A Bolton motorcycle racer is eyeing national glory after a regional podium finish alongside his team-mate recently.

Thirty-year-old Lewis Davies, from Burnden, finished second in October’s Preston and District Motorcycle Championship with DDR Motorsport stable mate, Urmston’s Alistair Tang, in third.

And along with up-and-coming talent, Morgan Fulop, from Breightmet, the North West-based team have high hopes for 2023.

DDR team owner, William Davies, hailed their “first real year of racing”.

He manages the team from their workshop in Wigan, and co-owns DDR Motorsport with Davies, taking the rider under his wing after his father passed away.

He told The Bolton News: “It’s me and Lewis who own the team, I’m just there to advise them and show them how to work on their bikes.

“I got Lewis into the sport after his dad died.

“Everyone thinks he’s my son, but we aren’t related - I used to work in his dad’s motorbike shop.

“I told him I’d take him racing if he kept out of trouble, which he’s done for more than 10 years now.

“He’s learned to race bikes really quickly.

“This is really his first full year of racing and he’s finished second in the Championship.”

Tang joined the team this year, having previously raced under a different banner, and he looked for a perfect start to his career at DDR with a statement win at Preston.

But, shortly before the tournament, a health scare in the family forced him to fly out to France for more than a month.

Tang missed the first two rounds of his event, but despite this, and the emotional stress off the track, the Trafford rider still managed a top-three finish.

Davies said: “He [Tang] finished third in what they call the Evotech, which is a 125cc championship - but I think he could have quite easily won that championship.

“But he missed two rounds because his dad took ill when he was on holiday, so he was in France with his dad for six weeks.

“Alistair’s only been with us for this year. Last year he was racing for somebody else on a really poor bike, but I could see that he was a good rider.”

The team now turn their sights to the 2023 ACU British Championships, in the hope the podium pair, as well as newcomer Fulop, can bring a national title to the North West.

Fulop, aged 21, raced alongside Tang for most of the year due to the youngster not having a tournament-ready bike.

But, with the British Championships fast-approaching, Davies has enlisted the help of the entire team to ensure the youngster is prepared.

“Morgan’s been racing with Alistair this year,” he said.

“But we’re going to pull his bike together, so we’ll have three riders next year.

“He’s a really good rider but his bike’s a pile of scrap!

“I’m going to get it repainted for him when he drops it off at the workshop soon.”

DDR will be one of the few teams competing in the British Championships, with many of the competitors being solo riders.

Davies’ team will compete in the ‘Streetstock’ events, which only permits vehicles that are unaltered and can be purchased by the general public.

But the team may look to start racing on bigger, or modified, bikes in the near future.

He said: “Most of the people who compete are just single riders - privateers.

“I think we’ll be one of the only teams with more than one rider.

“We’re doing the ACU Streetstock British Championship, which takes place all over the country instead of just at one track.

“In the next year we’d like to have at least two of our bikes at the top of the ACU Championship; following that we’re going to look compete for more championships on bigger bikes.”