The 15-year-old Narooma High School student earlier this month just missed out on qualifying in Spain for the Red Bull Rookies European circuit and stopped off in Malaysia on his way home to try out for the Asia Talent Cup.

“Absolutely over the moon right now!” Reid’s mother Renee Antonio posted on Facebook. “My amazing son Reid Battye has just been selected for Asia Talent Cup! I knew you could do it Reid..you are so awesome!

“I just want to thank all the Aussies that stayed all day to support Reid even after they had been eliminated..go Aussies! And Callum Alderson for lending Reid his leathers..they have a few new scratches Callum. What an exciting year we now have ahead of us!”

Mum Renee said Reid will travel back and forth to the events. “Asia Talent Cup races at the Asian MotoGP races at Qatar, Japan and Malaysia and also the world Superbike races in Thailand and Malaysia there could be more races than that as well but I'm not sure as yet,” she said.

It’s been a challenging time overseas for mum and son who had all their luggage including his riding gear stolen after arriving in Spain. They were able to loan gear for the qualifying races and are forever grateful for the support.

Just making it overseas has been a challenge for the Far South Coast NSW family and they have set up a GoFundMe page to help finance the trip. Click here to help out

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Bermagui racer Reid Battye just misses out on Red Bull Rookie qualification

Bermagui young motorbike rider headed to Spain to race

The Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup (SAATC) is an exciting competition, which acts as a feeder series to promote the best young talent from world of motorcycle racing. The project started in 2014 and aims to give riders from the Asian and Australian regions a formal path into competitive road racing.

The Cup is led in-part by renowned and successful talent scout Alberto Puig, who has been responsible for developing such talents as Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa, and who is also the leader of the successful MotoGP Academy. The competition sees Asia’s stars of the future participate in a number of races around Asia.

A group of 114 aspiring young riders were in attendance at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, on Wednesday, October 26, as the selection event for the 2017 Asia Talent Cup took place under the watchful eye of Cup Director Alberto Puig.

Following the day’s action 17 riders have been selected to participate in next year’s competition, with seven further riders put on a standby list of reserves for the 2017 edition of the Cup.

The large group of boys and girls attending the trial included riders from Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, Thailand, The Philippines, South Korea, India, Turkey, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, China, New Zealand and Nepal. The riders varied in age from 12 to 20 years-old.

They were greeted by warm and sunny conditions and were not hampered by tropical rainstorms – as is often the case at Sepang – as they undertook their trial on the 1.247km Sepang Kart Circuit. All the riders participated in two initial 10-minute sessions on Honda Wave Alpha 110CV bikes with the selection committee gradually choosing riders to progress into a final selection group.

Reviewing the selection event in Malaysia, Alberto Puig, Director of the Asia Talent Cup, commented: “It was a long day, but finally we reached a decision. It’s always difficult because you can make mistakes, but we are happy with the selection. The weather was great throughout the day and no-one was injured, which are two important points. We hope to have a fresh group of riders next season and we are looking forward to 2017.”

The riders lucky enough to have made it through to the 2017 Asia Talent Cup are as follows:

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Reserves: