John McPhee - From the beginning
With a mad keen amateur motocross rider for a father and a former Scottish Road Racing Championship ‘Rookie of the Year’ and BSB Superstock race winner in the family, John McPhee’s interest in motorcycles was hardly surprising.
Dad, Alasdair, raced a Honda CR250 in local motocross events and the annual beach event at Weston-super-Mare, while Uncle Mark, campaigned a Yamaha R1 and Suzuki GSXR 1000 in the Scottish and British national championships.
'Racing bikes is something I have wanted to do for as long as I can remember,' said John, 'I dreamed of making a career from it but never really thought back then that I would.'
With bikes well and truly in his blood, John was bought an electric bicycle at the age of three and acquired a Yamaha PW50 at five. By the age of eight he was competing with the Oban Youth Motocross Club, rising through the ranks from 50cc to 85cc machines over the course of the next six years before signing off with a class championship in each year.
'This was when I really got a passion for racing,' he added.
'We used to travel around a lot with my dad and uncle and that was when the love of road racing really came to the fore.'
When John turned 12 the family bought an Aprilia 125 for a season-long Formula 125 campaign in the Scottish Championship, but after just two races the plans had to be put on hold for a year when he caught meningitis.
John resumed racing in 2007 and contested 15 races in the Scottish, North East of England and Melville Championships, claiming his first win and a total of seven podium finishes. A return to the championships in 2008 brought more success. He ended the year as triple Formula 125 champion courtesy of 29 wins and 37 podium finishes. His rise through the ranks signalled it was time to move on to tougher challenges and in 2009 he moved up a gear from Formula 125 to GP125 in the British Championship.
An uncompetitive bike impeded progress initially until KRP team boss Mark Keen spotted the privateer’s potential and leant a hand with tuning and preparation. Results improved but a broken ankle eventually cut short his season.
He finished 36th in the championship overall and 11th in the integral U17s ACU Academy Cup but Keen had seen enough to recognise a race winner. As a result, in 2010 he joined the KRP squad for a full season in the British 125GP squad.
His first win came in the third round at Oulton Park after a race-long battle with the then-reigning champion James Lodge only for it to be disallowed due to a discrepancy between two sets of weighing scales used by the organisers.
But by the year-end the young rider from Oban had notched up a win that was allowed and four podiums to finish fifth in the championship and runner-up in the ACU Academy Cup.
In 2011, with backing from the Racing Steps Foundation (RSF), he continued with the KRP squad racing to 10th place in his rookie year in the CEV Buckler 125GP Championship in Spain and winning wildcard entries to three World Championship Grand Prix. His best placing was 15th in the British GP at Silverstone.
'When the RSF took me on and took me to Spain it was a real turning point for me,' said John.
'Up until then we had still been a small family run unit and were having to more or less fund ourselves. Spain is the central hub for Moto GP for two wheel racing. I realised then that if I wanted to make a career out of it then now was the time to knuckle down and prove myself.'
And that he did.
In 2012 John returned to the CEV Buckler Championship in the new 250cc four-stroke Moto3 category. John came seventh in the Championship, taking two podiums across the season. He also raced in the Moto3 World Championship in eight out of its 18 rounds, placing 36th.
2013 saw John riding with Jack Miller for SAXOPRINT RTG in his first Moto3 World Championships. He remained with the team for the 2014 season alongside new teammate Efren Vazquez, and 2015 with Alexis Masbou.
The following year he switched to the Peugeot Motorcycles Saxoprint squad, continuing to make his mark on the Moto3 category. Despite ongoing technical issues and injury he took a stunning maiden victory in the rain at Brno.
Having raced with the newly created British Talent Team in 2017, John joined the KTM powered CIP Green Power Team in 2018, while 2019 saw him competing in the Moto3 World Championship with the Petronas Sprinta Moto3 Team, with whom he had a successful 2020 season.