AFC Motorsport is a new Isle of Man based road racing team which has been set up by Leslie and Tina Carter. The story actually began four years ago when Leslie was able to begin racing following a generous offer of sponsorship from The Premier Group (Isle of Man) Limited, the Chairman of which is also Vice President of League 2 football team AFC Wimbledon.
Leslie and Tina came up with the idea of starting their own team last September after
Leslie finally fulfilled his ambition of racing around the famous TT course in the Manx
Grand Prix. Leslie, having experienced all the difficulties of getting a competitive bike
and learning the skills needed to tackle the most challenging road race in the world,
realised that many talented riders struggle to get very far in the turbulent world of
motor racing. He believed that bringing together the support of a team for such riders
would be of huge benefit to them.
AFC Motorsport are entering their two brand new JHS Racing built Suzuki SV650
Supertwin TT spec machines in the lightweight class at this years TT. These machines have been subject to extensive development specifically aimed at enhancing performance and reliability to meet the demands of the TT course. Both AFC Motorsport and JHS Racing are confident that these are highly competitive machines that have the potential to achieve excellent results at this years TT.
AFC Motorsport have recruited 2011 Lightweight MGP winner and 2012 TT Newcomer, Billy Smith. Billy will also be racing his Sandbach Scrap Metals sponsored 600cc in the Supersport class. Also riding for the team is the 2009 TT Best Newcomer, Ben Wylie. Ben stormed in to the TT top 10 in 2011 taking a 7th and 8th place finish in the two Supersport races. He will be challenging for a podium in all six solo races at the 2012 TT thanks to AFC Motorsport and his other sponsors, Brenin Bikes and Per Cup Coffee Company, competing on Suzuki, BMW and Yamaha Machinery.
Last Saturday saw the long awaited AFC Motorsport official team launch. This took place at Kingsmeadow, the home of AFC Wimbledon, before their match against Dagenham & Redbridge. The team and riders were joined by sponsors, The Premier Group (Isle of Man) Limited, VueTech (Isle of Man) Limited/DublinBet, Conister Bank (Isle of Man) Limited, ELAS, Manx2 and Island Taxis Limited. It was a fantastic day for all involved and to top it off, AFC Wimbledon took the victory 2-1!
Team co-manager, Leslie Carter, said, “We were completely overwhelmed by the support we received from our team and riders, AFC Wimbledon and our sponsors. Almost 4,500 AFC Wimbledon fans attended the match that day and everyone we spoke to thought the concept of bringing the two sports together was a great idea. We also like to think that we did a great job promoting both the Isle of Man and the TT. Now we just can't wait to go racing!”
Team co-manager, Tina Carter, said, “AFC Motorsport is made up of working people who do all the race team business in their spare time. We're doing it simply for the love of racing and the whole atmosphere which racing provides. It has been a very tough few months for us but with the continued support of our sponsors and with the help of the many friends who make up the team, we are certain we will have a great season and a very successful TT.”
A forty strong party from AFC Wimbledon will be visiting the Isle of Man from 1st - 4th
June, during the TT festival this year. This will include the first team players and
management. Keep your eye out for Haydon the Womble, AFC Wimbledon's team mascot.
He loves the bikes and is likely to be spotted watching the racing around the course!
To find out more about AFC Motorsport you can visit their website
www.afcmotorsport.im, find them on Facebook www.facebook.com/afcmotorsport and follow them on twitter @AfcMotorsport.Ben
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