Junior saloon car champion anticipates a magical race in a Yorkshire Wagyu inspired soapbox
Two East Yorkshire family businesses are hoping their partnership will prove magical when Market Weighton's highly anticipated soapbox race comes to town next month.
Tibthorpe based The Yorkshire Wagyu Company and Merlin International, a vehicle and motorsport garage based in Huggate, are joining forces to enter the Weighton's Whacky Races soapbox challenge.
The two businesses are based five miles apart and are linked through the daughter of the owners of Merlin, Katie Milner, who is sponsored by The Yorkshire Wagyu Company for her circuit racing.
Weighton's Whacky Races, organised by The Rotary Club and Market Weighton Young Farmers, will take place in Market Weighton, on Sunday July 16.
Junior Saloon Car Champion Katie will drive the soapbox, which will be built by her dad, former rally driver, Jonny Milner and her co-driver will be The Yorkshire Wagyu Company's chef, Nick Dawson.
Plans for a Wagyu bull soapbox are underway and the team will be named the Wagyu Wizards, said Jonathan Shepherd, co-owner of The Yorkshire Wagyu Company.
"It's wonderful to get involved with an event that's local to us, and we're hoping our soapbox creation will catch the public's eye. We've yet to start building our cart but with some fantastic parts from Jonny at Merlin, we're confident we'll come up with something great.
"It's also exciting to be collaborating with another family business that we've known for a long time, and we're hoping that Katie will race our cart to victory," he added.
The team plan to dress to impress with Katie in a wizard's outfit, Nick in his chef's jacket and the two pushing the cart, Jonny and Jonathan, will be dressed up as cows.
17 year old Katie is looking forward to the challenge of racing the soapbox around the obstacles and keeping the cart in one piece.
"This race will be quite different to the others I currently compete in. We're going to take the race seriously but have a good laugh at the same time - I'm hoping for first place, so we're not planning on crashing out.
"It's excellent working with The Yorkshire Wagyu Company as they provide us with protein-rich nutrition and snacks like biltong - great when I need a boost over a racing weekend - and marketing collateral and support when we really need it."
Katie, who is a student at theMotor Sports AssociationAcademy and works as an intern at a PR company in London, is currently competing in the Ginetta GT5 Challenge in a Ginetta G40 sports car.
Around 40 teams will be competing in Weighton's Whacky Races on the morning of the Market Weighton Community Day 2017 from 8am to 1pm. Entry to the race is free for spectators.
Ends
Photo:Katie Milner and Jonathan Shepherd
For more information or to arrange an interview with the co-founder of The Yorkshire Wagyu Company, Jonathan Shepherd, please contact Tracey Baty at three60 marketing on:
Direct line: 01430 871360
Mobile: 07971 961574
E mail:traceybaty@three60marketing.co.uk
Web:www.three60marketing.co.uk
Notes to editors
For more information about The Yorkshire Wagyu Company, please visitwww.yorkshirewagyucompany.co.uk.
To keep up to date with news and events from The Yorkshire Wagyu Company on social media follow the company onTwitterandFacebook, and read theirnews.
The Yorkshire Wagyu Company's Wagyu Cross and Wagyu full-blood herd feed on home-grown fertiliser-free forage, and are nurtured for over two years. The meat is hung for 21 days to improve the flavour.
To find out where Yorkshire Wagyu is available, clickhere.
The Yorkshire Wagyu Company will be sponsoring Katie Milner during the course of 2017 and appear at her racing weekend events serving Wagyu meals from theWOW Wagon. For more information about Kate and Merlin International garage, head towww.katiemilner.comandwww.merlininternational.co.uk.
Merlin is so called because it is an anagram of Milner.
For more information about Weighton's Whacky Races, please visitwww.gb.eventbu.com/market-weighton/weightons-whacky-races/24123andwww.facebook.com/weightonwhackyraces.