TORQ MOTO

Torq in Tour - VMXdN Foxhill part 1 We are bringing you an extraordinary episode this week. We joined forces with Steve Matthes/Pulp MX at VMXdN Foxhill 2024 for some memorable Torq Moto/ Pulp MX podcast mash-ups recorded in front of a live audience. In this first episode, guests Neville Bradshaw, Brad Anderson, and Martin Barr take to the couch. The beers and the conversation flow as they discuss why riders become mechanics, family history and namesake, being out to 100% in, and MXoN appearances. As always, there are plenty of stories, banter and laughs, all with good old mx chatter. Be sure to like and subscribe to both this page and the Pulp MX Page. There is plenty more Torq Moto to come!

This week’s Torq Moto Podcast Show sees part two of the Stephen Sword interview. In episode one ‘Swordy’ opened up on his illustrious MX racing career and looked back in great detail, from where it all started, living near Lockerbie, Scotland and being a Team Green youth rider through to his best years racing the 125cc and MX2 world motocross championship where he held the red plate until bad luck and injuries ended his quest for a world title, before moving into MX1. In this episode, Stephen talks about how his racing career came to a close and what he did once it all stopped to where he is now as a riding coach. He also discusses the current state of the sport, the modern-day crop of riders, and racing in the Evo scene with hosts DocWob and Jeffro Perrett. In particular, Farleigh Castle and what it’s like riding a CR500 when the throttle sticks wide open! Throughout both interviews, we see an informative, relaxed and enthusiastic Swordy, arguably a side of his personality not many people got to see in his racing heyday. It’s all good stuff from a man who kept his cards close to his chest during his racing career. Don't forget to like and subscribe, as the Torq Moto team will be out in force at VMXDN Foxhill filming four live podcast shows over the event - coming to a screen near you soon! 

This week’s Torq Moto Podcast Show driven by Talon welcomes back Honda HRC’s senior team advisor Roger Harvey to continue the conversation about his life in motocross. Following on from episode one of the Roger Harvey interview, hosts ‘Doc Wobs’ and ‘Jeffro’ Perrett fire questions Roger’s way regarding his time in the sport post once his racing career came to an end. As always with ‘Harv’ it’s a great conversation with plenty of interesting insight on the industry and of course, more fascinating and funny stories from a man who has seen pretty much everything there is to see in the sport from both sides of the fence. The trio discuss how and why Roger decided to call it a day on his racing to then start focusing on training schools, to great effect, which then led to managing motocross programs in the U.K. for Yamaha, Kawasaki and ultimately Honda where he still plays a huge part in their success but now more on a global scale. They also discuss the future development of off-road motorcycles, the electric movement and where Roger sees it all going. Not only from his point of view but also from where Honda’s future intentions may lie. And of course, Wobs and Jeffro couldn’t let him leave without talking about Honda HRC’s current stars, Tim Gajser and the Lawrence Brothers. Part two of the Roger Harvey interview on the Torq Moto Podcast Show driven by Talon will air this Thursday evening on Torq Moto’s YouTube channel as well as Spotify and Apple. 

‘Put to the Sword’  The Torq Moto Podcast Show driven by Talon welcomes former multiple British champion and GP winner Stephen Sword to the sofa for a catch up this week. ‘Swordy’ was one of the UK’s top pro racers throughout the mid to late 90’s and most of the noughties and was one of the most popular riders in the British paddock with a smooth style and quiet demeanour but an obvious grit and determination when the helmet went on. In this first of two episodes hosts ‘Jeffro’ Perrett and ‘Doc Wobs’ put questions to Swordy about the earlier part of his career and how it all started from his dad’s love of the sport and putting in the miles from their home in Lockerbie, Scotland. Steven soon found himself winning all over the country and picked up a ride with Team Green and from there quickly established himself as one of the U.K’s hot prospects and at a young age he left his family home and his parent behind to move south to Marshfield, South Gloucester to race for the Holt JCB Kawasaki team. Swordy talks with great affection about his time living with and riding for the Church family and how they not only helped him become a better rider with a clear focus but taught him important life lessons. Getting into the thick of it with the best years of his career the trio discuss the teams and his significant and most memorable races from his time riding for Dave Thorpe’s CAT Finning Honda team through to the best years of his GP career with Factory Kawasaki and of course they had to discuss his rivalry with fellow Scot Billy Mackenzie and their relationship down the years! For someone who didn’t really say too much in his racing days, Swordy certainly has plenty to say in this podcast and it’s a good insight into the career of one of Britain’s best. 

