The countdown was on even before he first swung his leg over a race bike when he was 20.

Now, five years later and two years into his campaign as a professional motorcycle rider, Chris Wallington knows the clock is ticking. Anyone in the sport over 30 is considered "ancient".

To make matters worse he started really late - most of his peers had been on some type of bike since the age of four or five.

So the young Bermudian's challenge is three-fold: to catch up on the significant headstart in experience which his rivals have; to achieve his aspiration of becoming a top racer in the United States and, thirdly, to do so within the next seven or so years - before retirement.

While the prospect of having "unlimited" resources to pursue this dream appeared gloomy a few years ago, his horizon looks decidedly brighter now - thanks to a new sponsorship contract with Quicker Ticks, a division of the local travel company C-Travel.

"Just before the first year started I was raising money for a year in advance to race and that (money) lasted about three race weekends and it was gone. That's how expensive it is. I spent about $300,000 in racing in my first four years," recalled Wallington of his early hardships breaking into the sport.

This year - his fifth - has been funded by Westco Racing, the team for which he signed late last year and for which he competes on the American Motorcycle Association (AMA) circuit. Still, personal sponsorships, like the deal this rider has just inked, can be the difference in being an also-ran - or moreso also-rode - and one of the names in neon.

Expenses in the sport run extremely high. It costs $8,000 to take part in a nationals race and there at least 10 of those annually. Formula USA (previously the Championship Cup Series) races are equally costly. That's to say nothing of money for bikes, parts, training and incidentals.

"Basically it means having an unlimited budget - that's everything. If you don't have that, then you're not going get the best parts or be able to rent a track to train - that can cost up to $6,000 for a day. If you want to use it for four or five days and you want to do that once a month, it's a big bill.

"It's a huge budget for one person. Some of the teams I race against have budgets of $500,000 per year without including the riders' wages. Some of the teams which I will be competing against next year have $10 million budgets. It's a big-money sport and you need money to get anywhere in it," noted the 25-year-old who is optimistic his Quicker Ticks alliance can alleviate many of his cash concerns.

For successful riders, the financial returns can justify the input and Wallington expects to be enjoying the lucrative side of things soon.

"I think this new deal will make next year a great one. A lot of money rolls through when you win races. Some of the guys win hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's hard to say what you're going to get because it all depends on your performance.

"In the Championships Series you can walk away with $200,000 or $300,000 for winning the championship, let alone what you win per race, let alone what endorsements you have. For example, if you have a helmet deal, that company might say we're going to give you X amount of money if you come first or second et cetera.

"If you carry this to the extreme, take someone like Nicky Hayden in the USA. He makes about $3 million a year and he is only 20. I'm hoping to get there."

Despite a crash earlier this season and some other misfortune with his bike, Wallington is encouraged by his results thus far.

"It's been good in between there. I've had some seconds, some fourths, a seventh. I've been dicing it around, learning my new level of racing and about the bike set-up which is more and more important every time I go out there.

"I'm going to keep competing against these guys and see what I can do. I first swung my leg over a race bike when I was 20 and I've made it to being one of the fastest in the southern USA and definitely the top 15 in the USA in the 250cc division. So in the last five years my learning curve has been quite rapid. The guys I race with think I have progressed very quickly and I just want my learning to keep being very aggressive.

"I believe I can make it to the top in the USA. Whether I can make it to the top in the world, I need a bit more time."

Unfortunately, that's the one thing not on his side.