEC in Birmingham to gather orders.

Once there are enough orders, the bike will go into production and, once enough are sold, Bill Smith Motors and RLR will be able to establish a race series for the model.

The ACU Road Race Committee has agreed it is an excellent machine for young riders and have ruled that racers as young as 15 can compete on it.

It is also hoped that it will be able to race in the Supersport class, a support series of the British Superbike Championship, and the Sound of Thunder series.

Mark added: “We have worked with Yamaha in the development and we have already had good feedback and a number of orders so at the moment things are looking good.”

The bike will be comparable in price to a standard off-the-shelf 125cc racer, around £8,000.