'Plymouth Bill' Callister

 

This series of articles has thrown up several stories of utter endeavour and determination; Bill Callister is no exception to this. A corporal in the Marines, Bill has to weave a racing career around his service commitments, which take him to many distant parts. A motocross rider from the age of 14 and a contemporary of Louise Kennedy in the Isle of Man, Bill could hardly fail to be attracted to road racing, living as he did in the Road Racing Centre of the world. He is not the first rider to approach road racing from off road experience. The purchase of an R1 and attendant risks of speeding finds and loss of licences similarly encouraged  him to take up racing: in his own words;

' it's safer than the roads and there are no coppers'

His initial target was , starting in 2004, to get racing experience and be able to ride in the 2006 Manx. Two race schools with Ron Haslam proved promising and the choice of  racing class to start in equally astute. Warned off the 600s where life could prove difficult in entry terms, the 400s provided plenty of rides and a mine of experience. Like Jay Fletcher from some weeks back, Bill found himself totally off the pace to start with. At Darley Moor he came dead last in his first race; more importantly, by the end of the day he had knocked 10 seconds of his lap times and was hooked on racing. Racing at Jurby, Silverstone Donington and Thruxton all provided experience, but his greatest advances were made with the Preston Club at Three Sisters and Anglesey where he saw real progress in positions and lap times. He is pictured above in the monsoon meeting at Three Sisters last October. As of now, with an R6 to go with the CBR400, Bill hopes to pin a name to his results and may even bring forward by a year his MGP debut. He will figure in the Preston Championships this year and North Gloucestershire as well. Fastrackimages wishes Bill all the best for the coming season. He can be found on a new website, which is currently under construction.

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