heo Pijper
JPER
them. If it’s speedway, it will be speedway. If it’s something else, then we’ll do that.
“It’s a way of life, it is hard going because it’s 24/7 in the workshop to get the bikes prepared for racing again.
“It’s been a great start for Ace. But we know it will be a rollercoaster. He has one more meeting at reserve and then he’s in the middle of the team.
“It will be different for him. He will have harder opposition in his first race and he just needs to keep his head clear, focus on his riding and nothing else around him.
“Stene is also in his first club with the Berwick Academy. They are both equally up for it. When it’s race-day they are loving it and want to do the best they can.” With the boys now stepping up into the racing big time, Theo is still convinced that there is life in the old Dutch dog yet.
There is also a huge chance that he could complete an incredible title hattrick with Berwick in 2022, adding to the glory achieved at Edinburgh and
Glasgow.
He added: “I can still score the points and be competitive and as long as that’s the case, I will carry on. Age is a number. We’ll try to keep on top of everything to keep going and progressing. Each lap I race I learn something else.
“There is life in me yet. Experience counts for a lot at Berwick. There are lines to race at Shielfield Park. It’s not only the throttle you need to use but also your brain a little bit,
there’s not much in there, but sometimes you need to think a bit more to get past another rider.
“I think we have a great chance to make the Play-Offs this season. Some of the riders in the team have been around the block for a few teams. So every track we go to we
• Ace, Theo and Stene get some advice from the rider who once rode there.
“The boys are all fired up, there’s a fantastic team spirit with everyone. All the families are involved as well. I think that’s a huge element for us doing well. When your mind is clear, you can achieve more.”
It’s soon going to get really hectic for the family with Theo’s longtrack commitments about to kick in alongside Ace’s Bullets meetings and Stene for the Academy.
The family are based in Edinburgh and while all the focus is naturally on the Pijper boys in their glory pursuits at Shielfield Park, Theo is quick to acknowledge the role of the girls in his life.
Wife Carrie is clearly the glue that holds the entire racing schedule together while young daughter Bonnie, at six, is winning medals as a dancer and could yet be the next Pijper to hit the track.
He said: “It will start getting very busy next month when longtrack starts, it will go all crazy.
“I have achieved every title possible in longtrack except the main one and I’m trying to hunt that down this year and then hang up the jacket after that.
“There’s a couple of vans on the road and plenty of flights booked. If I didn’t have Carrie I wouldn’t even know what country to go to. Carrie manages everything. Every one day of the week we sit round the coffee table and get our plans sorted.
“I have to pay special tribute to Carrie. She’s the cog that keeps everything working. What she does is massive behind the scenes. It doesn’t get spoken about ever, but there would be no results on the track without her.
“We have the three boys riding and then little Bonnie, who is just six, is well up in her dancing. So every day there’s some activity going on.
“Bonnie is the main person of the team. She supports all of us three and we support her dancing.
“She wants to have a bike herself now so not long from now you might see a pink machine going round a track somewhere. It’s either a bike or a horse but a horse is much more expensive. So she’ll get a bike!
“It’s a team we have here. That includes all of us in the family. We all want each other to succeed, that’s how it rolls.”
It’s clear with so much drive and ambition, there could be more titles rolling into the family trophy cabinet in 2022; from Bandits, Bullets, Academy and dancing.
Perhaps it’s appropriate that living in the Scottish capital, these Pijpers know how to bag glory.
May 7, 2022 speedway star 3
