Robbie Wood’s first taste of motorsport came in the world of quadbike racing.
Growing up on the farm in the shadow of Scott’s View, near Melrose, Robbie’s local race track was in Duns in Berwickshire. He started racing there when he was six and gained experience by riding regularly in the northern-based Quad Racing Scotland and NETT Championships before stepping up to the prestigious Southern-based NORA-MX Championship, following in the footsteps of Scottish-bred champions such as John Mitchell, Connor Smith and Murray Graham.
After finishing runner-up in the hotly contested 250cc Open ANGRY GFX British Championship in his first year in the class, aged 14, he was one of 20 young Scots hand-picked from across the country to join the Scottish Motor Sports Academy – a youth development programme designed to bring out the best in promising young athletes.
The Academy supports talented youth in all disciplines of two-wheel and four-wheel racing, ranging from enduros to saloon car racing and Wood was the only quad rider to be accepted into the squad at that time.
Rory Bryant, National Development Manager of Scottish Motor Sports said: “The SMS Academy was set up in 2017 to support young riders and drivers aged 14-20 who are showing potential to excel in the sport.
“We received a huge amount of interest in the programme which made the job of the selection panel, including representatives from Scottish Motor Sports, the Scottish Auto Cycle Union (SACU) and the Motor Sports Association (MSA), extremely difficult, but after some deliberation, we whittled it down to 20.”
Robbie benefited from support and advice and took part in development workshops, that helped grow his knowledge, skills and attitudes around performance. The topics included sports psychology, sponsorship, fitness and nutrition, technical skills, communications and sports career planning.
