John Shirt Jnr:

“Just think about this opportunity, at 16 years old to be offered the chance to compete in trials on a full factory four-stroke Honda RTL; just imagine being offered the machines of Toni Bou to compete on and that is how it felt. At the time I was riding a monoshock Yamaha which my father had developed into a superb machine and I was fresh out of the Youth A Class, but I do not regret the chance to ride the Honda as it was an amazing experience. I just went for it, not thinking how much of an honour it was to be loaned such a machine. I was confident of my own ability at the time, maybe a little over confident. Truth is the Honda RTL was built for ‘World Class’ riders, and that I wasn’t. In reality it was simply too good for me and my limited experience at 16 years old. I spent hours and hours on the four-stroke but my mistake was only going riding at my local Hawk’s Nest and the home of Mick Andrews which were my ‘comfort zones’. Away from these two venues I struggled to find grip with it, I think because of my lack of throttle control and riding it like a two-stroke. Looking back the machine suited the SSDT because the suspension was unreal, there was no mud and I love riding streams! I also have a massive passion for the SSDT which goes way back to childhood.”