The former Wellington local admits he got into the sport thanks to his father and grandfather who were always racing dirt tracks. His first race was at the age of five and the now 18-year-old is racing professionally.

Tom explained it best when he said he is "doing what he loves."

His drive to race has taken him all over the world, including to America racing dirt track and road bikes in Thailand.

"It was a pretty amazing experience being over there (in Thailand), very different, but I loved it and we got to know some very nice people over there who are like family," Tom said.

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At 15, Tom came back to Australia where he raced for a year. After that he was offered a wild card to do one race in the world championships which lead to him signing to the Benjan team.

Currently Tom is in Europe racing in the World Supersport 300 for the Italian ParkinGo team on a Kawaski Ninja 400 bike.

At his most recent race in Portugal, Tom qualified 27^th but he was able to turn his luck around in the warm up, achieving one of the best lap times.

"I was fast enough to be in the front but starting too far back. I ended up catching up to the group that was fighting for third and I finished 11th," Tom explained.

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"It was good considering where I started but for the rest of the season I'm going to focus on my qualifying because it makes it a lot easier starting closer to the front."

Tom's next race is this weekend in Italy, followed by the next week at France and then back to Italy. He will be racing in two championships, the World Supersport 300 and the Italian Supersport 300.

Tom said this year he has been really strong in the Italian Championship, so thinks he should go well.

"France last year I qualified third so I think I should go pretty good there," he added.

While he was born in Wellington, Tom and his family moved to Newcastle when he was young.

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But any holidays he is able to get, Tom loves coming back to town with his bike.

"I've got some good mates out there... it's really good to see everyone and all of my family still lives there," he said.

Even though he's on the other side of the world, Tom said it was amazing to have so much local support.

"It's cool to see that people know about me, without me knowing them too much. It's really amazing," he said.

Racing is just as much a mental sport as it is physical, Tom said, but added that he loves racing and it was a "dream" to be overseas.

"I miss the beach and my mates but it's something I'm willing to give up for half of the year to be over here doing what I love," he said.