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We first noticed you in 2008 in the youth trials.
God, even at 23, that makes me feel old. Yeah, in 2008, I had the ACU D Class Youth British Championship under my belt, and trials was becoming a bigger and bigger part of my life. We just enjoyed the journey and didn’t try to push anything. We had our van, and we used to go off and just have awesome weekends away with other families. We were riding our motorcycles, having BBQs and playing football, not to mention swimming in rivers, indeed anything that was outside! The whole scene 13 years on is very different, which makes me sad that the kids of today won’t have that experience, but I can only thank my parents, who did everything for us to be able to do that.
Who were your early rivals?
Early rivals? Pretty much throughout my youth, it was Billy Bolt, Dan Peace and Iwan Roberts. They were always round me so much.
How big was the step to the B class?
You were told by everyone it was the biggest step by far, but after the D to C class transition, it was a walk in the park! I tried a few different brands and chose the Gas Gas 125 model as it felt to me to be the easiest and nicest to ride. I got stuck straight into the YMSA series as they start nice and early and are always at a similar level to the British scene. Thank you very much to Barry and Sally Burton for putting on amazing events for all my career. From there, it was about just trying my best and seeing where we ended up. In my first year, I was eighth overall, I think.
You moved up into the Youth A class a year early, in 2012.
After my eighth place in 2010, we were looking to improve. I was riding at Richard Timperley’s house every Wednesday night all through the winter. My dad picked me up from school with some sandwiches, and we drove to Dronfield and rode in the floodlit wood until nine at night — snow, ice, wind, rain — anything. I was getting out three times a week in 2010 and 2011, and it came good. I won the B class the year after. In my’ middle year,’ I asked the ACU to move up to the A class a year early to help with my progression. It was granted.
Did you have any other sporting ambitions?
Ambitions, no. Hobbies, yes. I played a lot of cricket through my school days, and not to blow my own trumpet, but I was quite good; I enjoyed playing a team sport with my mates. Other than that, I played a bit of everything but wasn’t too bothered about anything else.
Having won the 2013 A Class BTC, it was time to move into the adults.
After I won the B class in 2011, I moved up. 2012 was a year I could just enjoy as I was in my last year of B class. I shouldn’t even have been in the As, so I just tried to learn as much as possible and see what happened.
We went to Devon, which was a tough event. When I came in after the third lap, everyone was looking at me. I hadn’t looked at the scores and thought maybe I had miraculously got on the podium, but I had won! I couldn’t believe it. I practised a lot after this win. I won the first three rounds of the year and was second in the fourth. The dream start! I won the championship. As I was too young in 2013, I had to stay in the youths and won the A class again.
In 2013, I lost the European championship on a tiebreak with Franz
Kadlec. I got given a five for crossing my own line, and to this day, I still cannot forgive that observer as there was no way I had done that.
2014 was the year I made the massive step into the adults. I was let loose on a 300cc Gas Gas; my first day on a big ‘Gasser’. My mum took me to Scarborough. Billy Bolt was there, and it was the first day for both of us on a more powerful machine. We just did the biggest jumps we could find.
A move into the T2 in 2014 must have been an eye-opener!
It was huge. The level was just so high. I only competed in a few events in the worlds in 2014; my main focus was the BTC. I finished 11th overall, which, to be honest, I was disappointed with. I knew for 2015; I had a lot of work on.
In 2015 it all became a little more serious.
It did. In 2014, I sat down with my mum and dad and had an extensive chat with them. At the time, I was still in Sixth Form, but I wasn’t committed to school, and I wasn’t committed to riding. I had to choose whether to ride full time or go to school and ‘Uni’. With their backing, I went riding full time, so for 2015, it was full steam ahead.
I got my first FIM World Championship round win in America; it felt amazing. It was so hot that the Gas Gas was ‘boiling’ and spewing water out at nearly every section as I got it too hot in between them.
I remember Dougie Lampkin giving me some words of wisdom, and I had an awesome ride. That was day one, and I was leading day two until I fell to pieces on the last lap and dropped from first to fourth.
I had my second win in Sweden at the same venue I lost the European championship — so bittersweet there.
I ended the year seventh in the championship, but I wanted more. I said to my dad I was going to have some time off after the Scott as I was worn out. He said to me, ‘You won’t get any better sat at home, so you can either ride or come to work with me’. He is a builder, so I had no time off, and I was straight back out riding; it was good therapy.
