Bermudian motorcycle racer Jevaughn Simons departs for North Carolina tomorrow to step his preparations ahead of this month's Robelin Road Grand National in Folkville, Georgia where he is confident of achieving success against some of the top prospects in North America.

The 600cc novice rider, a Motorcycle Mechanic Institute graduate, will join up with team owner Aaron Brown, a former fabricator for late Nascar legend Dale Earnhardt .

Together they'll "dial-in" his GSX -R 600cc bike in North Carolina before heading off to Georgia to compete in the Grand National.

The 24-year-old racer, one of four Bermudians presently competing in the US, reckons he's up for the challenge.

"I'm not saying that I am going to run away with it because it is going to be very competitive out there," said Simons, who is scheduled to compete in ten races in the US this year.

"I actually did some testing (last January) in Florida and compared my lap times with some of the guys I will be competing against and the fatest lap time that was set, I was probably about two-tenths (of a second) off. And that was the first time riding on my new bike and first time riding on that track (Jennings) period.

"I was laying down on bad tyres and having fun really and I know I can push a whole lot more when I look back at lap times I have posted at other tracks."

Earlier this month Simons' compatriot Toriano Wilson posted the fastest lap at the Red Bull AMA US Rookies Cup in California, competing in the 125cc class.

Simons now hopes to keep the streak going.

"I think Toriano has already started that ball rolling and I also want to help put Bermuda firmly on the map," he said.

And like Wilson, Simons is also digging deep in his own pocket to cover costs of competing abroad.

"I'm sponsoring myself. My team owner (Brown) own my bike but I have to pay for tyres, gas and repairs if I smash it up. I have to pay for all of that," he explained.

That aside, Simons has lofty ambitions and hopes to have progressed to the 600cc expert class by the end of next year. But in the meantime the promising rider intends to arm himself with as much racing knowledge as possible before making what he hopes will be a seamless transition to the higher level.

"I need to get acclimatised to more tracks in the US and also get used to the handling of the bike and how I can best relate information to my mechanics," the Smith's Parish resident said.

"Right now I'm used to working on my own bikes but my mechanics want me to go out and do a few laps on the track and come back and tell them how the bike is operating. So I'm trying to get myself in that frame of mind.

"I think the tracks in the US tend to be a bit more slippery than what we have here but at the same time we are travelling at higher speeds (in excess of 160mph). Over there we corner in sixth gear at 1,500 RPMs doing roughly about 160mph."