Eye-based Max is the youngest winner of a prestigious award once dominated by Barry Sheene
Eye-based Max Hardy has become the youngest winner of one of motorcycling's most prestigious awards.
The Mellano Trophy is a reward for consistent excellence throughout a season and Hardy was crowned the ‘Champion of Champions’ for 2025 over the weekend.
Previous winners include legendary figures Mike Hailwood and Phil Reid, while Barry Sheene is one of only two racers to have won it three times. Hardy has now added his name to the roll of honour in the competition’s centenary year.
This season Hardy competed in the Bemsee MRO Powerbike Championships - a class that is for 1000cc Powerbikes and involves many older experienced riders.
But in his first season in this class Hardy won the Championship by 85 points, clinching the title at Donington Park. He finished on top of the podium despite suffering a potentially season-ending injury mid-campaign, a fall while mountain biking, which led to surgery on a broken collarbone.
It’s been a real family affair as Mark Hardy, the father of Max, prepares the motorbike for racing.
One of the team’s sponsors is Eye-based Pioneer Caravans, and they have only ever sponsored one other rider in the past, a certain Barry Sheene.