Bermuda motorcycle racer Chris Wallington has been rewarded for a second place finish in the US Championship Cup Series by sealing a one-year factory ride for a team run by legend Kenny Roberts.

The Southampton rider missed out on the top spot in the Expert Lightweight Grand Prix class by just 16 points after the final race of the season at Homested in Miami, Florida.

Francisco Gomez took the title because despite finishing fifth to Gomez's 12th in the season climax, Wallington was unable to make up the 38 point differential that separated the pair at the start of the race.

"We just didn't have enough to make it. If he (Gomez) had not finished we would have been fine, but he was not the points leader for nothing. He is a fine rider and he knew what he had to do to win," said Wallington who spent much of the race dicing for third.

"It is a very fast and tight track. We were slightly underpowered and I made a bad move going around a lapped rider. I thought I could carry the speed going around the outside of him. I couldn't and the guys on the inside managed to pass me on the last lap to take third and fourth and I ended up coming fifth.

"But what a year it has been. To come second in the championship in my first year of semi-professional racing . . . "

Wallington said he did not set himself any goals at the start of the year, saying he was "just feeling his way".

"I thought I would maybe come in the top 10 in the championship. I didn't think I was going to win any races this year," he said.

"The first time racing in that division and the first time racing on a 250cc - that is a lot of first times. But I developed and adapted to the 250cc very quickly and just got in there. We won two races, had a second, a third, a fourth and a bunch of fifths and I have just had an amazing year."

Wallington's performances did not go unnoticed and as a result he will be riding for the West racing team in the US National Championships next season.

"We signed a deal for next year with Team West which is backed by factory Yamaha," he revealed. "I have been working with (top mechanic) Paul Ricco since about May and his goal I think was to get me on that team.

"We signed that deal on November 20. We are going for the AMA Nationals for the full year. I am the B rider for the team and get to race on the factory equipment."

Wallington said the deal was beyond his wildest dreams.

"When I quit two years ago for a year and a half I didn't think I was ever going to be able to make it back in," he said. "I came back and I thought I would give myself two or three years and then maybe go to the Nationals and once there go full-time. I thought after another two or three years at that level I might be able to get noticed as a factory rider.

"But halfway through my first season back in racing I get picked up and it's just great."

Although Wallington is the B rider on the Roberts' managed team, he believes he will be able to keep pace with crack team-mate Corey West.

"Corey is the A rider and he is fast. He is a fast young guy," he said. "We are going to try and hang with him. I have got almost the same equipment so there is no reason why I can't other than the fact that he has got a pot load more experience than I have."

Wallington is back on the Island for a while before getting down to business in the New Year.

"I am going back in the middle of January and then I am in it full-time. The races begin on February 9 and they end in December.

"There are going to be 10 national races and five regional races. That is all over the States, from Florida to California and New York and back down again," said Wallington, who added he was most looking forward to testing himself at the famous Laguna Seca track on the west coast.

But before he can take to the circuits there is a lot of preparation, both physical and mechanical that needs to be done.

"We are going to do a lot of training. When I am not racing I will be training," Wallington said. "I will be working out on a pedal bike and we are going to hopefully do a lot of on-track time without anyone else there."

But the rider believes the time away from friends and family will be worth it.

"I don't like to call them sacrifices because I am getting the better end of the deal. A sacrifice is when you get the worst end of the deal. I don't care what I have to give up because at the end of the day I am living my dream," he said.

A super confident person, Wallington is still realistic about his chances when the light changes from red to green.

"If I can get into the top 15 I will be doing really well at the Nationals.

"The Nationals are swallowed up by a lot of factory rides and there are a lot of good A riders in those teams," he said.

"This is my first year but if I can just learn this year what I need to do for the following year then the hopefully I can go out as a title contender."

If he is able to stand atop the podium in just a few short years time, Wallington will have more than repaid the faith shown in him by his Island sponsors, Dunkley's Dairies, Mailboxes Unlimited, Capcar Enterprises, Bermuda Airconditioning and Colonial Insurance.

"Because of my sponsors here I have been able to do this - they have financed the year for me," he said. "That is beyond my belief, they have just made a dream of mine come true."