Young Thetford motorcyclist Ryan Vickers has an exciting season ahead of him.

The 19-year-old has been rewarded for some encouraging performances last year by being given the chance to ride under the official Yahama banner.

He has been called up by Yamaha Motor UK to contest the 2018 British Superstock 600 Championship.

Last year Vickers stormed onto the British Superbike scene in the Superstock class, leaving his mark on the series with some strong rides throughout the season.

He even came close to splitting the Lincolnshire Neave twins Tim and Tom to take second place at his home round at Snetterton.

Unfortunately a coming together with Tim Neave on the last lap saw a very distraught Vickers return to the paddock feeling he had let everyone down after he crashed out, thankfully without injury.

He had his first visit to the podium at Silverstone when he took third in tricky conditions and his second visit of the year to Oulton Park saw him briefly on the podium in second after a brilliant ride in atrocious conditions, only to lose it on a technicality that he had no control over.

This just left him all the more determined at the final round of the year at Brands Hatch and he pulled out all stops to take a magnificent victory to top off an impressive first season and finish eighth overall in the championship.

Now all Vickers’ hard work has paid off with a chance to ride for Yahama.

At the recent ExCel Motorcycle Show in London Yamaha unveiled the latest model of their famous 600cc R6 and announced that Vickers would be riding it for them in his bid to take the Superstock 600 title this year.

There is no doubt about it that it’s the machine to be on this year, and it is viewed as a just reward for a level headed young man.

Vickers was understandably elated when he got the news and is determined to repay Yamaha’s faith in him with regular visits to the podium this year once the season gets under way at Easter. He should be a strong contender for the title with ex Grand Prix winner Alan Carter mentoring him.