Twenty-two-year-old Kawasaki rider, Tom Neave, achieved his debut Pirelli National Superstock 600 win at Snetterton this weekend - with an impressive lead of over six and a half seconds - but what made the win so special was that he was joined on the podium by his twin brother, Tim, who finished the race in second place.
“That’s what made it for me to be honest”, said Lincolnshire lad, Tom. “It’s the sort of thing you dream about - identical twins getting a one-two on the podium. To be honest, I couldn’t see who had come second so I didn’t know he was no the podium. He pulled up beside me on the cool down lap and indicated second place. It was a dream weekend. I was so close to beating the lap record too, but I can’t grumble!”
The previous round at Knockhill, Scotland, had seen Tom achieve his maiden pole position.
“We’ve not had the best start to the season to be honest but everything has started coming together now and our plan is to keep our heads down and carry on. The team is working like clockwork now, so hopefully we can maintain this momentum. We’re really looking forward to our local round at Cadwell Park in August so we’ll keep the ball rolling and hopefully both be top of the standings at the end of the season.”
Tim and Tom, both from Lincoln, were born on 28 May 1995. Their first experience of motorsport came at just nine years old, when their grandfather bought them a 50cc quad bike. Beginning their two-wheeled racing career aged 16, Tim started Flat Track racing and was followed the year after by Tom. In 2010 Tim was crowned ACU British Junior Flat Track Champion and Tom was British Junior Flat Track Champion in 2011.
It was Tom who got the opportunity to go road racing first, aged 17 when he competed in the Thundersport GB Minitwin series. Tim made his road racing debut the following year and Tom progressed onto a supertwin machine.
Both Tom and Tim were invited to the iconic Superprestigio event in 2014 where they raced against top racers, including 2013, 2014 and 2016 MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez.
The brothers are currently competing in the Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship. Tim is currently fifth in the Championship standings with 56 points, with his brother Tom is in eighth place with 43.
It was straight back to work on the family farm for them both following their podium performance...
“I went from winning a race on Sunday, to mucking out the cows at 7am on Monday morning! After the race, we stayed at watched more racing and celebrated with our friends and family. It was really nice as there were a lot of people at Snetterton who have supported us since we first started racing, so it was lovely to get such an amazing result.”
For more information on the Neave twins, visit their website: www.neavetwins.com
