Episode three of the Aberdare Park Road Races podcast is now live!
Matt and Jay welcome the multi-talented Chris Northover to GAP Motorcycles to chat about his incredible career on two-wheels. From racing the British Superbike and World Superbike support series, to venturing into the journalism industry, presenting on Bike World TV and of course, his love for Aberdare Park.
Tickets are now on sale for Aberdare Park 2024! Click on the link below to get your tickets today!
https://www.aberdarepark.co.uk/tickets
BR Shay welcome to episode three of the ab Park road races podcast um thanks to Alex for last coming to episode two um and yeah we’ve getting some good responses Jay so far yes uh it’s been good been really good it’s been really really good uh and before we introduce
Our multi-talented next guest tada is the Chris um uh just general sort of news from the park really is uh ju signed with racing this year for Tre Robinson Racing um who ran Ty Jones quite successfully the park last year um racing the Super Sport 600 of the park
Um but throughout the year racing the Super Sport 600 and um a Ryan Fara built um super twin 700 yeah z z 700 Ka wasak sounds exciting should be yeah what rounds you doing this year uh three scaras for th Amoy and then abade nice so it should be
Sharp for abade so yeah hope hopefully our guest is likely to be an Abid this year hopefully um Chris welcome first of all um yeah so a bit of everything really we were chatting uh just before we recorded um former racer circuit racer with BSB and
Even in in the world super bike circus as well journalist stunt Rider bike collector and now road racer professional dancing monkey dogs body so we’ve got quite a bit to cover to be fair so but you know it’ll be great fun it’ be great to I’m
Sure you got lots of really good stories from all the last few 20 odd years of racing so yeah they’ll they get taller as today go it’s great don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story exactly exactly but the first question
We always like to ask everyone is um how did it all begin for you the love two two wheels you know where did it all begin and then where did racing begin so I mean kind of same same really like family you know my Dad my mom but yeah
My my mom and dad met at a motorbike Club my n Granddad Road Motorbikes my dad’s one of six and I think all of them rode motorbikes you there was not really any chance for me not to be on two wheels smell fs and Petr blood
Yeah I can always just be remember being in the garage with my uncles and my dad fixing rally cars or motorbikes or whatever they had and so that started from a real early age and I was think I was three I got a little Honda qr50 and that was yeah we we couldn’t
Really ride much where we were we I kind of grew up at that point I was in South London colon Cen area and there was like there was nowhere like it was it’s you you go to a pub car park on a Sunday after the pub shot and ride around until
Someone told you to go home like that that was you there was just nowhere we could ride um but yeah that was it I was hooked you know I used to start it up and get Dad to come and start it up and sit in the shed smoking all the
Neighbors washing out with two smoke fumes ring it yeah yeah was anyone your family sort of into racing as well then or was it just as Enthusiast dad so my dad and my uncle his oldest brother they both raced LC 350s back in the day um
And they still go on no wish they do wish they do I actually I actually already going off on a tangent I actually got my dad back on an LC 350 last year and took him up to bik specialist up in Sheffield and he rode he rode LC and he’s like I’ve never
Ridden one on the road well not legally but yeah so they they raced a little bit just the club stuff like bemy um your dad would be the same like brilliant photos of them like you know they they they laughed when I wanted Tire warmers for my first race fight
They’re like what do you need them for you don’t need Tire warmers pegs out of a hat for qualifying like yeah that proper racing how it used to be yeah yeah absolutely yeah so um in terms of racing and when did you first get that
Sort of bug to you know like I I want to try this like know this looks like something fun I was about because we used to go to Brand zch quite a lot cuz we lived near there and I used to go they used to have a pound day where you
Get in for a quid and go and watch the the last bmy round of the Season or something for a quid I remember going to one when I was 11 or 12 and the super teams were racing and I think it actually would have been like Stoner and
People like that in that era this would have been late 9798 this would have been I’d have been would have been then K Fair brother and stuff that could been but all I remember is seeing small people on track I can vividly remember like pokon no
Through the fence and then going to race control and saying like how do you get involved how how old are they and oh you can race from 11 and that was it I was like oh here we go here we go I didn’t actually get on track till I was 16 but
Yeah from I remember that vividly I was like right that’s it I’m going to wash every car I you do what it you do what it takes yeah so what was the sort of Journey then from like obviously being 11 and then to like get your first bike CU
You’re going to race what was it and you know how did that come about way at the time I was on the phone to child line daily my cool parents wouldn’t buy me a race bike I was up for adoption I was Esther Ransom was wrong yeah absolutely hey we need to
Start doing that way adoptions the key yeah I I’m I’m I’m Looking Back Now I’m glad my parents didn’t just give me a bike like I’m grateful that they made me work for it you I kind of so I remember 16th birthday got a job at Tesco started
On the 16th birthday and then worked all the well that’s good to makes you appreciate what it costs absolutely cuz let’s face it it costs yeah how how hard it is to make a pound like yeah you know and so that first meeting was June 20 2003 and i’ bought myself
I’d saved up the money to buy myself a a written off rs125 from Universal Salvage Salvage auctions or where you used to go and stand at the piles of broken bikes and try and put everyone else off the one you wanted to bid on yeah and so my
Uncle had helped me get the bike i’ i’ paid for it and then you I think my parents my uncle chipped in a bit like a pair of tires here they like he’s obviously keen and I remember going to yeah cabw Park B
Or B mro as it was at that point on a super team I had standard gearing I didn’t have a novice Vib bib so my uncle had his high viz from his Lorry driving so I had this High viz that was like a t swinging off the back of me and I didn’t
I remember didn’t know where the startline was it was cwell Park Club Circuit and so we turn through the Gap in the barrier and I was obviously on the back of the grid right and I sat there and I was like I can remember looking around being like I couldn’t see
The damn start L and I just sat there and waited till everyone else rode off and then followed him well I mean it’s a good way to start I suppose cadw as well so yeah it’s that you go go through the bar and then you
Go up the mountain no no no no you yeah it’s the back half so we didn’t do the mountain on that that would have been my very in my very first race I got lapped by Kenny Gilbertson on the last lap which I’ve not forgiven him for that
Years broke my heart but obviously didn’t put you off like you know you you the bug was there with yeah and I I still now like gives me flies like I remember how special it felt being on an actual racetrack like racing a motor my my my first race was three sisters in
2000 it was a JRA race and I was that nervous I filled my boot up full of piss there we are I pissed my pants cuz I was that nervous clip up Chris this just seems to be just all about my my uh toilet my my seem to be
Questionable really and it only gets worse as well but um I mean well you know you you started racing um you got the bug was there anyone you like wanted to be was there like Idols in there what what was the goal for a young Chris nor what what
Was what were you aspiring to back then hodon do and fogy they were kind of my three like I was you watch every super bike round I was probably more into Super bikes at the time than Grand Prix yeah yeah um thing is like during the ’90s and the early
2000s for for me anyway I don’t know about you it was hard to access mot GP whatever bikes yeah yeah British super bikes I went to um Donington I think it was in 99 2000 first time iting PR super bikes and you had you McKenzie Chris
Walker John R all all the crowds there I triy B think he won it that year and obviously he went on to win World titles so he was quite good wasn’t he yeah he and like he’s you quality lineup and it was all broadcast BBC and stuff so it
Was so much more accessible than what like R PRI was I think for me by that age as well you know I I watch Chris Walker hodi yeah watch those guys and then we’d go to we had a place called boxill near us which was like was the
Local local being where everyone went and thrashed their bikes up and down the bypass and so I’d go there and I’d see you know 916 and I’d see a GSXR 750 so it was so relatable for me you and I yeah for sure I I said to you day I
Wanted to be world champion as every teenage boy does and but those are the guys I idolized that they’re right we went to malerie for um the malerie BSB R in 2000 just now now you look now you think about how exotic then by were yeah at the time Factory ducis there
Were our sevs there was like speci stuff like Walkers Suzuki was was Frankie Key’s Allstar Suzuki it was all real special stuff like and it’s take it for granted if it as a kid didn’t it really it was it was the the atmosphere there as well you know there
Was there was thousands of people there and you were even a hodam fan know you’re a walker fan and I tell you know saying R sens that was one of my biggest Idols I remember as a kid this is probably a little bit later on actually