The Torq Moto Podcast Show driven by Talon has another cracker for this week’s episode brought to you by Docbright. Hosts ‘DocWobs' and ‘Jeffro’ Perrett are joined by one of the industry's biggest players, Honda HRC’s senior team adviser, Roger Harvey. Roger has played an integral part in bringing the glory days back to HRC; the trio discusses Roger’s career as a British and World Motocross championship racer and how his journey in the motocross world began. As always with ‘Rog’, there are some brilliant stories, industry insight and plenty of laughs. As with many riders of his generation, there are golden stories of hustling to work up the ladder in British and World motocross and classic road trip stories in a time when it was harder but in many ways easier to tour the continent. In this episode, Roger talks about how he worked his way up to become a British MX 125cc champion and a front runner in the 125cc World Championship and how life was on the road getting to GP’s and continental international meetings, even on his own with no mechanic! He also looks back fondly on some of his long-standing friendships with the likes of David Thorpe, Bob Wright and Alec Wright, to name but a few. More bizarrely, there’s even a discussion on the significance of the decor of Roger’s toilet!  Don't forget to like and subscribe so you don't miss part two, which is coming soon! 

This week’s episode of the Torq Moto Podcast Show, driven by Talon, welcomes back motocross legend Kurt Nicoll to talk more about his prolific MX career in the sport, both on and off the bike.  Following on from episode one a month back, where host ‘Jeffro’ Perrett and Rob 'DocWob’ Walters sat down with Kurt to talk about how his career started as a son of a former GP racer Dave Nicoll, through to his early years in the British adult motocross, the 500cc World championship and his part as ‘Captain Kurt’ in the last British winning MX of Nations team of 1994.  Episode two delves more into the latter part of Kurt’s career and his life since retiring from racing. The trio discuss the beginning of the end of Kurt's career, a successful sortie in SuperMoto and falling into team management in a big way as KTM’s motocross race director. A job that would lead him to America, where he now resides, and ultimately ended up working with Travis Pastrana as a lead figure behind the scenes of Nitro Circus before starting his own business in ‘Champion MX California Vacations’. There is no doubt about it: Kurt is having more fun and enjoying the sport now than ever, which comes across in both episodes of Torq Moto. And, man, can he still go fast on a MX bike?   If you haven't already watched episode one, do it now and don't forget to like and subscribe. 

Rob Andrews ‘torqs’ the inside line and moreThe Torq Moto Podcast Show driven by Talon welcomes former 500cc Grand Prix and British championship racer Rob Andrews to the couch for this week’s episode to talk about his racing career throughout the 70’s and 80’s. Rob had a fantastic career, which he put down in words in his acclaimed book ‘The Inside Line’. Here Rob chats with hosts Doc Wob and ‘Jeffro’ Perrett about some of the incredible stories in his book and how it all came about. From the early days of racing starting out at Severn Valley Schoolboy Scramble club in 1977 onto switching to a 500cc bike and chasing that GP dream and becoming a factory racer for Kawasaki. The trio also discuss the strength of the British championship scene in the 80’s and the comparisons and differences between that generation to the current, from riding techniques to track designs.Rob also tells a pretty gruesome story of a near life threatening accident in his local Tesco’s that nearly prevented him from racing Stateside at the eleventh hour, but he was determined to get there and race the US and Canadian GP. There’s also some good banter and reminiscing between Rob and Doc Wob as the latter used to spin the spanners for Andrews when he was starting as a mechanic. This first episode of a two-part interview with Rob Andrews on the Torq Moto Podcast Show driven by Talon is available to view on the Torq Moto YouTube channel from Thursday 23rd May at 7 pm and available to download and listen on Apple and Spotify. 

