WA round of ASBK, a Keogh family affair!

With less than two weeks until the fourth round of the 2016 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli, the Keogh family are preparing to achieve more personal goals at their home round on June 3-5, at Barbagallo Raceway, in Western Australia.

With a burning passion to race stemming from his childhood, Tony Keogh has carried on the family tradition which now sees him, his son Lachlan, and his daughter Brittany, show up to every round of the ASBK and give it everything they have, even if it means the gruelling hours in the car from Western Australia to the East Coast to compete!

Tony is currently competing in the Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike class aboard a Kawasaki ZX10 while son Lachlan, who only just turned 15 years old last week is currently competing in both the Honda Moto 3/125GP class and the ASBK Production classes, and of course daughter Brittany, joins her dad and brother most weekends offering her support to the pair too.

Speaking to the Keogh family you get a sense of just how passionate they are in their love for motorbikes, and just how much being able to compete and travel as a family is something that is even more enjoyable than the racing at times!

“I have ridden bikes in general all my life. My main dream when I was younger was to race Superbikes but it never happened. I had an older brother and as he transitioned through all different sports I followed him. It wasn’t until I was doing my own thing that I initially got talked into a track day, bought a race bike, and now I am competing in my fourth racing season,” Tony said.

“At one stage my daughter was riding as well, so we had the three of us racing! We have always done everything together. Being a single dad at home with my two children living with me, we rode BMX, and motorbikes, making us a very tightknit close family.

“My parents still drive the race trailer across the country and they are in their 70’s and they still pit crew for us as well. They are amazing at what they do, and we have grown up as a close family and it’s how we remain,” Tony finished.

With son Lachlan starting out on bikes young too, this family has dabbled in more than just road racing with Lachlan actually starting off competing in Enduro – but time would prove that nothing could beat the thrill of two wheels on a smooth bitumen surface.

“With my dad riding, my love for motorbikes just developed as we went along, when I was four years old I started racing BMX and when I was about ten we got a Thumpster. That was my first ever learning experience on a motorbike. The first time I rode a road bike at a ‘come and try day’ it was an awesome thing for me, I just wanted to do more of it!” Lachlan said.

Their story isn’t all fireworks and butterflies however, as well as looking after his two children, Tony is a lecturer at TAFE, and while he may leave the books at work, when he comes home, it is straight onto the tools, maintaining and repairing the four bikes which they cart racing around the country.

“I build all of our bikes! I build the motors and everything in between racing. Anything that needs to be done to the bikes, pretty much gets done by myself,” Tony said.

“I am a small motor mechanic by trade. I have worked with lawn motors, and things with small engines. I have also self-taught myself a lot of the stuff I know today.

“I lecture at TAFE in outdoor power equipment, all your smaller petrol, diesel powered garden equipment. I have built race cars and all sorts, and my dad used to prepare bikes in the 80’s. His outlook was always ‘if man made it, man can fix it’, and I have taken the same approach – I do my homework and ask questions to get it done.”

In addition to his hard work and determination on the track, Tony has also sacrificed the family home to help support and maintain both his, and his son Lachlan’s racing career, and shares that he is Lachy’s number one supporter both on and off the bike!

“I think the biggest challenge for Lachy at the moment is probably mentally, and his age. I know for a fact that he worries about money, which I constantly tell him is not his problem,” said Tony.

“I just want him to go out and enjoy it first, and give it his best shot and that’s all he can do.

“Hopefully for him if something comes from it that would be amazing, and I would support him as far as I can and as long as it’s his dream, I wouldn’t want my kids to do anything just because I am doing it or they feel they have to race.

“I am blown away to now be able to watch my now 15-year-old go around a race track! I am just happy to see him not being afraid to have a go,” Tony concluded.

Round four of the ASBK will now mark the rare opportunity for both Tony and Lachlan to compete in their home state, avoiding lengthy travel times, and the opportunity to showcase to Western Australia exactly what their family is made of!

“All of us being able to sleep in our own beds for a round is going to be unreal!” Tony said.

“Although personally I haven’t done many laps of Barbagallo on my new ZX10, I know the track well and I am excited to have a home round with all of our family and friends there to support us,”

“No matter my results on the weekend I am heading out there to give it a good crack!” Tony concluded.

For Lachy, his goals for round four are also affirmed as he shares that his sights are set on a podium finish at his home track.

“I would love to see myself on a podium for Moto 3 at round four obviously, and it would be even better to see myself on the podium in the production class too,” Lachlan shared.

“With my results from last round, having never ridden at Sydney Motorsport Park before and to get the podium was pretty awesome, and I definitely wasn’t expecting it. To be able to back it up at my home round with another podium finish would be awesome!”

“Riding motorcycles is such a passion to me, and I have fun doing it! I love it, and would love to see racing as part of my future going forward,” Lachlan concluded.

The Keogh family are in the final preparations for round four of the 2016 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli which will take place at Barbagallo Raceway in Western Australia on June 3-5, 2016.

To keep up to date with both Tony and Lachlan’s progress as well as the rest of the ASBK field, don’t forget to ‘Like’ ASBK on Facebook or ‘Follow’ @ASBK on Instagram.

For more information in the 2016 Yamaha Motor Finance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli head to www.asbk.com.au.