But was was haer yeah when he first bursts onto the scene I can I’ve got like Vivid memories of him on that R seven yeah fully crossed up on one wheel into every corner and be like and no one else was doing that everyone else was just riding nicely behaving themselves
And he was like he was so class to watch awesome R um and I mean like obviously they what you’re aspiring to and what was how did you want to get there obviously that was where you wanted to be world champion what was the sort of
Next Step you know you were quite young racing when did you sort of take the next step to go right I’m going to take us a bit more seriously now yeah so we we did the super teams and to be honest I I wasn’t anything special in
Super teams I I kind of crashed my brains out I I crashed every round for a season I was really good at crashing world class I’d say at crashing it yeah it’s learning I did a lot of crash crashing no yeah true you know less thankfully less part part of the
Development bloody with a fiberglass as well by the time I was 17 I could fiberglass anything on a super tee and and so I think at that point I still didn’t really have like a how to do it you know I was just racing and trying really hard and crashing and breaking
The bike and things going wrong with the bike and and then I got a mini twin for 2005 um I think it I think if I remember correctly they changed the rules of super teams and it went from no tuning but everyone kind of cheated a bit to
Open tuning and we were like we didn’t know any engine tuners we didn’t have the budget to be tuned so we justess we went and bought a a mini twin sv650 and again I rode it like it was a super teen and crashed my brains I think
I crashed three times in the first round and there’s there’s a company called Maidstone motor liner down in Kent and they straight they’re from grass trck routes and they straighten frames and they are amazing and I put their I put their talents you got like a you’ve got
Like a Nando car every every 10 every 10th time you get a free St got on quick the Palmer family they’re awesome but they I used to take them stuff every week but I just Pringle this mini twin but when I hadn’t crashed it I’d run
Right on the front and I think that was the first time you knew that it was a bit okay I am getting the of I am okay at this and then all getting a bit weird then because we got involved with a team called Riot racing who used to be all
Those bzy and it was a mental port guy called George Vinos who I mean I haven’t spoken to him for years but he is he was batshit crazy and the Heart of Gold and he saw me trying hard and working hard and there’s a guy called Trevor who was
Riding for him who kind of put us all in touch and he he was like do you want to do a wild card and I was like what do you mean he’s like do you want to do a wild card at the European Superstar so the world super bite round atach in 600s
I was like oh on the big circuit as well nice of course and at this time I’ve done a bit of super teams and three races on an SV 650 and he’s going do you want to ride at World Super bikes on R six yeah brilliant and I that’s nut and
He got us a wild card I don’t know where we got the money from we scraped the funds together to to get this R six from padet you my n and Granddad drove around the country picking up parts while we were prepping it and testing it I
Crashed it on the Wednesday at a mallerie test sh and smashed my knee to bits and got myself all patched up and went and raced brand atch World Super Bowl bikes in the 600 class how old were you would have been there that was 2005
So I was 19 wow and it blew my mind like I was going to say that is why they of a transition there was a lot of what am I doing here yeah yeah I can imagine but it was such an incredible thing and it
That then really put me on a right I’m going to do everything I can to stay doing this yeah and so we did off the back of that then we we sort of beged bored and stole and went to Asen red how good is as and this was before they
Shortened it as well oh my god with the first bit it was so good and yeah we did Asen we did IMA which probably one of my alltime favorite tracks and then we did Manny core at the end of the season and I I remember that first one at BR I
Remember going out and I was like wide eyed kid like this is the second day I’ve ever been on a 600 you know I did three sessions at mallerie and riding around BR Zin and Nicolo kppa came past me on the factory Xerox jaati and Cho my front
Wheel off and turn around like this it was like warm up and I was like this is AIT different big boys now this is the big boys now I mean to be fair the next season I raised the whole season there and he was quite welcoming
And like actually it was probably one of the friendliest pets I’ve ever raced in you cuz no one’s home everyone’s on this kind of rolling circus Europe yeah yeah so around that time then obviously you’ve gone through those European rounds and you’re thinking you know as a teenager thinking [Â __Â ] what what next
Like is that giving you the incentive Ander you know you CV’s looking quite good now yeah because did start the venture to the BSB kind of yeah so I did those those two years in Europe and that was I don’t really think I ever had time to sit sit and take stock
And still just watch the try next I’m going to for this and I going to get you and when have I going to leave and that second year my uncle my uncle sold his sold his sp1 had Honda sp1 sp1 um and he and it was in painted
Up in Edwards colors and he sold it for my Race season so I paid everything I could my dad P put in a massive chunk of cash my uncle everyone helped out me and my dad rode a couple of Honda Cubs around Britain on like a charity right to raise
Enough money to you know we were constantly trying to same same every single absolutely we’ve all got a million stories like this um and so we were just trying to get to the rounds and like we we had such a good season in Europe my my now wife came with me for a
Lot of those and so we had a fantastic we got such happy memories riding bikes out there and hanging out with people from but this is this is again this is why we ride bikes and and why we do a lot of the things we do yeah we go on
About it’s it’s a hard slug making money blah blah blah but you still do it don’t you can’t buy them memories else but we wouldn’t do anything and it’s the memories and it’s a see a smile on your face thinking about it and I think that
You know what that year was probably the point where I started to realize as personally that there was more to this than being world champion and winning because our races were always on a Saturday yeah and so then we were on Saturday night in IMA misano wherever we were in
In parties Corona Allstar pdct parties they were amazing and so we and we just went out and we just went out and had a good time every night and I was like I you know probably helped have my wife along so I was obviously trying to a
Girlfriend at the time trying to impress her and trying to trying to make her think oh this is good fun um he’s not a complete idiot should known but I think that started me realizing actually what I want to do is enjoy my racing and I
Think that made a big change for me then um I’m going stop worrying about to be myself to and just actually I’m going to try the best I can possibly try and probably tried too hard a lot of the time but I’m going to have a and see
Where it goes time even at our young age you’re starting to sort of mature then when you when you get thrown into the deep end like I you kind of realize right you know where but but that’s one of the things like you’re saying about taking the pressure off and and having
Fun is where a lot of people go wrong yeah and it’s when you ride best is when you when you laugh like yeah we’re all we’re after that same feeling that same feeling where you feel like you’re riding the best you can ride and I don’t
Know about you but for me if that happens in a win a race brilliant yeah but you know why if I have a great ride and I come third or fourth no one likes fourth cuz it’s one off a Podium but third or fifth yeah I’m still actually
Buzzing well I was always brought up to say you know you can have a damn good race if you’re last and last but one yeah you know and I have been last you know so last for one I’d rather do that than have a Lon a lonely win where you
Know you Road sh yeah yeah yeah it depends on the context of each particular race it you know so there’s a lot of things to consider but um around this time actually like I know you started the Venture into the sort of BSB padic to do super sport super stock 600
We go to that did you have a think about roads what is was that in your mind yeah so I can remember a conversation with my dad saying that him and his brother were were doing their signatures to go to the island man yeah at the point where they
Both sort of packed up racing and they they never went and I’d had that in my head and I so it would have been 2070 80 I’d sort of said about it um 2007 I did mini twins at Club level so again just had a great year 2008 I went to BSB and
Did the I rode for Harbo starix racing dream sponsor yeah that’s all the sweet I could eat that’s amazing got diabetes close and I think that year one of my real good friends who I actually started racing with in the super teams was guy called OE Lindor obviously
Phenomenal roads Rider big roads family as well and olle was doing a bit of roads and doing well and olle was also um we did superstock 600s together and he was like I can pay 30 grand to do British superstock or I can earn 30
Grand doing the roads you know so he he went to the roads and I had the conversation then but pretty much unanimously all my family were like we will help you all of this stuff we we don’t want you to go to the island man yeah was basically the their their
Standpoint and I’ve gone in and out I won’t lie for the last few years especially since I stopped doing that racing yeah really really I would say I want to go man I’d love to but I couldn’t do it knowing that none of my family want me there this is selfish