King David returns for more ‘Torq’ Following on from the first episode of the Dave Thorpe interview on the Torq Moto Podcast Show driven by Talon, it’s now time for part two with Britain’s most successful motocross racer. With so much to cover in his amazing MX career and just like his world titles, one simply wasn’t enough!  In the second instalment of the interview Dave follows on with hosts ‘Jeffro’ Perrett and DocWob from where we parked up the first interview talking about what it was like to win his first 500cc world championship. A further two world championships followed (well, four actually, if you include his world vets championship!) and as Dave explains they were much tougher to come by. He also looks back on the latter years of his career and reflects on when it was to call time on his racing and his life in the sport after all that awesome run as world class athlete in a golden generation. Not only is DT’s career incredibly successful, but it’s also fascinating. In this episode Dave delves into what it’s like being a team manager and the steep learning curve involved with that, like how each rider is different and particular to him. He also talks about his current signing and British champion Conrad Mewse and gives his opinion of where Conrad is at in his career. Of course, all being patriotic Brits we couldn’t let the opportunity slip by without taking about his role as Team GB’s MXDN team manager and that brilliant win at Roggenburg, Switzerland in 1994 that sent shock waves through World Motocross by putting an end to Team USA’s 13-year win streak. With such an amazing career in the sport and being a genuine idol for an entire generation it’s an interview you don’t want to miss.  Make sure you catch part one before diving into part two!

Kurt’s Confessions This week’s Torq Moto Podcast Show driven by Talon sees yet another big hitter of 80’s and 90’s British motocross joining US - DocWob and ‘Jeffro’ Perrett. Kurt Nicoll calls into Torq Moto HQ for a candid chat on his brilliant MX career, with this being the first of a two-part interview.  Nicoll’s MX racing career has been a fascinating one, and he’s still very much involved with the sport. Now residing in California running his ‘Champion MX California Vacations’ business to great effect offering dirt bike experiences on some iconic tracks. In this first episode the trio go back to the very beginning and discuss how Nicoll got started in the sport, which was always likely to happen with his dad Dave being a MXGP racer. He talks about how he found himself on a 500cc bike at an early age and never really looked back. Something he doesn’t like to do too much, but in this case, we prompted him and it was a bit of an eye opener!  There’s several moments like that during the interview that he really opens up on his career and you’ll get to see the real Kurt Nicoll and not the one that was 'there for business’ back in the day as he puts it. From coming back from a badly broken leg that nearly finished his career before it really had a chance to flourish to discussing those ‘Bridesmaid’ moments where he came so close to winning that elusive world title multiple times and his healthy rivalry with Dave Thorpe. Ensure you subscribe to catch part two of the interview

‘‘The Fish’ is back on the Hook! Following on from the first episode of the Rob Herring interview on the Torq Moto Podcast Show driven by Talon, ’the Fish’ is back and continues the chat with hosts ‘Jeffro’ Perrett and DocWob on his awesome motocross career. In this episode, the trio discusses the later part of Rob’s hugely successful MX racing life, how it all came to an end for him, and how he’s kept his eye on riding motorcycles for his day job. It’s all interesting stuff, yet again Herring talks calmly and openly through it all with genuine affection, not only on his racing years but also on the names he reminisces and his love for the sport. There’s also the announcement of his plans to return to racing this year at the VMXDN Foxhill and, what bike he’s considering riding and how he’ll prepare. Even to the point of what race kit he has in mind for the much-anticipated race on August Bank holiday weekend, where he took a race victory at the very first GP there as discussed in episode one. He has well and truly got the racing bug again and will also be riding at Farleigh Castle Vets MX in September. Don’t forget to like and subscribe to keep up to speed with past or future episodes. Grab your tickets to VMXdN Foxhill here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/vmxdn-foxhill-2024-tickets-753835631667 or for Farleigh Castle Vets MX https://my.weezevent.com/farleigh-castle-vets-mx or join us for both! Use the code Torq15 to get 15% off at Talon Photo Credit - Martyn Petts

