THE countdown to the Weston Beach Race is on – and one competitor is raring to go even more than the rest.

THE countdown to the Weston Beach Race is on – and one competitor is raring to go even more than the rest.

Ty Kellett suffered serious head injuries during a crash at last year’s event that forced it to be cancelled.

But despite spending three weeks in a sedated coma following the accident, the 17-year-old motocross rider is looking forward to the event more than ever.

He said: “I’m definitely looking forward to it. It’s been a long way to be back where I am now and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without Russ Wells, my trainer down at Yeovil.”

As well as the head injury, Ty also serious back injuries, a severed liver and a severely broken leg after being involved in a huge crash at the beginning of the main race.

But despite the horrific injuries, Ty’s love of the sport saw him back in the saddle before long.

“It didn’t take me too long to get back riding, but to get back to where I was at the beginning of last year’s Beach Race, well I’m not there yet, but not far off.

“It’s been a long way, but I got back in the saddle three months ago. I just hope to go out there and do as well as I can, and obviously finish!”

This year Ty will be riding at Beach Race for the WRVS charity, who helped his family through the difficult weeks which followed his accident.

He said: “When I was in intensive care, WRVS gave my mum and dad a lot of help which was very helpful at that stage. I’d like to give all the well wishers a big thanks for the support I had when I was in hospital.”

Ty’s mum Carol echoed his thanks for the charity: “The charity help meant we could stay with Ty in Bristol while he was in intensive care, which was a real help.”

Organiser Gareth Hockey is another person looking forward to the 28th event getting underway.

He said: “The main thing for this year’s event is that it goes off incident-free. We’ve been working with the council to that end, and we’ve made some changes, especially to the starting straight.

“I think everyone’s just relieved that it’s come back to town. I think everyone was nervous after last year, but by the time we get to Sunday hopefully everyone will be talking about how great it was.”