Jeremy McWilliams

Bike racing – it’s a young man’s (or woman’s) game, right? Bashing fairings and heads, trekking round the world, sacrificing every spare minute in a quest to go faster. Demanding complete physical and mental effort at all times.

- SIR ALAN OF DOWDS

But it seems that no one has told Jeremy McWilliams. The man from Antrim, Northern Ireland, is entering his 60th year, but as we spoke to him, he was packing up his Shark lid and racing leathers to fly to Daytona and race in the King of the Baggers there.

It’s a pretty obscure thing for a UK racer, so how did the Baggers ride come about? “About three years ago, Paul Langley at S&S Cycles phoned me. I’ve known Paul for years and I’ve got the greatest respect for him. If he asks you to do something, you know it’s serious. He asked me to come over to Daytona in March 2020 – of course, I wasn’t able to do that. Then he came back again when everything opened up in 2022 and said, ‘Could you come over and test this, because we’ve made quite a few changes to it and I’d like to get your ideas on direction and give us your input.’