desmo dave motorsports

About 'Desmo Dave'

I started my career as a mechanic in 1995 when I enrolled on a Modern Apprentice course, working in a village garage, this introduced me to all types of mechanical work on all types of vehicles.

Whilst I was there I started to work mainly on engines and gearboxes, also in my first year there I developed an interest in Motorsports through the owner of the garage. He was a gearbox kart driver and raced at national level, and I started to go to the race meetings at the weekends with him. Many of the kart meetings would also feature motorcycle club meetings and I gradually began to become more interested in these events.

By the end of 1999 I was looking for a new challenge in my work and was lucky enough to get a job with Chris Mehew at CM Engineering (Lincs) Ltd.

This was the start of my career at a high level of motorcycle mechanics. Whilst at CM Engineering I was building engines for the following teams and riders:

Red Bull Ducati – John Reynolds, Sean Emmett and James Haydon; Renegade Ducati – Michael Rutter; Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne, Sean Emmett and Leon Haslam; D&E Ducati – Paul Brown; D&B Ducati – Dean Ellison; IFC Ducati – Sean Emmett & Paul Brown

We worked on bikes and with riders from club level to World Super Bikes, and had great success with Honda UK 600 team from 2002 onwards, helping Karl Harris to win the British Supersport 600 Championship in 2003.

I left CM Engineering at the end of 2003 to take up a position with the Honda British Superbikes team for the 2004 season as Ryuichi ‘Kiyo’ Kiyonari’s engine builder. This was a good year and I had the great experience of working with the Japanese staff of the factory team (HRC).

At the end of 2004 I left Honda and was delighted to start work Wrigley Airwaves sponsored GSE Racing as the teams only engine builder. Working with Gregorio Lavilla, Leon Haslam, Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne and Leon Camier and the GSE team has been my best time in racing and it’s easy to see why they are the top team in the paddock.

During my time with GSE we won 2 British Superbike Championships and narrowly missed out on two other occasions.

In 2009 I left my full-time role at GSE Racing to set up Allenby Motorsports. Allenby Motorsports now offers engine work of a championship-winning quality for all teams and riders at all levels of racing.