Five points from the top: Young racer Theo Tyler takes title fight to the wire

Theo Tyler. Credit: Dale Baldwin

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Maidenhead’s Theo Tyler is just five points off the lead heading into the final round of the UK Winter Championships at Stretton in Leicester.

After three rounds of the competition, Theo, seven, from Ellington Park, Maidenhead, remains second on the leaderboard with first place on the podium remaining tantalisingly within reach.

He’s had something of a roller-coaster championship so far, and dealt with several setbacks, but has also consistently challenged at the front of the field.

Round three of the championships got underway in difficult, wet conditions on Saturday. The practice sessions took place under floodlights due to the gloomy, wet, conditions and the damp track made it difficult for riders to stay upright.

The fog blew over just before qualifying and Theo gave it his all when the lights turned from red to green. He finished third overall and made up for a slow start in the first race to smoothly finish the race in second. Like his uncle always says to him ‘smooth is fast’ and Theo is heeding that advice. His rival Izzy Cook had been leading the championships, but she took a tumble which dropped her back into the pack allowing Theo and current championship leader Oscar Bond to steal a march on her in race one.

Theo got off to a much better start in race two but just didn’t have the pace to catch and challenge Oscar for top spot. Bike problems meant Izzy failed to start the second race meaning the top two pulled further clear in the championships.

In the third race, Theo and Oscar battled it out for first place, going wheel to wheel at times. Theo managed to reel in his rival, but Oscar found an extra gear to go to in the final laps and pulled clear to win by a couple of seconds.

It means the Winter series will go down to the final race weekend in a couple of weeks’ time. Oscar leads with 170 points with Theo second on 165 points. Izzy has been forced back into third place on 163 points.

Theo has been riding 50cc motorbikes at speeds of 50mph in the Minimotos championships for the past couple of years, having been introduced to the sport through his dad’s passion for biking.

He’s coached by former British Super Bikes champion Kyle Ryde and his impressive performances in the competition have caught the eye of the RB Racing Team in Rome, Italy, where he recently went for a training week with the team.

in his rookie season in the Minimotos fab racing Series, competing across eight different UK circuits and is looking to step up to the 12mil class – where the bikes travel a little faster – in the 2026 competition. The hope is he’ll also be picked up as a rider for a team like RG Racing in the not-too-distant future.

Theo is sponsored by the following companies: Luxe projects London; X1 performance; AS Waist & Metal Recycling @ skip hire; FCM; Rmc; The Race Shop; Clikcreate; 151s; DB brickwork; CFF custom paints. New sponsors Upgrade Construction Limited and UK Covered Car Transport have also joined the team.