Ace John is double Superbike champ

Preston race ace John Dietermen is a history maker after defending his ThundersportGB Dymag Golden Era Superbikes Championship this year.
John DietermanJohn Dieterman
John Dieterman

The 41-year-old Team Baxi motorcyclist is the first man ever to claim the title for a second time.

Riding his 1993 Yamaha YZF750, Dieterman won with a round to spare after claiming 16 race wins throughout the season.

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He finished ahead of Mirfield’s Ryan Strafford, who was second on his Honda SP2, while Richard Blunt was third on the podium riding a Kawasaki ZXR750 SP.

The televised championship is for Superbike specification machines up to the year 2000 and sees 750cc four cylinder bikes up against 1,000cc twin cylinder superbikes.

The series, which is spread across nine rounds at venues such as Brands Hatch and Oulton Park, was designed to replicate the golden era of Blackburn’s Carl Fogarty who was a four-time World Superbike champion.

“I am the first double champion after winning it this year and last year,” said Dietermen, who attended Longridge High School.

“I managed to win it at the eighth round at Donington Park.

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“Last year, it went down to the last round – it was that close.

“So we are the double GE Superbike champions which feels great and the first to achieve it in its history. We hold five lap records on the calendar.

“It’s a great Championship. The older bikes generate a lot if interest and are enjoyable to work on.”

Dieterman has worked at Baxi Heating since 1993.

They have been his main sponsors, but the team has also been heavily backed by Continental Tyres, TW Suspension and Visorvision.

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“I started at Baxi as a maintenance apprentice,” said Dietermen, who is married to Janet and has a 20-year-old son called Reece.

“After I finished my time I moved into CNC production for a year then into research and development where I have stayed ever since.

“Despite the pressures, it is a fantastic company to work for with some great people and colleagues.”

The fact that Dieterman has enjoyed success on two wheels is no real great surprise.

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He has grown up around the sport due to the influence of his dad John Snr and late grandad Robert Wilson.

“My dad still races at Aintree and won this year on his Ducati F1,” he said. “My mum Carole worked in my grandad’s bike shop ‘Willies Two Stroke House’ which was in Ribbleton Lane.

“This is where my dad and mum met as my dad was always in there!

“My younger brother Mark rides motorcycles on the road. He doesn’t race himself but used to race motocross with me when we were schoolboys, so we have always been around two wheels.”

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Next year Dietermen is changing class and is moving to the highly competitive Supersport 600 class.

“We are racing the beautiful Italian MV Agusta 675 F3 machine supplied by MV Lancashire in Clitheroe in the Thundersport Elite 600 class,” he said. “We are looking at racing in one or two British Supersport Championship rounds as a wild card entry.

Dieterman has a Facebook page ‘Team Baxi Yamaha’ where fans can keep up to date with race results, modifications to the bike and general happenings in his world, although the page will shortly be changing name to ‘Team Baxi MV’.

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