King David ‘Torq’s Moto’ The Torq Moto Podcast Show driven by Talon welcomes three-time 500cc World and multiple British champion David Thorpe as this week’s guest. With so much to talk about with hosts ‘Jeffro’ Perrett and Doc Wob on his amazing career and his opinions on the here and now of motocross this will be the first instalment of two for the Dave Thorpe interview. No doubt about it, Thorpe is the ‘King’ of UK motocross royalty as Great Britain’s most successful rider on the world stage and here in the first episode he talks about the journey to the very top and that first world 500cc crown back in 1985. The trio discuss the early years of his career and how it all started as young kid living in Surrey and the influence of his parents, particularly his father Keith who was his mechanic for virtually all of his racing career. ‘DT’ talks about the finer details of his youth and amateur career that feature in his recently released book 'No Regrets…. well almost’ and the decision to focus on motocross instead of football that set him on the way as a motocross icon and those epic and glory days of 500cc World championship motocross in the eighties. All the good stuff on his career up to the end of 1985 is here, from his time racing for Honda with dispensation to race the AMCA at 15, through to his first stint with Kawasaki and working with Alex Wright before going back to Honda and signing with HRC and the pressures and expectation that came with that. Dave talks openly about potentially losing his HRC factory ride in the latter part of 1984 before turning it around in style by winning the last six races of the season, starting with a 1-1 victory at the British GP at Hawkstone Park that ultimately secured his ride with Honda and gave him the platform to go on to win his three world titles and repay their faith in him. Episode one of the ‘Dave Thorpe’ Interview on the Torq Moto Podcast Show driven by Talon is available on Apple and Spotify and will be aired on the Torq Moto YouTube channel this Thursday at ????. Episode two picks up Dave’s career from the beginning of 1986 with the target of that #1 on his back to his thoughts on current-day motocross and his role with Honda which will drop next month.  

The latest episode of the ‘Torq Moto’ Podcast Show, driven by Talon welcomes former 125cc and 250cc Motocross World Champion Sebastien Tortelli to flight case sofas to chat with us about his illustrious MX racing career and where he finds himself now as Stark Future’s race director. We grabbed Seb in his busy schedule for a catch-up during the Arenacross UK tour and dived straight into the thick of it to look back on Tortelli’s MX career and find out more about his new role at Stark Future. Tortelli looks back fondly on how it all started for him on his parents’ farm in the south of France and how he was driven to be win from a young age. He also speaks affectionally about the French MX Federation and his mentor, Jacky Vimond. The conversation leads on to those epic battles in MXGP motocross in the 125cc class with the likes of Paul Malin before the heady days of the titanic battles he had in the 250cc class and with Stefan Everts for the 1998 world title. Of course, we couldn’t let him leave the sofa without talking about his time racing in America and his incredible debut in AMA Supercross, winning in L.A Coliseum and lapping most of the established American stars in the rain. He also opens up on some regrets and why his time in America didn’t go as well as he would’ve liked and how he was close to walking away from the sport until a call out of the blue saw him ending up being Start Future’s race director. No doubt about it, Seb Tortelli is one of the coolest of cats in the world motocross and you can hear his take on his career, the plans for Stark Racing, modern-day riders and where he feels the sport is at.

Arenacross UK head honcho Matt Bates joins us on the sofa talking candidly about all things Motocross. We caught up with Matt at round seven of the current Arenacross UK tour before for the tour reaches its climax at Wembley on February 24th.    With the Birmingham AX track still being built in the background we discuss how Matt got into motocross even though he lived in the urban sprawl of central London and how a successful first few years saw him land a ride on Team Green before moving up to the pro ranks. A transition he now admits to being harder than he gave it credit for and how ultimately one crash too many found him facing inner demons that cut his pro racing career short and steered him into MX race team management. After a several years of fronting up Team Green UK and then Suzuki GB’s off-road program Matt explains how one day at Foxhill made him realise he wanted to go in the different direction of event management, and the rest as they say, is history. Since then, Matt and his team have laid on a host of different events within the motorcycle industry and plenty more outside of it working with big name brands such as Red Bull and recognised national events like the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Naturally also on the agenda of discussion is the ten years of running and promoting Arenacross. How it started and his contempt for a former Supercross promoter, where it’s currently at and how it sits with riders, fans, and the industry. Matt also discusses where he sees it going, especially with the growing interest in electric dirt bikes and how it will affect the sport and his vision on future off road motorcycling events. All interesting stuff with no holds barred from a man who tries to stay off social media for that very reason!  All roads led to Wembley on February 24th for the final round of the Arenacross UK tour, there will be great racing, double points and titles crowned, grab your tickets now – https://bolesworth.com/arenacross/