Interviews

  • Interview – Kai Riviere

    Can you remember when you first heard about BMX and what year it was? I first heard about BMX in 1980 from my riding partner, Paul Barter’s dad. I’m not 100% certain, but I think he saw something in a local paper. Were you already riding a Grifter at the time? I already had a Raleigh Grifter, and once I heard about BMX, I started converting it. National racing didn’t officially start until 1981, but you were actually racing in 1980. Can you remember your first event and some of the riders you raced with? My first event was in 1980 at Buckmore Park—the rest, as they say, is history—I…

  • Interview – 50+ Grand Vet British Champion Lee Hunt

    Year you started BMX? 1983. Hometown local track? Poole Panthers. How was the Bournemouth/Poole race scene in the 80s? It was certainly really big in the South back in the early eighties with three tracks in Dorset at Poole, Bournemouth and Mannington. There were also some other good local places for dirt jumping like the Sections at Upton Heath and the Chestnuts in Wareham. It certainly helped me having regular gate practice evenings with the likes of Tim March, Anthony Revell and Paul and Martin Upshall. Got to say that the Poole UKBMX National in 1984 was probably the best atmosphere I’ve ever experienced at a race meeting. We were…

  • Interview – Brian Jones

    What year did you start BMX? I started BMX in 1981. How did you discover BMX? My brother Neil Jones first discovered the new craze, and my father decided to sell his RM 125 to buy our first BMX bike from Tony Christen’s shop in Manchester. First bike? My first bike was a Mongoose Supergoose. First race? Our first race was at the Southport regional. Neil and I raced there on Good Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We both won all our races and got the bug to keep racing. You became National Champion the first year of Official National Racing in the UK in 1981. What do you remember about…

  • Louis Mears

    It’s been 40 years this summer since you became the first British rider to win a World Championships. You also got 3rd in Open class that weekend. You were so young at the time. Did you realised what you had done? Wow, has it been that long?! Honestly, I was so young I just didn’t take in what I’d achieved back then, couldn’t really understand the massive response to what I’d done as I was just a kid who loved riding his BMX and was a shy so felt a little awkward at times with all the attention.  I was lucky enough to travel the country every weekend with my brother and dad and…

  • Chico Hooke

    In what year and how did you discover BMX? 1982 was my first year. My dad knew Jamie and Jeremy Vince’s dad from the antique furniture trade. They were coming to race at the new Hillingdon track near us and said we should go along. We went to watch the first race then went back soon after. Local scene / tracks? Hillingdon was always my local and Region 9 – Slough, High Wycombe, Hemel, Hounslow then Harrow and the London skateparks and Pinner. Your early day’s crew? Lee Restall, CJ Butler, Michael Chenery, Bruce Hutchins, Dylan Clayton, Sam Jarvis, Ben Beasley were my local crew around my age. Then as…

  • Gary Morgan (A Grifter, me and a World Championship)

    My Story by Gary Morgan  The thing is my BMX story isn’t one story, like life it has many endings and then somehow starts again! I was a latecomer to BMX by today’s measure, but always had a fascination with bikes, I had a Raleigh Chopper at 11. I was 13 when I got a Raleigh Grifter, far from what it would eventually become, but it got me started. There was little unused land in Blackpool, but my friends and I -the Grifter crew as we were called by the girls (sheepskin mob) at school – went to industrial estates and made jumps from pallets. At 14 the record of…

  • Interview Andy Lomas

    You skated before BMX, how did you get into skating and in what year? David Fraser and I were in Leeds and saw Skateboards in a shop, we brought 2 boards for £20 total. We wore them out in two weeks at my primary school parking lot. Then went back and bought 2 more, summer of 76. How did you find out about BMX and in what year? I travelled to Lakewood, California 1979ish with Steve Gratton and Steve Illingsworth (2nd para) and a few more guys. We travelled from park to park skating at a pro level with other pros. Stacy Peralta, Ray Bones, Cab, McGill, Doc Otamura and…

  • Superclass Superstar THE LEGEND OF “TOO TALL” WINNIE WRIGHT

    As we once again approach the passing anniversary of our dear friend, Winnie Wright (Feb 13th, 2001), I wanted to post an interview that was run in the May 1988 Issue of UKBMX Race Line Magazine. UKBMX put the Magazine out and flipping through some back issues it still stands up today with race coverage, interviews, news and UKBMX National point updates and race dates. The UKBMX staff that put the magazine together were Bridget Hayes – Editor, Clive Gosling – Assistant Editor, and Photography in this particular issue came from Scott Dick. Additional contributors were Bob Sanders, Billy Wright, Terry Beasley, Nevil Hollis, Lyn Kemp, Brian Little, Roly Sate…

  • Interview – Bill Beeken (Ammaco, Diamond Back, Aero)

    Year started in BMX? 1979/80 How did you discover BMX, were you already in the bicycle industry? I worked for Malcom Jarvis at Ammaco selling some of the first Mongoose bikes he brought in from the States. I worked with Joe Cerelo along with Don Smith who came from motorcycle trials and had a good network of motorcycle shops we could utilize. You were the team manager for Diamond Back, what year? Team riders? Yes, after Ammaco I went to Freewheeler who brought in Pro-Star and Diamond Back. I was selling bikes and ran the Diamond Back team which consisted of Chris Simmonds, Jason Maloney, Louis Mears and Mark White.…

  • The forgotten kid on Team ACE – Trevor Shanks

    It seems like for one reason or another, Team ACE has been overlooked when we talk about the history of BMX in the UK.  They were right there at the start.  In fact, right here on britishbmxhalloffame.com we thought the first official BMX in the UK was Redditch in 1980, however when researching further, it’s Team ACE we found has the first race put on by Don Smith and ACE’s Richard Barrington a year earlier in 1979 Brockwell Park in London. We start out with an interview from Team ACE rider, Trevor Shanks who was on the team with the likes of Nicky Matthews, Pete Middleton, Cav Stutt and Andy Ruffell but his…