Kinghorn motorcycle hero Keo Walker defies qualifier crash to land British title
Despite sustaining an agonising ankle injury after flying off his bike in a horrific crash during qualifying, Kinghorn motorcycle marvel Keo Walker recovered spectacularly to finish third in his class in the final race at Brands Hatch and win the overall British Supersport Cup Championship crown.
Explaining the events of a remarkable weekend for the 17-year-old former at the Kent track earlier this month, which culminated in him overtaking rival English rider Ben Tolliday to land the championship trophy, Keo’s proud dad Clint told the Fife Free Press: “On the Friday, we had a practice, and it just didn't go to plan for either of the top two riders.
"Ben crashed and broke three ribs, so he was now out for the rest of the weekend. This made us think, well all we need to do now is finish these races, get these points and win this championship.
"But we also had some issues, technical problems with the bike and then both practices on the Friday, so Keo missed half of each session.
"And then in Saturday qualifying, in the first qualifier, he'd done really well and got put through to the faster group.
"But then on his last lap in qualifier two, he had a massive crash and really hurt himself, hurt his ankle and damaged the bike quite badly.
"The handlebars were snapped off, the fairings were all smashed, the screen was broken, one of the wheels got buckled. A really big crash, and the race was going to be on in about two hours after that crash.
"So Keo spent about an hour-and-a-half with doctors in the medical centre getting assessed as to whether he was going to be fit to ride. If they'd come back and said he couldn't ride, we would have lost the championship at that point.
"I would probably say Keo was pretty close to not being able to ride.
"Doctors did some physio on him, put a moon boot on his leg which had ice packs in it and was compressed.
"They'd done a good bit of work to do physio on his ankle and on the rest of his body, because it was quite a violent crash that he had.
"So they were pretty touch and go whether they would allow him to ride or not. He had to do a fitness test to make sure he was fit enough.
"And then obviously we had to then get to the state where he was going to be able to ride it and be able to compete.”
With help from Keo’s older brother Ty, work was then frantically done on Keo’s damaged bike to get it ready for racing on the Saturday. But they missed the start of this race by two minutes, meaning there was only one final race left on the Sunday for Keo to try and get the points required to win the championship.
Clint added: “So now all the pressure was on for the last race because anything could happen.
"If he crashed, if somebody knocked him off, if the bike broke down, anything like that, and he didn't finish this race and get the points, we would have lost the championship.
"He only really needed to finish and score the points, which sounds easy. But when it's pouring with rain, you've got 15 laps and a rider that's already been injured on a bike that's already given us issues, it’s far from it.
"But the last ride went relatively smoothly. It could have been very difficult for Keo to compose himself, not to push too hard and not get caught up in the pressure.
"He could have started to ride tight, kind of nervously, not quite as smooth and relaxed as he normally would, which could have given him issues.
"He could have crashed from not going fast enough or not doing his normal rhythm. So it was quite difficult for him to go out there, just go at a steady pace and finish the race because he had time to think about stuff.
"Things could have gone in the wrong direction, but he ended up finishing third for the cup race and 24th overall which gave him enough points to take the championship.
"Keo scored 20 points on the day to beat Ben Tolliday by 17 points overall.
"Keo had seven wins, three seconds and one third across the 2025 season.
"He finished on 297 points, with Ben back on 280.
"I am absolutely thrilled and proud of what we've managed to achieve as such a small family team. It’s a really amazing feeling.”
Clint went on to describe the pain and discomfort his teenage son was in during his final race at Brands Hatch on the Sunday.
He said: “Keo was in a lot of pain. It was all very well him standing on his tiptoes in the awning and doing a couple of squats pre-race, but when he had to jump on a bike and do 15 laps around Brands Hatch with an ankle that had suffered a hard impact, it was pretty difficult.
"He had the ankle strapped up. It was his right leg as well, which he doesn't really use as much on the bike.
"If it had been his left, he would have had to change gear with that one and it would probably have been a lot more difficult as he probably would have struggled to ride with it like that.
"He was struggling to get off the bike by the end of the race and was really having to limp around for a few hours after it.
"He’s on the mend now. It's still giving him a little bit of pain, but luckily nothing was broken or sprained or anything like that.
"To win a British championship is a massive step in Keo’s career and hopefully it will give us a real good platform to build on for 2026.”
Clint would like to thank local Japanese restaurant Koku Shi, Keo’s main title sponsor, whose bosses have kindly backed the young rider over the years.
Clint is seeking sponsorship for Keo in 2026, as he looks to defend his British title. Please contact Clint on 07762 357325 if interested.