Thing that’s the exact reason why I’ve never done the island man uh I want to do the 700 uh cuz my old man finished on the podium of 700 on a side car in the 70s terrifi days but never I I I’ve never wanted to do the m for the TT anyway
Um but I had like 2006 I had a really good offer I had Davey Morgan’s senior Ms winning R six to do it in 2006 paid for by the Mike Elwood foundation and um we were like oh yeah all right they sort of twisted our arm to to go over
And do it we entered and uh we had to pull the entry cuz a couple of friends got Hur in the TT that year and my mom rolled over in bed with my own man one night and said I’m glad Jay’s not riding is is riding that mans course not the TT
Course know know and your dad’s there my dad’s like uh it’s same course and she was like I’m not going then but my old man’s like well if you’re not going I’m not going J’s not going yeah yeah and and it’ll always be in the back
Of your mind if you’re on Glen Road and you got that in the back of mind going as much as I’m going to love this y it’s my family who helped to fund as much as they could to help you then no to I’ve been on the other side a little bit when
Like my brother my little brother does a bit of racing now in 400s and he’s loving it and and I’m like you had a big crash last year and I’m you know you and I have that little persective I did that to my family for a long time you and
Then you think imagine that for a 36 mile 38 mile course like imagine sitting there in the padic waiting and yeah and I think I couldn’t I don’t think I’d be able to ride well because I think I’d be worrying about that yeah of course yeah
Yeah and and and that’s one place you want to be fully fully focused on anyway doesn’t stop me wanting to do it yeah yeah exactly well I just go on the Mad Sunday they do it’s not going to happen yeah it’s not going to happen but but so
I’d never really thought about doing the roads to be honest after that point like no not really a thing and then I raced a few more years and ran out of money found a bit more money did some World Cup same old story I think I said to you we
Were chatting the other day I never really I I realized as well it got to a point where I realized that I wasn’t like the other races I knew that were really successful you know the guys I grew up like I raced Bradley Smith and Kev cochan and the Lowe’s brothers and I
Raced with them and I knew you I spent a fa bit of time with Sam and Alex and they were always cut different to me you know they were always their mental approach to race and and their mindset towards it yep was so so driven yeah and I was trying to do
180 bunny hops on my BMX in the pad afternoon and like Chris you races in 5 minutes I’m like fck got my LS on I’ve still got my BMX shoes are like you know so I I I kind of started seeing that and thinking you know what I’m not I’m not
Cut out to be that Killer Instinct yeah I’m going to be that very very top top one how did the um s Super Sport um 600 or superstock 600 and super star how did that sort of come about and um how well did you do and you know did you enjoy
That element of racing I know so yeah so I came back from Europe and had we had no money left so we sold everything the infrastructure the van the bike sold it all and then what was left did um mro mini twins which was I still think you
Know people keep coming up with budget race series but I you know I have a bit of a bug bear about super twins either way because mini Twins were so good because those bikes were I think my bike cost me three and a half four grand prepped for really good really clean you
Didn’t mean to do much to it and Steve Jordan motorcycles was a local shop that helped us out a bit so they they did a real nice job of helping me prep this bike and it was very very stock very clean and it was good enough
To to win the championship that year and set a load of lap records and I was like and I loved that Championship because it was just so you didn’t need to spend grass tra that is grassa it has to be access if the sport wants to continue to
Grow and it wants to attract more Riders the finance has got to be involved but if it’s as cheap as possible exactly you can get another world champion and the CB 500s was always a good class for that but for me the the SV was a proper bike and I I
Don’t know I’m going to get a load of CB 500 lovers hate me I love a CV you we kill the next going be inside they’re a great bik they’re great fun but they you know what I mean you must have ridden one they’re a bit bendy
They’re a bit weird the riding position is not like a whereas an SV looked and felt like a proper race biking on it and yeah I just love those things so I did that for a year I won the championship and then didn’t really have a plan just
Do the best we could do and I think we were thought sort of half thinking about getting a 600 and then it was the you know do you go from the club racer trying to be good at Club level or go to BSB and the cost difference unfortunately isn’t a great amount you
Know a top club race 600 super sport bike that different to a top BD one because the rules are the same and there’s always someone with the money um of course and money and bike spec isn’t everything you still got ride the down thing but so it was that kind of
Decision and then a guy called Derek um ters for got his name I should know that he’ll be killing me for that so so Kenny Gilbertson and gu Sanders were teammates and super teams when I very first started Kenny Gilbertson who yeah passed me on my first ever race not
Forgiv him um ganders really sadly got killed at uh I think it was Melo Park in a BSB crash um and Derek instead of Disappearing away from it he kind of threw his life into supporting Young Racers and that was his you know was he wanted to give back to
The sport and wanted to still be involved so Derek set up a race team to run in the new superstock 600 Championship as it was opening in 2008 and so he was happened to be at the last round of the The bemy Paddock walking around talking to people looking at
Riders and I don’t remember how he got in touch I don’t know if we got talking because I’d known him before from from guy and Kenny but we got chat in and he sort of said oh we looking at this would you like a ride and
Put a bit of a pitch together and offered me this ride on a on an R six at BSB we didn’t have the sponsorship at the time so that wasn’t the hook he used to but I was like of course yeah can’t say that and it was yeah that was like
One of those I was I was walking across the back of the pic at br’s at sort of kick him a he was like who knows what and it was like a chance meeting and then dere was like and Derek ran you know it was him and James Jackson so jjr
Racing and who’s now running the Astro jjr team yeah had a lot of success in it Super Sport last year um and yeah so that was literally it it was Derek chance meeting and then he and Derek ran it like it was a professional team that
Was one of the best things you know we did a preseason test we did interviews he made me cut my hair genuinely he was like one of the what was the reason behind that yellow pink purple can we get get a clean sh a horrendous clean shaven pink wank yeah BB uh
Sunglasses checklist like set goggles on my neck even though I’m not wearing them yet Sharpie ready to side autograph he would he make us wear smart trousers and proper team shirt you know the end of the day somebody’s putting the money into it and they wanted try and attract
Sponsorship that’s kind of the thing they look I get it you know and it was brilliant and and so we had it was me and Johnny blackshaw um and I was the experienced rider I oldest Rider let’s just say oldest Rider and you know Derek put us
Through he made us train he made us um you made us do proper debriefs every session you we ran it like a it was like being in a proper team and it really it kind of changed my approach to racing and made me appreciate what it
Takes to be at that next level and we had it was amazing season the whole team we just had such a good laugh Johnny had come from Little super teams jumped onto this R six High sided his brains out every five minutes but then got quicker and quicker and then obviously Johnny’s
Now racing endurance he’s a phenomenal Rider um and it was it was weird cuz I was I wasn’t ready to be the old man I was what is this 2008 so I was like 22 23 I’m the old guy I was like how does that work you know it was there was Joe
Burns Johnny blackshaw Jimmy Dy who’s still one of my favorite human beings is just Bonkers um Mikey booth and boothie was a menace he was so funny that he was like if you if you heard a bang bang in the paddock 99% chance it was booy on his scooter
Obiously and B well oh jeez and they got banned from having Paddock scooters the whole Championship got banned like the 600s weren’t allowed Paddock scooters because of Joe Burns boothie and Johnny Black Sean and you know they were just a menace but like and I was this old man
With with a long-term girlfriend sort of wandering around going all the other Riders where have they all gone cuz they were all shagging the Ry girls it was absolutely a proper family year like everyone got on really well Johns and Robbie Brown were two of the
Other real quick guys up the front um and Luke Jones as well and it was just a really good despite being a BSB Championship where everyone was really fighting to to keep their head above the crowd and look good at it everyone got on really well and we all you know I was
The old man but we all took the piss and had fun laugh it it can be quite rare in such a competitive environment because obviously like you said some Raiders would be wired differently to be you know like less push up to try and get the superstark or even super bike or whatever
Uh but yeah it’s quite rare that it’s it’s the kind of family unit then in that and you know any any one of them could walk in now and we’ we’d be laughing and joking again it was you know I’ve got some real good long-term friends from that that year which
