Motorsport: Lewis Rollo back on form 12 months after injury

Now, he is loving life back on his motorbike and already looking ahead to the new season and getting closer to achieving his dream.

The 24-year-old described the season, which saw him finish sixth in the National Superstock Championship, as “brilliant”.

He said: “Obviously, getting a podium at Donington Park was mega because the team worked hard and I worked hard.

“Last year was the first year in my career when I never got a podium. Last year was hard going into winter with an injury and not having a podium was really hard.

“You stop believing in yourself a wee bit but this year we have just been getting stronger and stronger.

“We were waiting on that podium to come and when it finally came it was emotional for me and the team, just knowing what we have been through to get to that point.”

Lewis Rollo has enjoyed an impressive return to form. Image: Camipix Photography

Rollo, who lives in Gifford, suffered a T5 superior endplate fracture after the crash saw him “land on his head”.

The incident at Donington Park also left him with a broken nose, blood on his face and unable to train through the winter.

Fittingly, his best result of this season, a third place in round 16, came at the Leicestershire circuit.

Rollo told Courier Sport: “At the start of the year, when we went there for the first time, every time I went through the corner where I had the accident it was on my mind.

“When we went back there for the third-last round, I didn’t think of it once. That showed me how much my confidence has come on from all of it and playing it in my mind all the time.

“Going back there and setting the quickest time through that sector of the track all weekend, it was just a mega bit of motivation for me and the team.

“It could have ended my career at that corner, instead I was the fastest through the sector all weekend.”

READ MORE: Racer Lewis Rollo breaks bone in his back in bike crash

One of the key parts of the season for Rollo was returning to the IN Competition Aprilia team, where he had worked alongside Ian and Myra Newton when he was just 12 years old.

Returning ‘home’, gave him the chance to battle it out towards the front of the field.

He said: “I have worked with all the team before, all the mechanics and everything.

“It was going back somewhere I knew I had success in the past.

“It was nice not just for me but my family as well. It is a team we really get on with.”

Now, despite the chequered flag waving for the end of the season at Brands Hatch, Rollo is already looking forward to the new campaign.

READ MORE: Motorsport: Lewis Rollo keen to build on points scoring start

He said: “Deep down, I want to win and I want podiums.

“I want to be in the fight for the championship and I want to be British champion.

“That is why I go racing, you cannot explain the feeling when things are going right.”

That could mean a step up to the newly created Pathway Superbikes.

The former Knox Academy pupil said: “It is a stepping stone for the riders but also for teams to make the transition up to Superbikes.

“Since I was a wee boy, I have wanted to race British Superbikes, World Superbikes and Moto GP.

“That has always been the goal.

“I have been in National Superstock for a few years and had podiums, won races and we have finished in the top six in the championship for three years.

“I have always been there or thereabouts and I would love it if I left National Superstock by winning a championship but, if the opportunity is there to step up with the team, I would love to do it.”