MOTORBIKE-MAD Ben Heaton is saddled with a burning ambition – to pit his skills against the best in the business at the Isle of Man TT.

For years he has idolised two-wheel legends such as Bob Smith, Joey Dunlop and Phil Mellor, and hopes to write his own chapter in the world-famous TT – held annually for more than a century – and his drive to compete on the island has never diminished.

His career has taken off in the last couple of years, with him topping the podium on several occasions, alongside major championship wins in the up-to 250cc Classic, North West ACU Classic and Northwest ACU single cylinder races.

At the end of the 2016 racing season the father-of-two also received the Carlton Club award from Aintree Racing Club.

He races for Team Heaton, a family-run team with his wife Chloe as race manager, and this year will also be part of the Aintree and the Preston and District Racing Clubs, with competitions across the UK planned.

There is a venture to the Isle of Man in store too, as he intends to race at the Southern 100.

All this requires a number of machines

and he has five bikes at his disposal, a Ducati MK111 350cc, Jaws Disk Valve Freetech 50cc, Suzuki RGV 250cc and his own Yamaha YZF-R6 13s Superstock.

One thing that will not change, however, is his race number 12, which he adopted in memory of his closest friend Malachi Mitchell-Thomas, the Horwich racer who died in an accident during the Vauxhall International North West 200 race in Northern Ireland in May. He has the right team alongside him, including Dan Style, who has Manx GP and TT victories to his name.

However, as well as the stiff competition on the track, Ben has an uphill battle to fund his career, although Team Heaton has the backing of Southport-based Falcon Electrica.

He has also joined forces with the Dozen Club to help subsidise racing costs. Club members raise funds for racers to take part in events, invaluable help since every meet costs £100, before the accommodation, travel or equipment expenses.

“We are a family racing team, with me as manager, so everything we do we do together,” said Chloe, who gave birth to six-year-old Miya’s little sister Daisy on New Year’s Day.

“Every penny helps towards racing as we are on a shoestring budget so the fact he has been asked to race all these bikes is an absolute blessing. We are extremely lucky.”

Anyone who would like to help Ben on his journey, should visit his fundraising pages at www.paypal.me/nevereverlift, www.gofundme.com/nevereverlift or log onto his Facebook page for more information at www.facebook.com/nevereverlift