Considering you’re trying to put them in the gravel at 140 M hour and and get one point off of them exctly one minute and the next minute you’re best friend it’s one of those weird you’re flipping scooter yeah and there’s some awesome circuits in the BSB calendar like it
Really is no surprise if people come over to the the UK to get involved like you know we talk about Cadwell I went to Cadwell uh year before last i’ never been before is quality there so good close to a road circuit as you get did you ever do Cadwell before they changed
The farm bends so when the bank was F was when the bank was on the track pretty when H hairin yeah my that first that second year of super teams I did and I remember coming around there and someone hitting the tire wall and all of a sudden
There’s 20 tires across the track and you’re doing like a high speed SL is a quality C that one is but um we were chat about it before we started recording like we we found that video of you what you what a move 20 I think that
Was after I sort of run out of money and stopped so it was 2011 I think right right 2010 2008 I did the super stock 2009 kind of did Super Sport on a three-year-old bike you know people help out where they could but no one really
Had any money so I had a three-year-old bike that blew up all the time and then I crashed my brains out and myself a real bad concussion and walked away we’ll definitely chat by the Superstar years we’ll sort of go over but then 2010 I did triumphs the 6 and5 Challenge
And then 2010 all my bikes got nicked so I was like done so then I picked up a few wild cards i’ started working at Super bik magazine by then yeah so you can get wild cards because you’re a journalist you don’t have to be fast it
Was quite so so did you did you go through a College course to become a journalist or did you I ended up in that J you you just you just picked it up had a license and just it was people ask me all the time how’d you get into and I
Was like I I don’t know like I I raced because I wanted to race motor had a contacts and I did a went to Union did a degree because I wanted to be an engineer so I went to engineering never dreamed I’d get a job in motorbikes but
Then Triumph offered me a job because I was an engineer and a race bikes they kind of went okay he’s got something else cuz it wasn’t definitely W the great at Uni that got me in Triumph but I worked at Triumph as a design engineer and then was racing Europe at the same
Time and wrote A Few race reports and I didn’t really write about what happened in the race and I wrote about all the Carnage that went on with trying to go there and so that then caught the eye of the guy from Super by Ken Kenny Pride
Was the editor he offered me a Wild Card round in that do you remember that GSXR 750 cup they R European one so I did a wild card in that um and I wrote him a race story for the weekend about all the nonsense that went on and the fun we had
And just bits and pieces over the next few years and again I still never dared dream that i’ never get a job as a journalist I was like no one gets that job that’s and then out of the blue one day Kenny emailed me and said oh you
Know when are you going to come and try around at journalism so I cheekily wrote back when you offer me a job and he went well interview’s Friday you better get get your ass down here and I was like that’s cool and and so it was a bit of a
Bizarre one but yeah that then that Kenny was a good racer as well you know Kenny Pride yeah he had no K CBR 600 he did yeah he did a bit of club stuff he he wasn’t naturally quick Kenny it took him a long time to get I me I remember
See cuz he had it was like a red white and blue CBR 6 yellow played Sonny it like it was like a Spencer replica then yeah he he he did that because he was he came from mountain biking got the editor ship of super bike and was getting on
All these launches but was ATT track so he was he threw himself in at the deep end which I’ve got a lot of respect for like he was never the quickest guy on the planet and he’d happily tell you that but he he went outside of work and
Outside and made it his business to get quicker to understand which yeah full credit yeah it definitely got a lot of credit for that and then so yeah so then I I was at super bike got a wild card and then yeah got offered a wild card in
The 848 challenge at thron yeah for anyone seen it um we’ll have to try and like get linked on it but it’s a sck in wet Ron um uh last last just it wasn’t as wet wasn’t as wet as that that’s different type of and thon’s
Never really wet so grippy in the wet you need a 20 me swimming badge to pass scrutiny have a day when it gets wet but um yeah s in frux done was last lap as well yeah it was it’s always a bit you always at thrux and you’re always
Playing for a last lap dive yeah oh especially in that last talk us through there’s yeah Kenny Gilbertson uh Mike Spike Edwards myself and I forget who the fourth rider was which is really bad at me but there’s four of us having a proper dingdong
Battle for for the for the lead and I’d kind of you sort of in my head was like I’ll slip stream him on the last lap and I’ll I’ll put a move but I’d got shuffled all the way back to forth and I was like oh well if I can get a Podium
At this I’ll be well happy and I sort of slip stream down the back straight popped out and then I’m not quite sure what happened but Kenny and Mike sort of ran each other a bit wide and so I popped out and all of a sudden I could
See the exit of the chicane and was like I just let the brakes off then so to let the brakes off sailed through on them and there was a massive puddle on the inside of the last corner so you couldn’t Square it off yeah which I I
Sort of knew so I I thought if I get into those Corners first I can basically park it on the side stand and then restart and I still won’t get past and yes I J squeaked out got and what they don’t show the video hell of a move yeah that some l
What they don’t show on the video is I got so excited celebrating my foot slipped off the foot Peg and I ran straight on the grass at turn one and back down to nor say when I saw it and anyone who probably watches like British super bikes like that that L kid
Or the Run L bunk so um will you start looking at the journalist journalism side of things you get off of this role I’m assuming that uh B magazine said like Deputy editor kind of thing Junior Flor sweeper I was dog body again at the time so I came
After the big magazine industry like the ’90s and early 2000s the magazines were massive 10 staff and it was small when I was there performance video nasties and stuff like it Bonkers was it but I was well after that big budget era so I was
There was four or five of us on the mag and I was Road tester yeah road test Road tester test bikes right about it that was my job and Kenny was real good actually like he was terrifying to work for big Angry GL glaswegian guy would just shout ofinity it’s just it’s just
The accent is it really they could be the happiest day in the world but he angry he used to he used to he used to hand him something and he used to go ah CH sh and that could mean brilliant or that could mean terrible or it could mean
He’s rolled his chair over his foot but he always have this like real Angry screamy shout and then you’d be like am I sacked he’ be like no it’s great go for that but yeah know Kenny was good he he’s pushed me to be a better writer and
A better journalist and I I learned a lot in those years with him and and got a lot of opportunities because of it you know I’m no no uh I’m in no doubt as to the reason I got the wild card at trucks and the reason I then got a superstock
Thousand ride for the next two years was was because of super bike because Kenny gave me a foot in the door and I’m sat here today because that you know that super bike then started a bunch of stuff the the storm the embassy oset video and
All this stuff that then got bigger and bigger and bigger and has led to a point where I get to ride bikes for a living which couldn’t could EXA and how was the couple of years of superstock Posen as well and that was good that was that was
A what was on in that that was on a gen 1000r um but the it was the year it was 2012 I think I rode it 11 or 12 but they banned you using the HP kit traction control cuz the first year used you could buy the BMW accessory traction
Control which was like an 800 quid different ECU which made the traction control work properly which on that bike you kind of needed um and then they stopped everyone using it so then I was on this 198 horsepower full whiskey like oh yeah it was good but that thing I won’t I don’t
Mind admitting that thing absolutely fren the life out of me just thousands are just another breed on they’ve I think they’ve got better though I I cuz yeah they have become more rough like they’re not easy to ride by any stretch of the imagination but I I did a a test
On um split L ailia um rsv4 and they had B G’s old super bike engines the thing was like 230 horsepower no traction or nothing no we went to mallerie on it and yeah and it felt like the Starship Enterprise yeah just when it goes into warp spe
Just everything calibrate for that can you it’s just crazy they’re taking you for a ride yeah well I I rode one of the Astro cuz that that bike that S I beat The Living Daylights out of me for that year and I tried my best and I got I
Didn’t really get a good result on it I I know scraped some just outside the top 10 I think but I need I probably needed more time on it to be honest but yeah just never never really got a great result on it who else is on the grid around that time as
Well Rich Cooper DJ DAV Johnson was he was my teammate um he had the new bike not not that that would have made any difference D awesome right so it was that sort of ERA with with coup and jenkinson and and those guys in it it’s
Crazy play was in it as well hm Rich Cooper and Adam jenkinson like we all used to beat each other up a darly like in the early 2000s then you talk like he’s the he’s the the boy that never aged you’re still you know still yeah he’s Dorian Gray
