• Multi-time title winner rides again in British Championship for charity • Motor racing team boss relishing challenge after 15 years away• Final push to raise target £3,000 total before Saturday’s first race
Fresh from this past weekend’s latest rounds of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Rockingham in Northamptonshire, Handy Motorsport team principal Simon Belcher is preparing to return to competitive action himself a few days from now – but not on the race track.
Swindon-based Belcher, a race winner in Legends Cars competition in the UK and America and a double Masters Cup champion in the Renault UK Clio Cup, returns to his first love this weekend, 3rd/4th September, in Doncaster where he will climb on a Jet Ski for the first time in 15 years.
Aside from the length of time Belcher has been away from competitive action on the water, the challenge will be even greater as he is recovering from a nasty chest infection which he has been fighting hard to overcome.
In the halcyon days of Jet Ski competition in the 1990s, Belcher won no fewer than four British Championship titles and alongside the last of those in 2000, the Pro 785cc title, he also became Pro 785cc European Champion to cap a sensational year.
Now, the BTCC team boss is set to ride again as part of the British Championship finals at Doncaster Lakeside where he will be aiming to raise as much money as possible for Cancer Research UK, one of Britain’s most prominent charities.
So far, three quarters of the target £3,000 fundraising figure has been raised through the special Just Giving page set-up last month. With only a few days to go until the event itself, Belcher is appealing to as many people as possible to dig deep and support this extremely worthwhile cause.
“I really am looking forward to this weekend massively”, he said, “It’s been such a long time since I raced a Jet Ski at any level, so to leap back into the British Championship after 15 years away is going to be a pretty big physical challenge! I’ve had a chest infection recently, which I’ve been fighting hard to recover from, and although I’m not 100% still I’ll definitely be out there racing.
“Cancer Research is an incredible charity and the aim of getting back on a Jet Ski is to raise as much money as we can for them. It’s certainly going to be a big change from four wheels and being part of the British Touring Car Championship, but I know it’s going to bring back some amazing memories and, hopefully, be a successful weekend on all fronts.”
Anybody wishing to support to Belcher’s Jet Ski return and fundraising effort for Cancer Research can donate via the Just Giving at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Simon-Belcher
