Best of British: Pete Boast
If you enjoy the UK flattrack scene, you have one man to thank – his name’s Pete...
‘I even lined up next to Joey, which was mind-blowing’ ‘Flattrack was my passion so I decided to bring it to the UK’
Most racers tend to stick to one discipline. Pete Boast, however, is a jack of all trades. As well as very respectable finishes in road races such as the TT, Oliver’s Mount and the Ulster GP, Boastie has raced in British Superbikes, speedway, sand racing, grasstrack, ice speedway, is a British flattrack champion and has even competed in Classic 24-hour Endurance races. Now, at the age of 55, Boastie runs his own flattrack school and still dusts off his leathers to show the young’uns how it’s done, instructing on trackdays and racing the Classic TT, flattrack and more. “Motorcycles have always been part of my family. Every year our family holiday involved going to the TT, and dad raced grasstrack. Growing up in Lincolnshire if you wanted to race it was grasstrack, scrambles and Mablethorpe beach race – so that’s what I did until I was old enough to go road racing.
“In the 1980s there was no such thing as a race school and so at the age of 16 I took my Ducati 250 to Cadwell Park on a Thursday afternoon and just got stuck in at an open trackday! Talk about in at the deep end, I was overtaken on the Park Straight by Tony Rutter, who was one of my absolute heroes. “My family wasn’t rich but we did our best and I did a season racing classic bikes, simply because that was the cheapest form of racing and the Ducati cost us £300. I did OK (mainly as about 39 of my 40 races were at Cadwell). I stuck with it and progressed to a TZ350 and finally an RG500 in the British Championship – I even lined up next to Joey Dunlop, which was mind-blowing, and raced against Barry Sheene. “I stayed in the British scene throughout the 1980s, mainly on the TZ350 as the bills from Padgett’s for the RG broke me, but my real passion was the Isle of Man, which I first did in 1982 at the Manx before progressing to the TT in 1985 and raced virtually every year. In the 90s I did a bit of British Supersport and Superbike but after a big crash I retired from racing in 1994.”
But that wasn’t the end of things for Boastie… “When I was a kid I watched On Any Sunday and
I was hooked on flattrack, but in the 1970/80s America was a million miles away and there was no internet, mobile phones or anything. I took the plunge and in 1994 I got on a flight to America and became the first Brit to race flattrack there. It was mad, I was lining up to race at Daytona alongside Chris Carr, Scott Parker, Springer, everyone - it was like being in a movie! I gave it my best
shot but ran out of money and had to come home, which is when I turned my hand to speedway. “Speedway was the nearest thing to flattrack in the UK, so I figured if I could learn to slide I’d be better at flattrack. I ended up getting signed to Sheffield Tigers and won the title, which was amazing, but flattrack was still my passion and so I decided to bring it to the UK. “There was a flattrack series in Holland, which was basically motocross bikes on an oval and not proper flattrack, so I set up a series in the UK. I spoke to the ACU who just said ‘go for it’ – so I did. I knew nothing about setting up a series, so I sat down with the missus and created Short Track UK. We had our first meet at King’s Lynn in 2005. “When we first raced there were just 26 riders on the grid, nowadays the Dirt Track Racing Association, which is what Short Track UK evolved into, runs over two days with around 200 riders in a massive variety of classes.
“I still race flattrack but after setting up my Champions Flattrack School in 2013, I spend a lot of time teaching the next generation to slide, which I absolutely love. And it’s not just those wanting a bit of fun, we teach BSB riders, flattrack racers, anyone. And not only on left-handers, we also throw in a few rights to spice it up...”