There’s a there’s a pink of him somewhere in his in his LS yeah Aging in the Artic I think you’re right there I think you’re right but again like yeah that was a mega couple of years on that bike but that but then I rode the jjr Astro
Super stock Beamers two three years ago and like I mean how you run a modern super stock that at BSB because superstock the data they’ve got you know they they’re on a Tech ECU to control to balance all the manufacturers on is it motch or someone in Mech Mech or
Something but there you know you need a data guy you know there’s that much stuff on them and and it’s not the same super bike you got more parameters to change as in you can do more but on super stock you basically Get Low medium
High yeah on each of the but you’ve got all this stuff and like I rode the two jjr bikes and one of them had everything turned on so it was like you couldn’t crash it was like around 600 and one of them had it all backed off and yeah you
Could make yourself really slow with the electronics yeah because you could make it so calm yeah so easy and then when you turned them all off it was like almost unridable so like yeah the level of tech in it whereas when I race super sock now it was like there’s a bike yeah
Change the tires yeah press a button yeah well look at stalkers now I mean they’re so close to what like now I well look at Pete Hickman the TT you know he’s got a lap record on a stalker which is insane you know it’s incredible isn’t
It but uh and it’s you can two 215 out of a stalker unbelievably unbelievably powerful but they’re definitely they’ve definitely become more Rider friendly jumping from a 600 to a Stocker now I think is easier than it was back then that transitions a little bit better and and on that day
When we rode the new bike someone had a 2007 ZX10 super stock bike and none of the new super stock Riders wanted to ride it like that was sort of Pete Ward era like right yeah the real evil twin pipe ones that kill everyone and no one
Wanted to ride it they’re like before before traction or BS was ever mentioned the full raw power evil K so you’re you still dabbling with the racing as much as you can you’re um with Super Bike Magazine where’s this that sort of transition from where with with
Journalism starts to become more of a emphasis for you then and and and maybe the possib the start of Bike World and well yeah so I started to did four years at Superbike and again magazine industry was in a bit of strife still is kind of settled now but like lots of magazines
Were dropping by the way so we moved around four Publishers three Publishers I remember spending two three weeks in a basement in this windowless basement office that was a temporary Publishers office we’ finished the Magazine and there was no money to print it and we were sort of sat there in the office
Like what do we do so we started drinking whiskey at 9: in the morning yeah it was really that that was just the GL K Kenny was smart he’d gone by that point um and then we worked in a we got bought by a porn publisher that
Was yeah anyway um that was an interesting era of my life when yeah and everyone was like oh bet that was amazing I was like nope I like sausages right I love sausages I don’t want to see the Sausage Factory where the sausages are made the same goes for
Boobies well you get the magazine you can get the magazines laminated told that that it was just a horrible place to work it was gross and like and then like there was yeah fire we the place got fire bombed one morning J we had drug dealers trying to break
The door down trying to get money off of it was like because you were on the edge of the bad World there yeah was like it was yeah I felt a long way from my little quiet engineering job in the Midlands at Triumph I’m like in West
London being locked in the office cuz the bay Leafs are trying to kick the door down and steal stuff because the publisher hasn’t paid it was it was a very odd few years and I did four years of that and was like I think I need to
Change I think I need not sure why I I can’t I can’t take these Savage beat today anymore I can’t be kidnapped anymore and something’s and and so then the super bike sort of folded up the magazine at that time I’d been working a bit with Bike World doing some stuff but
I’d also packed up racing and started working for the off-road school down here in South Wales Cav’s off-road skills yeah and that and that’s where you relocated then yeah so I was I got offed a job in California I took that that fell through last minute and I was
Kind of all ready to up sticks and disappear my wife had sort of made arrangements to move move out there and we were going to have like a random changing life and it will fell through and we were like we didn’t really want to stay put you know you kind of set our
Hearts on this big change um come to southw but you know what you say that like Twi California it is swans Foria it’s perfect but but it is you know I I love living here I’m very fortunate that I get to travel a lot for work and I
Ridden bikes and all sorts of places around the world and I still come home to Wales and like I love it still it’s still your center of the universe and I’m gutted that you got to grow up here and I didn’t genely that’s how I feel
You think I I think I certainly did was growing up I think I probably took it for granted oh yeah I I definitely take it for granted and um you know I’m like you I I get to go all over the world with music yeah
And but when I come back now I’ve got older I I do appreciate it and and when I have friends come up from away they’re like oh my God you know let’s go up that road and you your stories is probably the same Inland don’t go down that
Street just that so Street you know stay away from that sort of thing but it’s the same with us in in The Valleys like it’s like oh don’t go don’t go B there’s nothing up there you know worth see and blah blah blah but then when my friends
From away come down they’re like oh let’s let’s go up that road then and you end up somewhere beautifuland you’ve never been to because your family have told you see with fres set of eyes it so that that’s what that’s what I love about whales is is when I get to
Show people around feel quite proud of yeah you are yeah I I I was yeah I got a lot of people around the world that like why’ you live there like you need to come and see it genuinely yeah I I definitely feel like that whenever I
Come back home to have a day or like anywhere in The Valleys I think like you look around you think yeah this isn’t like Bristol where I work you know it’s just like and you know what I also love about it is I don’t I feel I feel normal
Here which sounds stupid but it’s quite a motorcyc motorsport you’re never far away from someone who’s into motorbikes rally cars mountain bikes like that’s that’s quite normal like in you know if you draw a 10 mile radius around your house you’ll find someone who’s into the
Same whereas a lot of the places I’ve lived the rest of the UK I’m that weird kid who likes motorbikes and noisy cars oh there’s lots of weird kids weird weird but yeah it’s but no if you just go go standard side on on any not rainy day yeah even on the rainy
Days but you know on a on a nice day I will you motorbikes or cars getting hammered somewhere you know there’s nothing I like more than on it’s like Su Sunday morning on the summer and you I’ll leave out I’ll be going to do something and you’ll drive over over the
Blacks or over like dead sheet Road or over one of the good local roads and you’ll see every Corner’s got five big fat black lines like there’s been a TT race on you like going for it and he’s like I just well up with pride every time I see [Â __Â ] love living
Here every time I think brilliant I love this place yeah the next week all he needs to work in his line wide traction control is a bit strong yeah no it is it feels like that way I was like it feels like it’s got a real people there are people still like
Motorbikes and cars here which isn’t very fashionable in the world at the moment but yeah feels like you can be at home as a motorcycle we want have to change though we want to get we want to get back to those we all do then we I um
And now you’re in Wales I mean what what was the first time you heard about a park so I’d heard of it so when I through Ole Lindor and I used OE rode for Ian Locker’s team for a while so hung out and Paul Owen as well yeah Paul
Yeah um so I hung about with them a little bit you which was when I was they were sort of trying to hook me into the road racing and very first conversations but I so I’d heard about it through them and I’d always sort of known about it
But again too busy doing other I think Ollie I don’t think ollie ever raced the park I think he came down to like L maybe I don’t think he ever ever R the park you you remember Alan Russell from anr racing he’s one of the other people
Who influenced me a lot about he talked about it and he raced on a little 400 and he’s got he always he’s got some brilliant stories about his time racing here and and so I kind of was like okay and then yeah we we were down here once
We got a good gang of us all ride bikes together back home on the road and Offroad they oh we’re going Abad on this weekend you want to come and watch and like you know what and me and my wife bombed down to the track to watch for
The day and as everyone does the first time they come to AB a day you walk in your go on then where’s the track yeah yeah are we in the right place oh no no we’re on the foot path to get to the track no no that’s the track right
Brilliant and and that that you know that shock and then I stood I remember standing by the bogs in that little gap between the toilets and the building next to it yeah and watching the 600s race and I’m watching there’s a little bump in the middle of there isn’t there
I’m watching the top three bikes go over that bump every lap and being like holy cow like you know cool little funky race and then seeing how hard people were pushing and and and and consistently but not sketchy but just like that that’s the little snapshot that for me that I