You also rode in your first SSDT.
I was riding a 300cc in 2014, so to jump back on a 125cc for the SSDT in 2015 was like a blast from the past. It was fun! I love the SSDT.
2016 was the year of JP.
It was certainly a year I’ll remember! Starting the world championship with a seventh and a third was okay, but not the way I wanted the season to go in Spain. It was the first time I was inside the factory truck and certainly was a shaky start. From then on, I got my head down and headed to Japan and really started my championship how I wanted it to go with seven wins, two seconds and one third in the next ten rounds.
Winning the championship in the UK at my home round was just a memory I’ll be very happy to hold on to! Absolutely unbelievable. The next week I headed to Mexico with my minder ‘OJ’ for a celebratory holiday. The perfect way to celebrate the perfect year for me. Second overall in the BTC behind James Dabill was also something I was pleased with, so for me, 2016 was the perfect year.
It was up with the big boys in 2017
In at the deep end, I would say! After a long winter in Spain with a fulltime minder, as I was on factory contracts. I was fortunate enough to have one, but it was a setback to find out my minder at the time – world champ-winning minder ‘OJ’ – had to go for an operation. He wouldn’t be able to mind for the upcoming season. That aside, it was still me riding my Gas Gas, and I was fortunate enough to have Brad Bullock, Michael Brown and Ben Hemingway minding during the year; all amazing guys in their own rights, and I was in good hands.
The qualifying system to decide the start times was new for 2017. To be honest, for the next four years, I didn’t get on with it at all; it just wasn’t
for me. I respect it was exciting, and trials definitely needed something like qualifying, but not for me. With respect, your starting time is very important in trials, and qualifying was there to shake this up, which it successfully did, but I just couldn’t get on with it. So it was a year of just learning and throwing myself at the huge sections that are found at TrialGP level! By no means was I out of my depth. I had some strong finishes, including a ninth in Japan.
Along with the world championship, I also had to focus on the BTC and the SSDT. Winning the ACU British Trials Championship was a massive tick on my trials bucket list and something I was very happy with. To push Dougie in Scotland to the last day to eventually finish second. I never thought I would drop single fingers through a whole week at the SSDT and finish second, but that’s Dougie for you!
2018 was a year you made it into the ‘Top 10’.
Definitely. At the start of the year, it was the goal to make it into the Top 10 of the world championship; it was a goal I just managed to achieve with a tenth overall. I was certainly feeling really comfortable in the factory team now, and the results were getting better.
2019 was a tough year.
It wasn’t the year I wanted. The results just didn’t really improve. I was hoping to make improvements on my Top-10 finish overall, but I only maintained that. I wasn’t happy at all. I had a great team, a great machine, and, to be honest, I was just looking at myself, looking and talking to my team to see how we could train differently and change things to make the results better. We all certainly agreed on a few things but improving in qualifying was the main problem area. I just couldn’t take advantage of the system to benefit myself. That said, I dominated the BTC, and when I beat ‘Dibs’ when he came back to ride a round, it really endorsed that I was the ACU British Champion for 2019.
Scott Trial heartbreak.
Where do I start? This one really hurt; even talking about it now! The Scott Trial is my favourite event of the year, by far. It’s something I train very hard for and always try to be the best prepared I can be.
In 2019, I felt great all day and pushed a lot. I wasn’t completely happy with my day, but I was satisfied. I sat at the finish and worked out that I only had about 20 marks lost on observation and not many at all on time. So I knew that would be very close to the win.
I always worry about missing sections as the Scott messes with your counting, and when we’re pushing as much as we are, it’s definitely very easily done. I then had the phone call to notify me I’d missed a section; the observers had seen me ride past. It was hard being told by a lot of other riders it was one of the easiest sections of the day, and even having a five-mark penalty on this section would’ve handed me the win! But to finish first, first, you have to finish. The result definitely doesn’t sit well with me, but hopefully, it won’t happen again!
Shirty and Kev’ Factory’ Hipwell had put such a lot of time into my machine and my preparation; it was just disappointing for everyone involved.
You looked disheartened in 2020.
It wasn’t a year I felt myself. I signed for Vertigo. Dougie Lampkin and I are great friends and one I can always count on. I spoke to him, and we came to an agreement for 2020 that meant I could stay doing everything I wanted to and keep the dream alive. But then I had a crash on my