Selling cherished possession lands James Toseland a windfall

The two times world champion created headlines in the sport recently when he put the Honda CBR1000RR that won his last World Superbike title on the market.

The former Kiveton Park and Dinnington resident's affection for the machine was obvious – it used to be stored pride of place in his living room.

But he put it in the shop window of a Sheffield motorbike firm, with an asking price of just under £150,000.

Toseland, a former Wales High School pupil, was delighted when he discovered it had been snapped up by his former racemasters, Ten Kate Racing are one of the most successful teams in Supersport World Championship history.

"Yes that's gone, bless her, a couple of weeks ago," the 44 year old told the Advertiser.

"It went for just under £150k, bought by the team that I got a championship for, in 2007 Ten Kate, the Dutch team.

"It was sort of a gift."

Toseland had to quit the sport at the tender age of 30 after badly damaging his right wrist in a crash at a World Superbike Championship testing session at Motorland Aragon, Spain.

The chronic injury has caused him all sorts of pain, both mental and physical ever since.

"A little bit of the reason why I sold it was to have a kitty for another operation if I need it," he said.

"Motorcycling did what it did to me, so at least it can pay for it!"

Toseland put the machine on sale with The Bike Specialist organisation, which describes itself as 'Purveyors of Investment and High End Bikes in Sheffield.'

The bike was described as the "ultimate investment opportunity."

"It has been my pride and joy for 17 years and is one of the best memories of my racing career," noted Toseland, who lives just outside the Rotherham borough.

"It gave me the double victory at Brands Hatch on that memorable weekend when 126,000 fans cheered the bike over the finish line and I won both races.

"It beat a factory Ducati with the great Troy Bayliss at Phillip Island and also a Max Biaggi in Brno.

"Two of my biggest wins in my career..."

Toseland, a popular TV pundit, has learned to live without the thrill of motorbike racing.

But he said: "I have still got the fire that burns inside – I want every day to be better than yesterday.

"That feeling has allowed me to achieve great things. I have ants in my pants moving on to the next thing and then the next thing after that.

"I enjoy my TV work, I worked on World Superbike Show on TNT and Discovery Plus, and particularly enjoy the commenting side of it.

The talented pianist and songwriter still does musical shows – he performed 10 shows in 11 days and travelled 2,000 miles around the UK in between venues in "An evening with..." format.