Kinghorn youth motorcycle ace Keo Walker wants to be elite racing star of future

The Balwearie High School pupil has been riding motorbikes for seven years and is currently piloting a Kawasaki Ninja 400 – backed by McIntosh Minibikes – in his debut year in the British Championship junior supersport class, with competing youngsters aged between 13 and 22. It is believed Keo is the youngest in his class.

"Ideally Keo wants to be a professional superbike rider,” his dad Clint, 45, told the Fife Free Press. “There are young lads who have started doing that at about 18 or 19.

"We have a six-year plan and I think Keo has the talent to do that.

"He’s got the ambition and the skill level to be able to do it.

"Keo is doing well against the best kids in the UK. We went in pretty open-minded because he’s only really ridden a geared bike for three years.

"In 2020 he did half a season because of Covid. In 2021 he did a season down in England on a restricted bike and now he has gone up to British level, the highest he can get.

"His best finish so far has been 11th out of 36 which is good because you score points up to 15th place.

"Our aim was really just for him to score some points in the whole year more or less and be in the top 25 at the first few races and he’s kind of well past that now by managing to score points already.

"A lot of what happens in the future comes down to money. The next few years are going to be even more difficult for us because if you can’t do it yourself you sometimes need to be in a team and you’re talking £30,000 or £40,000 you have to give to the team.

"They then let you ride the bike for the year and if you’re successful you might get it a bit cheaper next year.”

Keo and Clint are joined at meetings – which generally each stage two 10-lap races – by Debbie (Clint’s wife and Keo’s mum) and the teenager’s 22-year-old brother Ty who also races, with various top tracks all over the UK having already having been visited by the family during 2022.

"It’s great fun to do although it’s very stressful and very financially draining,” said Clint. “I’ve always been interested in motorsport and I think my kids have just followed that on.

"We have always been into cars and bikes and fast things. It’s just the adrenaline of the competitiveness, the speed of going round a race track as fast as you possibly can. I think we all get a buzz out of it.

"What we’re really trying to do now is get Keo into that top 10 because the bikes are very similar in the class that he’s in so there’s usually a group of 10 or 12 that will break away and get in front at the beginning of the race. Any one of those 10 could possibly win.

"Keo is just in the middle of that group, he’s not quite on them and is just trying to bridge the gap by getting into that faster group at the front.

"He’s learning a lot from mistakes or suspension changes. Once you go to the British level everything is more important and you have to really know what you’re doing so we’re all learning as a team.

"Next year hopefully he can progress to the stage of winning races and challenging for the top three in the championship. I think he is capable of doing that.

"He is still learning a lot and you forget sometimes you are talking to a 14-year-old. He is really tall, about six foot two.

"If I look at videos from 2020, you can see me teaching him how to use a clutch and pull away at walking pace. Now he’s racing round a track at 120mph with the best kids in the UK!”

Keo’s next British Championship meeting is at Snetterton in Norfolk this weekend, with the remaining three rounds to follow at Oulton Park in Cheshire, Donington Park in Leicestershire and Brands Hatch in Kent.

Clint, who himself has previously raced motorbikes at Scottish Championship level, explained how Keo got involved in the sport in the first place.

The dad added: “Keo got started with a guy called Alan McIntosh, from Edinburgh. He does a Scottish competition where he tries to get children involved in motorsport and lets them ride a minimoto for a year.

"Alan has done that for a lot of years and he’s started quite a lot of successful racers from Scotland.

"We have quite a lot of sponsors, the main one of which is Koku Shi restaurant. We are always trying to get extra help.”

Keo has very active Instagram and Facebook racing pages allowing people to follow his progress at Keo Walker Racing. Some of his races are televised on Eurosport and Discovery+ App.

A typical race weekend costs the family between £1600 and £2000 so all financial support is greatly appreciated.

To offer support via sponsorship, email Clint at [email protected] or call him on 07762 357325.