Was like that really yeah yeah and I think even that that day I was like I’ll be back I like you fancy go at this didn’t you I was like yeah I really do it took a few years to get round to it but yeah yeah we’ve always said to like whenever we
Chat to someone uh about their first time riding around AB Park it’s like it might only be a mile but there’s still a lot to learn like like you we mentioned before you on the the sort of Friday when everyone arrives you give like the newcomers take them around and you can
See some of them they show them where crashed like for there look go for there look go for and it’s only a mile I just under a mile but so you wanted to have you obviously want to have a go of this yeah um how did they come about your
First race what what did you bring and how did you s of get to Lear to track them trying to think so I I I can’t remember what was the actual I tell you what the trigger was probably hanging out with hickey at motorcycle live I think that was probably the tricky
Because I I had it in my head and then I was busy doing I was doing a bit of rally car rallying at the time which that’s great I’ve motorcycle be fair motorcycle racing never seemed cheap until it half a season of car rally motorcycle
Racing is great so and I so you got involved in that for a bit and then that sort of fell by the wayside cuz just couldn’t do it and that’s when I I think I was at motorcycle live on the BM stand doing talks with hickey and hickey’s one
Of these people who like just 10 minutes talking to him and you’ve sold your house you’ve mortgaged everything and you bought a bike and you’re on the boat to the man race he’s just got that infectious enthusiasm for it and and I think that was what probably right next
Year I’m going to do it but I hadn’t raced for so long i’ laps my license um and I you know had had to phone the ACU and they were like oh you’ve got to do 10 Rounds get you finish in the top 50% which is expensive to do like yeah yeah
Yeah so then I had a conversation with them they were you know present him a case a bit and they were like look you know background yeah and the fact that I’d been riding they a couple of rounds and that’s exactly what they said it’s
Not the blanket rule is a cover R yeah go and do a couple of rounds see how you do send us your results and they review it and we’ll review it so I didn’t know I put an entry in but I still didn’t know I was going to have a license to
Race it to get the national license back and then I borrowed I borrowed a CB 500 off my Dad we’re going to find out why I don’t like CB 500s anymore I borrowed a CB 500 off my dad and I borrowed uh ZX a z900 super street bike off kawazaki um
To do that no limits Super Street b cup thing they do the naked those Street triples basically um and kazaki wanted something other than a street triple to win it and I did I was doing a bit of flat track at the time again so I’ve did
A flat track race at Ammon Valley on the Saturday which have you been to watch the I’m taking you there this year my friend Chris Aton um he uh he rode for the Indian team yeah I know the name yeah and uh I’m going to get you bik to ride it this
Year well you need to have a crack at that be quick there I’ve got a bike that we could do something with right no watch this space watch this space it’s been recorded that I did Aman Valley on the Saturday which is if you’ve not if
You not seen it’s a half mile dirt track rough bump P it’s absolute Carnage I absolutely love that place but that Saturday packed the van up did all the presentations in the evening drove to angle SE which everyone who doesn’t live in Wales says oh angle SE that’s not far yeah yeah four
Hours it’s about 20 mil but 4 hours yeah exactly you got to go like to yeah you got to go through the land of Time Forgot yeah and then so I drove up got to angle SE at 1:00 a.m. went to bed got up in the morning my cousin Johnny we’re
Like scrambling around trying to get the dirty Leathers out the way and find the clean leathers and and I genuinely it was like you know when you play an arcade game and you break when everyone else breaks but it was like that because I I’ve got there and I’ve been so busy I
Hadn’t thought about learning the track or watching any YouTube videos I did one lap in one or two laps in the warm-up session just about scraped out for them came in and then went out for a race and I was at the back of the Grid on this
Z900 going I know the first turn goes left never that’s all you all you need to say right if you if you’ve never been to a circuit all you got to say during the briefing is uh yeah um which ways the first Corner go and what’s the lap record yeah
I like that one the rest will work yeah we figure it out and I was genuinely like breaking when everyone else break and just like full arcade game Gran Turismo spec just picking my way around are you doing stuff with Bike World at the same time as well are you combining
The two yeah that that so that was again that kawazaki was through Bike World um so we were filming it as well and I God knows how I survived that meeting I I got through and got yeah you he survived I got a couple of wins on the co and I
Got a couple of wins on the cb500 as well um got protested by the cb500 police they pulled pulled me in a bike shouldn’t be that fast you’re cheating I was like I was like put me on the D I was like it’s my dad’s bike he bought it
Off eBay if I’m cheating I will happily crack yeah CRA on I was I have no idea I’ll happly leave a bad review on I was like and it was 512 horsepower and the limit was 52 I was like well I was like it’s not cheating it was a
Boiling out day there I shouldn’t be that high today I was like well anyway it is so did that there good next weekend was Donnington Park um I can’t remember it was thundersport I think at Donington and then the next there was a weekend off then AB I was like sweet get
Donington done get a couple of signatures do that P again just to get that’s all I was doing it for I wanted my signatures from a license back so I went to Donnington on this proxy CV 500 and they had no tires like they’ run out
Of tires Dunlop had run out of tires I didn’t have any Tires I’d borrowed some for Angley and had to give them back so I had a set of tires on this bike that were I think when we checked the date stamps afterwards they were 10 or 11
Years old nice plastic Brown on the side yeah nice plastic TI yeah that’s going to work I found a tire coup of heatles be fine and I stupidly put a new front tire on and I couldn’t get a rear so I went out on this thing qualifying and
Had like it’s embarrassing but it was the biggest high side of my entire life on a foxy cv500 in it was National circuit in that little flip-flop chicane yeah I’ve got to show you the going to do that thing we’ll pop it up on the screen I’m can to show you the picture
Now for is that on the way down to the ha in is it no no no no no it’s on the national so it doesn’t go down yeah just as you go through that flip-flop CH and I honestly I went to the moon you were full do around
Hollywood I I have never gone so high on a bike and it propped the hit jeez all right okay fair enough and I absolutely obliterated did did uh did he Midland’s airport get in touch with that I did yeah I did to get Landing permission for that it just went delays
That one and I honestly so the I smashed my I crawled off the track dragged by and I still had no signatures this is bloody qualifying yeah yeah so I dragged the thing back out my mom who was on our way up I said go VI my brother’s house
Cuz he had a CB 500 road to work on and he’d gone in in the car that day so I went go around his house get the CB out the garden so she stole his commuter bike out the garden amazing bought out because we we broke the yolks broke
Literally broke the top yolk open the swing arm like the thing was a so he then stole all the bits off his bike put this thing together and went and raced the last race of the day and then wobbled around on the Sunday for the do
You need to do get the signatures and get out over there every time you let off the break it went into a massive headshake so you basically had to break into the corner and then go because if you let the break well if you’re not breaking you should be acceler exactly
Exactly it was very good Training by so you just scried that signature that got me my signatur got you s um what did you bring to did you bring the or planning to bring a CV 500 but yeah I got it home and we yeah we
Measured it all up and the headstock was and a phone Ma Stone motor liner yes I’m going my 10 time it’s been a while remember me like yeah we nearly went bused when you and it was the the the the logistics of doing that and to be honest I wasn’t
Excited to ride a CV 500 after that yeah I wonder why really so I went on eBay and bought the cheapest i’ always wanted to race a 400 I absolutely love them and I never raced them so I went on eBay bought the cheapest VFR 400 I could find which is
In Lincolnshire somewhere two grand for it drove up there dragged it home went through it like you do make sure it was all right and took that to AB and it was the best thing I’ve ever done I love that bike I would never sell it it is
My and then did yeah that was the that was 2021 for the the biblical the big biblical Towing everyone into the paddock on Friday oh yeah Davey Todd was there on the galdi he was on feraldo 450 and the Wilson Craig bikes um so I watched him this I watched him for three
Corners a race by did then rode around on me own for a bit I I had a great time and it yeah it was I was grateful for the rain CU I like riding the rain there’s good grip in the yeah yeah and it does dry out quite quick actually it slowed it
Down enough for me that yeah I had time to work it out it’s a bit frantic in the dry and I think it was easier for me to make little mistakes and Su my lines out in the way it actually was probably the best way for me to learn it yeah and and
You’ve loved it ever since then oh AB had a fantastic year what is it about AB there then for you like as a rider and and not just as a race circuit but the sort of experience of the place as well and so it I think the first thing was as
