Since its birth, Supersport 300 World Championship has welcomed both experienced people like Scott Deroue and Ana Carrasco and several youngsters with no experience, but lots of talent. A representative of the latter group is young Frenchman Mateo Pédeneau and in 2020, the list may welcome young British talent Indy Offer.
Born in 2003, Indy currently races in Dickies British Junior Supersport Championship (one of the support series of BSB) on Team OCB‘s Kawasaki Ninja 400 machine. Here is the story of this young rider.
A speedy career
Born in Sutton, Indy Offer has been riding motorcycles for just two years. Everything started halfway through 2017, like Indy said to Palmen in Motorradsport: “My dad used to race at club level in England. I always used to watch but was never interested in riding, until he asked me if I wanted to try racing. Then, we bought a bike and my first race was in August 2017“.
In 2018, Indy had his first full racing season in Bemsee ACU Team Green Junior Cup, a series for young riders based on Kawasaki Ninja 300/400 bikes. Despite being at the very start of his career, Indy was a multiple race winner and he finished the championship in fourth place. Furthermore, in the meantime, Indy took part in some British Junior Supersport races. He scored points more than once and so, he secured a seat for the whole 2019 season.
2019
Currently, as written above, Indy Offer is living his first season in British Junior Supersport series. After some positive pre-season testing, the youngster struggled in the first part of the season due to some technical difficulties and bad luck and so he could not achieve great results. Finally, in the round happened from 2nd to 4th August in Thruxton, everything worked fine. The issues that were slowing his bike have been fixed, so Indy could provide a great performance by finishing sixth.
This result may seem good, but not excellent. However, its value increases exponentially, if we consider the trouble had by Indy until that moment and the fact he has so little experience. What happened in Thruxton represents a turning point for Indy’s 2019 campaign, as his goal is to keep the same pace in the remaining few races. The next round of 2019 British Junior Supersport Championship is scheduled from 6th to 8th September in Oulton Park.
World-Championship Dreaming
The result scored in Thruxton has boosted Indy Offer’s confidence, also in sight of a step-up to World Supersport 300 in 2020. The Brit wants to join WorldSSP300 as soon as possible and last July, he had some important testing in Magione with Scuderia Maranga Racing, an Italian team competing in the championship.
According to both the rider and the team, the test was very positive and Indy hopes to become part of WSSP300. “The World championship has great racing and is a good championship to be in to raise my profile“, said Indy. Such a step may be very important for reaching Indy’s goal on the long term, which is “to be World Superbike Champion one day“.
Final curious fact
In conclusion, something curious about Indy Offer is represented by his name. A petrolhead like me may associate it the name “Indy” to Indianapolis, but its origin is actually much different, as Indy said: “It’s linked to the film ‘Indiana Jones’. In the film, one of the characters shouts ‘Indy’ and they (his parents, ed) both liked the name, as it wasn’t a common name“. Moreover, the home circuit of Indy is Brands Hatch, whose shortest layout is known as ‘Indy’…Incredible, right? 😀
Palmen in Motorradsport wishes Indy Offer good luck for the next races and his future.