Motocross (not Motor Cross!)

Good luck to Dave Livesey racing the UK Supercross Championships...Go get 'em Dave!

He's the oldest one racing and he still sits down too much! But he's the fastest sitting down!

I started racing back in 1983 (after starting BMX racing in '81) on a 1979 Suzuki RM100, not the fastest of bikes but then again at the time I was 13 and definitely not fast! This was when upside down forks, disk brakes & custom painted crash helmets were unheard of, especially as water cooling & single rear shocks were only a couple of years old, even the ever reliable full length safety seat was only an accessory offered by Ceet.

Wearing my old BMX race pants, a Fox jersey, M.Robert plastic race boots, Scott goggles and my Simpson #52 (illegal) crash helmet, I attempted to race spurred on by the great American racers of the time. Why America? Because that's where all the great gear was from and still is now, the old JT Racing & Moto X Fox magazine adverts are truly memorable.

After struggling through '83, 1984 saw the move up to the 125 class and a new bike more suited to my height, a Suzuki RM125D which was an old stock 1983 model. My speed improved and I eventually won a trophy, it was only a non trophy race where anyone who hadn't won anything was entered. I got 6^th but it was worth it to beat two friends from school . That year I also enjoyed my first severe concussion!

1985 & 1986 saw me riding a Suzuki RM125E, again another new old stock bike but '84 model which was modelled on the US Supercross bikes. It had great suspension, but only had top end power (no good on tight schoolboy tracks), great looks, awful brakes, a safety seat, an ocean liner turned better

and above all...the most destructive motor and transmission I have ever known! I had enough worn pistons & broken gears to start my own scrap metal business. Things were looking up in the clothing market, JT brought out the V2000 chest protector (if you had a crash, you were left with vent marks in your skin), but also the colours were changing...how about a full set of PINK race gear which included your boots and helmet.

1987 saw a move to the adult classes, the AMCA and the Blackheath club, and the decision to ride a different branded bigger bike...so roll on the '86 model Honda CR250RG. My first bike with a front disk brake, reliability, handling and power, oh! and Rick Johnson (founder of Life's a Beach & No Fear clothing) had raced one to wins in the USA. It was trophy time with this bike, and after all those years struggling I was riding great and had some great riding friends to boot (Colin Witton & Tim Nicholls). However, in the second race at one meeting saw me planting my face firmly into the track. Knocked out cold and ridden over (with a tyre mark graze across my back) my bike had somersaulted 40ft down the track. Can't remember how it happened and people can only remember my bike ghost riding through the air, but it knocked my teeth back, burst my lip, a major headache and scratched my new Arai helmet!

For 1988, I stuck with Honda's again and bought an '87 CR250RH. This bike was unbelievable and has been voted amongst one of the best bikes ever made. Clutch it out of a berm and it would power wheelie down a straight, it would still wheelie during your up shifts. By the end of the season, finishing with a second overall at the final meeting, I'd amassed the highest points during the year for my class in the club.

With a new job and a college course to finish, I didn't race again until 1991 and it was well over due to get dirty again. I'd had my Arai custom painted care of MotoMark, and in the first meeting of the season the throttle stuck on my '88 CR250RJ (bought at the end of the '88 season and stored), so I did an impression of Superman going into a gulley. I don't know what was worse...separating my left wrist (it still clicks) or scratching my helmet and breaking a new MotoTime peak! For '91 & '92, the AMCA was losing good tracks and other tracks were just too boring, so if a poor track was coming up I went Mountain Bike racing (that's another story, but I did crash into a tree on a fast downhill!)

The Mountain Bike racing was getting expensive to enter, especially as I was only racing the Fun/Novice class, so for '93 I decided to make a concerted effort with my motocross racing. I ended up buying a '91 model CR250, decked it out with new UFO plastics and graphics, and at the second meeting I won the final race of the day (for the first time ever, and boy was my Dad proud) ending up with a 3^rd overall. One problem, after getting consistent Top 5 overall placings, I smashed my ankle at a club meeting. Lets just say my foot was facing the wrong way and it didn't do my knee or hip any good either. My foot was so swolen that I couldn't go to work, infact I took a day off saying I had a cold (I'd been warned about doing dangerous sports!) But like most motocross riders, I raced the next week, heavily strapped and in pain, but I got around. The week after that, disaster struck, I caught my bad foot in a berm...aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhh! The worst pain I ever felt and a trip to the ambulance. The injury spoilt the rest of the season and kept me out of the beginning of the '94 season, sadly the weekend that I was going to return to racing, my Dad died, which basically blew the wind out of my sales and the motivation to race. I did race twice after though, the first was for the Black Country Olympics and I was put in the Expert class (I rode so hard, that I couldn't move at the end of the day...I worked muscles I never knew I had!) The second event basically convinced me that my motivation was gone so I decided to retire.

I may have retired from racing, but racing is still in my blood and if time & money permit I'll definitely get my race face back on, but I can still be seen around the tracks doing a little suspension tweaking for friends and giving my support. Infact, instead of restoring classic cars I'd like to restore some twin shockers or early water pumpers!

Thanks to:- My Dad (for all the support & encouragement), Collin Witton & Martin Brannon (for the good times between moto's), Alf Nicklin & Aubrey Lewis (for their advice & help when I first started racing), Steve Dunn (for telling me to stand up on the bike more often, it works because you go faster!) Noel, Stef, Bill & Sheila Robinson, Dave Livesey, Stu Griffiths, Wakey, Nicky & Tony Bayliss (for the loan of their KX125), Lee, Joan & Tony Davies, the Hipkin clan, John Owen, Austin Dwyer, Larry & MotoMark and the 1987-1994 members of Blackheath Autosports.

Equipment used:- Simpson #52, Arai MXV, Arai MX-Pro, MotoTime peaks, JT peaks (helmets & accessories), Scott Series R, Oakley 'O' frames-in every colour under the sun, Oakley Half masks, Oakley ATFM mask, JT Half mask (goggles & accessories), Fox, O'neal, HRP, JT, AXO & Sinisalo (race shirts) Fox, M.Robert, JT V2000, Sinisalo (body armour) Goldbelt, AXO (kidney belts) Max, JT, AXO, Fox, Yoko, Sinisalo (race pants) Fox mud paws, JT wet weathers, AXO, Fox, Yoko, O'Neal, Sinisalo SCD (gloves) M.Robert, Gaerne Geboers, Gaerne Gas (boots)

Motocross Action Magazine

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