A as a rider from a riding point of view especially coming from short circuit stuff I could ride around that track with no one else there and have a great time yeah and this sounds like to someone hasn’t raced or ridden tracks all their life this sounds really
Ungrateful but if if I’m just riding around even pem which is a good fun track like after two or three sessions I’m I’m kind of twiddling the thumbs you know unless you’re trying to get a lap record or racing against someone just riding around those circuits I don’t find massively exciting anymore which
Sounds really ungrateful but I’ve done it so many times you whereas abair is so technical there’s so much going on I had a couple of oh you’re learning all the time like and I had a couple of races where I did end up on my own which I
Normally find boring but I was so into it having a great time trying to get a better line and square that off a bit more and missed that bump and oh that puddle got bigger move out a bit more someone’s put their knee in the grass like yeah oh there’s a
Squirrel so that that as a rider I found it so involving riding a technical track which yeah doesn’t help the the roads bug at all but yeah I really enjoyed that and then the the flip side to it is the reason I race bikes now is cuz I I
Go for a fun race weekend you know I’ve no no aspirations to be anything more than just someone who enjoys racing bikes in terms of my racing now I I love it if I have a good result happy days but I just I want to be there racing
Wherever I am and I’ll be there racing until you know the Clark of the course comes around and says Chris you’re 85 years old and you’re doing two minutes a lap slower than everyone else get out the way like is a CP 500 no but uh yeah was clear they’re
Like you love the place and the people and like you guys and you know from from day one everyone made me welcome and everyone was like can we help you out and you what what classes you in and the scrutineer is wandering around and saying hello and standing having a chat
In your aw on Friday instead of coming around and making you feel like the the mechanic police are out having having a chat with you and checking the bikes are safe but having a conversation and oh it’s lovely like that and oh what you racing is it your first time and that
Whole Paddock being like that made it for and and then yeah being more involved and seeing how hard every all the volunteers work how hard all the marshals work and and then the Marshals are there cheering and clapping on the edge of the track for every single downn
Race in all conditions and you think this is what you should be about one a yeah that’s what I’ve I missed from um from BSB I love racing a BSB and it’s a different thing but it’s not like that but it’s a like yeah BB is a business big
Machine is this has got the heart and soul of of what you want from racing exactly and I I actually said that first year my dad and my uncles came and I said to them all and I said to me my wife and my brother I was like look be
Prepared I might do a lap I might do a lap and go this ain’t for me I can’t can’t keep it in my pants or you know I’m going to hurt myself or I just I’m scared or I said so I might do a lap and
We’ll eat ice cream all weekend like and all of them like we’ll watch them racing yeah all of them that’s fine no one’s going to pressure and actually and I’ve said that before was this 2023 I was going to do a race of 600 and I said the
Same about the 600 I was like I might do a laugh and go nope yeah but 600 is a it’s a different there so you know for me it’s that that relaxed atmosphere and then what really shocked me is coming back in 22 and people that I haven’t seen since
Yeah 21 oh glad you’re back Chris aren’t and I was like I I assumed that nobody would have noticed whether I was there or not and the fact that people were you know happy to see you and having a chat and then when I went this year and spectated and
People were like oh got you not riding like yeah yeah yeah and that that’s what it’s all about and and and we’ve said this there’s a reason why we doing this podcast for a start is it’s a sleeping giant this but it genuinely is and I I
Think it could be much bigger what it is now um and from a spectator’s point of view yeah it’s class well this is the plan like is toow it it needs to keep it needs to keep need to keep the weird yeah yeah we still want to keep the odd ball and and
And the you know and the Heart and Soul of the of the racing sort of feel and passion we still wanted to be the most welcoming and the most friendly races anywhere in the world and it is I think no it is out of everything I’ve done and
We still want to keep the heart of The Valleys in it yeah as well because that’s what that’s what it is you know you got people walking their dogs on on the Friday or you know on a Saturday night after the Racing’s all done and he
Just you know oh all right how’ you do and and I I took my dad so 202 22 I ran I did I did a j I rode every bike I could possibly ride you did the video for as well we did a video with bike W
For it that year and I and I took when my dad came with me and my brother and my uncle so I had a plenty of bodies to put bikes in the right place and and Friday me and me Uncle went for a track walk and he was blown away that
Halfway around we hopped over the wall went to the chippy and then ho back onto the start finish TR like there’s not many RAC tracks abely you can have a chip uper halfway down the start finish straight like yeah and obviously 2023 didn’t quite go according to plan in
Terms of getting this year what happened gravity yeah gravity it always wins doesn’t it yeah first ever broken bone oh which is considering all the crashes you had ear you learned to crash yeah considering yeah what happened um when I’ve been working Bike World been
Filming up on oh you know the roads up above asrael towards heni the little zigzags at the top there and up there quiet Sunny empty day on a street triple doing stupid stuff all day on there and then went out for a evening trail ride with a mate and was genuinely cruising
Along at not very fast clipped a rocket in the dust and went down on the shoulder and like that felt weird better thought I’d separated my shoulder cuz it kind of felt like an old a little bit on the rode home got back home and uh was
Like I am a bit weird went to the hospital came to Mur hospital and they were put you in the CT scanner straight in the CT scanner and it went from mild concern to come and lay down in this room here sir oh no sit next to this
Machine that goes beat for night was this like obviously before the RO racing season June oh so not not far at all I was booked him for Abid and Oliver’s Mount no I had a 600 SW I actually had a GSXR 750 New Gen super sport bike s but
I was trying to twist Derek’s arm to let me race that we keep trying could couldn’t quite wake him up to the new regulations we are what gear can you get into with that thing well it’s it’s a super sport bike 140 and they’re backed right off on
Though yeah that’s they’ve done that leveling thing on the throttle so but so I had like good bikes and I was like I was going to put my big boy pants on and have AO in the big class at a there and still race my 400 obviously and little
125 um and then yeah yeah bust my shoulder and and broke couple of ribs shoulder blade in two places across the middle of it and around the head of IT damaged my lung as well and that how unlucky can you get off something like stupid little crash as well I rode over
I didn’t think I was hurt I was I sore but it wasn’t out of like a real Brave it just it just didn’t hurt that much but then over the coming weeks I kind of realized how much damage i’ done any any bow movements no no I didn’t Pro myself I was disappointed
Didn’t i’ got an embarrassing story for so in M hospital I’m yeah I’ve never broke a bone before I’ve had lots of concussions and being never broke a bone so I’m a bit like my gone home and uh i s got up in the morning this guy comes around CH
Yeah yeah so checking me over and he’s like um have you had a shower yet I was like oh no good Mur obviously been riding motorbikes all day dirt bikes all evening hospital all night this is like I know 7 in the morning you got that stank I’m yeah smell amazing smell like
A smell like a caravan after racing Abad in a wet weekend and so he goes oh do you want a sh I was like oh yeah we’ll have a Sher and he comes with me and I was like I I’ll be all right he’s like
No you you got you got your arm strapped up there’s no way you can wash yourself properly and I in Normal circumstan dances you go I’m fine I think I can I’ll wash myself go away but because I was like high on morphine and drugs and
No sleep like yeah go free I was like okay and it was like this out of Body Experience where this man led me to a shower took my clothes off and washed me and and and he didn’t even work out and he was lovely cuddle afterwards though it
Was beautiful he watch watch how we doing oh still waffling about motorbikes come say hello come back that’s Glen Glen the where where’s he gone where is he there he ising this is the savior of the podcast cuz he’s actually housing this year so no AB Chris has fallen in love with your
400 yeah like a man like a man with he he’s got one himself so I mean you could just be like nice face in the background oh he’s shooting anyway yeah it’s fine no no all good say Everyone um yeah Chris obviously that was a brilliant moment cut it there wasn’t it cut that no point who cares all yeah absolutely um yeah so he washed he washed all of me and it was only after I found my wife a few hours later
I was like she was like you’re right I was like yeah does this sound weird to you I’m still I’m still in the shower crying in the corner I think I’m okay I don’t know little very odd experience I tell you what I don’t mind getting
Hur do I again no gentle um aspirations for the future in 2024 or um ab’s booked in Y unless ‘s dutchwood normal noral accidents or in or whatever um what have we got planned what you riding you doing anything else as well so obviously with Bike World’s like kind of a full-time
