Daredevil to perform motorbike stunt show aged eight

A daredevil motorcyclist who jumps through fire and rides while standing on her bike is preparing for her first public stunt show – at the age of just EIGHT.

Thrillseeker Bethany Diamond has only five months’ motorbiking experience, but can already perform tricks such as leaping over obstacles and flying through flames.

Young Bethany only recently joined her motorcycle team, the Tiger Children’s Motorcycle Display team, for five to 16-year-olds, but is already proving to be quite a talent.

The adrenaline junkie, from Crawley, West Sussex, will be performing in her first public show at the HMS Collingwood open day in Fareham, Hampshire, on June 4.

Bethany’s mum, Julie Diamond, said: “It is definitely a different type of hobby for an eight-year-old girl, but Bethany well and truly has the bug for it.

“She is really keen to learn and has taken to the stunts as a complete natural – she hasn’t shied away from anything yet.”

“And even on the couple of occasions where she has had a wobble on the bike, it hasn’t knocked her confidence because she has gone for the stunt straight away again.”

Despite her age, it’s not a huge surprise that Bethany has gone into biking, as she comes from a family of keen motorcyclists.

Julie said: “I passed my test in November 2003 and my dad has always been into bikes.”

“He currently rides a Royal Enfield Crusader Sports, which he stripped down and restored himself.

“My brother and sister also have their motorbike licenses.

“As a family we attend the Motorcycle Live show at the NEC in Birmingham every year and there they have motorbikes for the children to sit on.”

Bethany got her first pushbike aged just three and, according to Julie, has always had good balance, managing to ride without stabilisers very quickly.

The youngster’s love for cycling quickly turned into a love for motorcycling and she got on a motorbike for the first time when she was six, at the NEC show in 2013.

Bethany decided she wanted to become a stunt rider herself after watching the freestyle motocross at the annual show last year.

Julie said: “As we were watching the show, Bethany kept saying ‘I want to do that’.

“Then on our way past a stand we saw a young girl riding round while standing on the seat and it instantly caught Bethany’s attention.

“She stopped in her tracks and went ‘look, look’ and was telling me that if that girl could perform stunts then she could too.”

Julie found out the girl was a member of the Tigers and Bethany went for a trial in January.

Despite having only ridden a motorbike a handful of times, Bethany breezed through the trial and was immediately invited to join the team.

Julie said: “We had bought Bethany a little 49cc motorbike but she had only been on it a couple of times because it wasn’t in the best condition.

“During the trial Bethany had to show she was capable of controlling the bike, having a good balance, steering round corners, following instructions and weaving in and out of cones.

“She spent the whole time smiling and the instant she passed the trial she was joining the rest of the team, riding alongside them proving she could keep at the same speed.

“She is keeping up with other team members who have been there a year or more longer than she has.”