MARK GESSEY
What with one thing and another it was quite late on in the weekend of the International Dirt Bike Show before there was a chance to catch up with Mark Gessey and find not only had the lad not missed a season Mxing since starting in 1977, he’s raced at a serious level and now runs a car restoration business specialising in pre-1981 MGS.
“It does help having a network of contacts,” he grinned. His MX pedigree is no less impressive and pretty soon after starting he was drafted in to the Suzuki schoolboy MX team of that time. “Once I graduated up to the adult class at 18 I made expert in one weekend.” He was at Blackbushe Airfield where an ACU qualifying meeting was being held and his team boss at the time, Tony Barnard, said to him he could use Billy Aldridge’s GP 250 Suzuki.
“Aldridge had finished the season and the bike was sitting doing nothing, I literally sat on it for the first time on the start line of the first practice… anyway I ended up winning all four finals and made expert that weekend. A bit of a rollercoaster ride for someone who the weekend before was still in the schoolboy class!”
What followed was two years in the 125, 250 and British support classes, then a chance to go to Australia for 12 months on a contract with Cagiva turned into four years. On returning to the UK he tried classics on B44 and B50 BSAS, at one time racing a bike with an engine built by John Giles.
The KTM thing is a hobby. “Ironically I only raced a KTM once when I was full time.” He got a bit more involved with KTM when helping Ady Smith with his enduro schools.
Got a pre-81 MG in need of TLC? Have a look at Mark’s web www.mg-restorations.co.uk