Thing now so we’re filming testing riding traveling constantly we’re building quite a few project bikes and bits and pieces now as well and now found Jay’s shop I’ll be in here for last minute spares on Friday night hop on come on so yeah do a lot of uh a lot
Of stuff with B which is it’s really good fun it’s it’s it looks it though you know yeah there’s a lot of hard work from behind the scenes from myself and from Al who who’s the kind of cameraman director you know to make all that stuff
Happen you can you know how hard it is to make videos about stuff but it is so much fun and we we choose what we do so we have a we have a lot of fun doing it not no Bay lifts or drug dealers trying to get I you now we haven’t been
Repossessed once you know I haven’t had to take anyone hostage for years I’m getting a bit I’m getting a bit bit soft in my old age maybe that guy in the shower be the best maybe I should start call maybe that’s all I needed was
Love God bless the en God bless you very Val good value for money though absolutely yeah but yeah so flat out with that stuff we’re building quite a few special bikes building a drift bike at the moment because I’ve been on YouTube too much recently and just watch
I’ve been watching people doing drifting the stupid I want to go at it so yeah building a drift bike so we need a drift bike class at abair this summer umagine that’d be good but yes so I want to race abair i’ just a little bits in
Pieces outside of that I think I’ve got a been building a GSXR 750 an old slabby um so I’m hoping what year at 86 good vintage that same year as me we’ll have a chat there we are this is going to cost me money I feel no no there’s a
European classic endurance cup which is a it’s one of those weird it’s a little bit like in Euro racing it’s quite hard to find where things are organized and where to get entries it’s not like you BSB and stuff it’s easy to find it’s buried away on the internet but this is
Yeah European endurance cards rc3s GSXR 750s fjs F randomly away somewhere endurance racing series for so I’m going to go and do p rard in May nice it’s 4 Hour night race nice which it’s it’s actually really expensive but again I’d rather do three or four races that I
Love yeah really exciting well yeah that’s where I figured it out is to to pick and choose the races you want to do now you know we’re done chasing championships and plastic cups and stuff um how many lumps of coal do you have at the moment from the park from the park I
Have got five or six I think no you could you know he’s got some work to keep it could keep you warm for a winter is a thing is a thing sounds bigheaded you get when you race club racing and you’re doing well you end up with 30 40 bloody plastic
Trophies and and you’re swimming in and all of upstairs and I you so they’re all like most people they’re tucked away in Buried places Mi abadir trophies are Pride a place in the middle of my manle piece cuz I’m just I I never went with the intent to win trophies I
Went to go and have a good crack and last year’s 20 22s racing when I had the 400 and had a good year on it and I just yeah I I was just chuffed a bits when I went home I was like I’ve had a great weekend I’ve got a really cool trophy
From racing a bike I love a track I love around people that made me feel super welcome from day one and weekend you think you know couldn’t be happier you look looking to get maybe a super sport 600 for 24 yeah maybe for a lap yeah maybe yeah yeah that’s that’s on the
Cards the gas guyss look fun mind the super Super Moto was a lot of fun and and that was a lot fun you’re Pro you’re too young to remember but in the ’90s there was uh a guy called Wayne lamb that used to race a kx500 Super Moto fair play and he was
Known as the wheelie wheelie King Wayne L he for years for years and he would take a the luer and Derk Welsh and all them you know they’d be on their GP 250s and one two FES and and he be on this KX 500 taking into him and I remember
Remember loads of people saying seeing you on that reminded them back to that brilliant I it felt so bizarre being comfortable riding riding out of the holding area for every race on that and bearing in mind I was racing that little tiny little ailia RS4 125 me nc30 which
You’re C up in a ball on I’m only the tiny cramp little with upside down gearboxes and then getting on that with the right way up gear shift and sitting bolt upright going I’m going to get this wrong in a minute I brilliant to watch from a fans perspective they are great
To see yeah and get that that that was great cuz that was a that was that was gas gas’s press bike I phoned them and said I’m going to go and do this race can I borrow a bike and they sent it with s standand number plate mirrors so
We were there on Friday pulling and and then put it back together and gave it back to them and they were they were quite happy about that but yeah I I I will I would definitely race my 400 again CU I I love riding that thing that just puts a smile
On my face yeah um how these new zedex 400s are going to do is that be quite capable a few people turn up on them I think my my old NC suddenly very not competitive but it’s we’ll see it’s just a bit of fun on that and then yeah the
600 I’ve been having that thought at the moment I still I was all up for it last year I’ve had a year off well well well do you like being out of breath yeah do you like not being able to see where you’re going it’s a competitive Feld the 600
There’s a lot of like good Riders in there like it’s very is in is so competitive now there so many people who could win that and you know with your experience in there and if if you’re happy sitting on it you know I know I’ve got to protect that
Inside line from that video I saw it’s the last but you know what so here’s a little bit of a a question so I’ve been asked this a few times I’m sure you have too why like why why do we do it why do you cuz cuz there’s no two ways about it
Whenever you whether it’s a Club Circuit a racetrack or abair or TT whenever you roll off that start line we we put ourselves at a big risk it’s not the sexiest bit to talk about but and I’ve had you know I’ve got a kid and a wife
And I’ve got a job that involves me being a to still ride properly and every a few people have been like what why why’ you do it and it’s it’s for me it’s I don’t know for me it’s an unanswerable question because like there is it doesn’t there’s no point to it there’s
No logic to it but we we off we often talk about it in the shop about why we do it and and why we put so much money into it um it’s cheaper than drugs it’s cheaper than drugs but at least with drugs you can talk to someone about
It you can talk to FR support groups about um no I’m going to use that answer next time I like that the reason the reason a lot of us do it is like you’ve been smiling telling these stories all the way through and you know yeah we’ve had to spend thousands hundreds of
Thousands to get to where we are to tell these stories but if you can’t have a good story out of it we’ have only wasted that money you never take it back you know I think yeah I think you’re right I think that’s you know some I saw
Someone wearing a t-shirt said no one remembers the night you got plenty of sleep and I think it’s no one remembers the weekend when you saved loads of money and didn’t go anywhere yeah like I I think from a a non- rers perspective and will be able to back me up on this
Is that you know we just love the sport we love watching you guys doing what you do we appreciate and respect what or any anybody who who sits on a grid on a bike and is willing to put themselves into that much risk we fully respect that and
And it’s a spectacle and it should be celebrated and somewhere like abade like you said you know we’re such a welcoming place we like to think we’re such a welcoming place it’s a beautiful circuit it’s a beautiful place you know what’s not to like it if I never have a bad
Result I will always come over the if if I have a good result or a bad result I will always come over the finish line and I will always wave to the crowd and to all the marshals yeah because they can’t I’m not saying they can’t do it
But some dream of doing it I never get to live that dream as well yeah so but they’re willing to put themselves and give up their own time to ensure you guys are safe you know safe as can be you know so yeah absolutely why I always acknowledge everyone yeah too right it
Does it doesn’t bear it doesn’t make sense to do it but not at all it won’t ever make sense it’s it just like you say you plus who wants to be the richest man in the cemeter yeah exactly exactly there we go and on that note nuget nuggets of wisdom from
Jay you’re welcome uh Chris it’s been awesome to have you yeah thanks us it’s been an absolute pleasure um we wish you all the best in your prep for this year looks like we’re going to see you in AB Park which is was really exciting to have you there awesome I’ll either be
There racing or I’ll be there with a big stand telling people don’t ride dirt bikes they dangerous arm in a sling again we’ll uh we’ll obviously come and see you on the Friday we’ll have a drink we’ll have a shower and we’ll be you know be ready for the weekend you give me
A you see more experience in maybe you can give me one so so yeah we we we’ll cross come to it but um uh yeah guys hope you enjoy the episode and the catam as well I love it I love it um tickets are still on sale they’ve been flying
Out recently so thanks to everyone who supported us already by getting tickets um okay it’s only still eight months to go but we’re still sort of banging the drum a lot more episodes coming up as well Jay we got a few people lined up just sort of lining dates and schedules
And things yeah we just uh we’ve got a few lined up so you know yeah should be to have a pro should be really should be really good but yeah thanks again Chris thanks to coming over um and we’ll see you next time thanks guys
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Cool channel and chat guys , keep it up 🙂 .