Shropshire motorcycle star defies odds and pain to win title
Jamie Badhams might not be able to lift his arm above his head but holding on to a motorbike is all that matters.
The Wellington racer is celebrating after a dominant season in which he stormed to glory in the East Midlands Racing Association Championships.
Badhams’ record of 14 wins from 16 races to claim the title would be impressive enough. Yet throw in the fact he wasn’t even supposed to be competing at all, after undergoing major surgery at the start of the year and his achievement becomes somewhat remarkable.
The 30-year-old had half of his collarbone replaced after “destroying it” in a training ride crash and still had his arm in a sling two days before March’s opening round.
But after finding he could still hold on to the bike, he opted to race through the pain barrier and duly left the rest of the field trailing in his wake.
“I was supposed to be in the sling for another three months but we rushed out of it to get racing,” he explained.
“I certainly didn’t expect to win the title this year with the injury and after having surgery. But I think the adrenaline helps.”
Badhams had finished third in last year’s championships while dealing with the pain of the injury, which he sustained after crashing during a training run.
“We put off the surgery until the end of the year because it was a pretty big operation,” he explained.
“I had essentially completely destroyed my collarbone. The operation was a replacement of half of it into my shoulder and then they had to re-attach some ligaments and in some cases use wires.
“We weren’t expecting what happened this year at all. We got the bikes ready, just in case.
“I knew I was going to get out at some point. But not at the start of the year. We thought we would give it a go.
“We went to the first round and said if I feel like I can ride, I’ll ride. I just found out I could ride the bike.
“I still can’t lift my arm over my head but I can hold onto a motorbike and that’s what matters.”
Despite being a relative newcomer, having only begun competing four years ago, motorcycling has always been in Badhams’ blood.
His father Nigel raced sidecars and the father-and-son now form the FITD Racing team, with the long-term aim of eventually being part of the British Superbikes paddock.
“I’ve always been around bikes and loved them,” says Badham. “It’s not the cheapest sport but as soon as I could afford to do it, I made it happen.
“Next season I will look to defend my title, while we are also looking at the No Limits series, which is one of the biggest in the country.
“Following on from that, we would like to go into the British Superbikes paddock. We had an offer to go in this year but the money involved was eye-watering. The goal after next season is to be in the paddock.”
