FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

I started riding in 1982; I did a bit of racing but mostly rode the local skate park in Liverpool. Not long after I quit racing after seeing Bob Haro ride at the NEC. Soon after that Torker sponsored me through Alans BMX. Alan showed up one day at Edge Lane Skate Park in Liverpool with a Pro-X frame in the back of his pick-up. I rode home with it under my arm thinking wow now I’m sponsored. Shortly after we went down to the Bristol Bike Show; I believe this may have been the first official BMX Freestyle competition in the U.K. (don’t quote me though). Pro Class didn’t exist just age groups with 17-Expert being the highest class so that was my first competition, I took first place. I left Torker after the first Kellogg’s BMX Championships and rode for Haro for the remainder of my career; I remember Eddie Fiola and myself were the only riders invited to compete in both the Kellogg’s Competitions which I thought was interesting. -year you stopped competing or actively riding as a pro? I stopped competing and doing shows around 1990, which was two years after returning from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia having done six months of freestyle exhibitions with Dave Young and motocross freestyle rider Del Stanley, boy are there a lot of crazy stories from that trip! The major reason I stopped riding was a severe shoulder injury, I separated the rotator cuff and I had a good size fracture around the humorous, you know all that good stuff that comes with freestyle BMX. The industry was probably at its lowest point too so I decided to move to America as this was something I had wanted to do for a long time. Looking back I think I wanted new opportunities plus I was sick of the gloomy weather in the U.K. I had the surgery here in the U.S, recovery was slow due the nature of shoulders and it’s still a problem to this today. I have a bunch of titanium hardware in my shoulder now; I call it my last Freestyle trophy. -Last sponsors? My last sponsors were Haro Bicycles (from 1985-90) Space Developments and of course Shiner Ltd who are a major distributor in Europe. Shiner is a family run business. Michael, Chris Allen and family were just so supportive of everything I did I really can’t thank them enough. -Where do you live now and what are you doing? I live in Venice, CA where I have been for the last eleven years, I produced many sports shows for TV in that time but now I am mostly involved in motorsports. I also work several months out of the year for the big Automakers doing events in which we basically end up drifting production cars demonstrating new vehicle performance and handling. In 2001 I came up with a crazy idea to start a drift team and I called it Lateral G Racing. (www.lateralgracing.com), this was just after I made my second car video. The funny thing was the team consisted of three pro drivers Nick Kunewalder, Samuel Hubinette and Rich Rutherford and at our first event we ended up with one rental car between the three drivers. I don’t mean a race car either; I mean a proper rental car you’d get from the airport. Humble beginnings you could say, but shortly after I built two drift cars with sponsorship from Greddy, Sparco, Dunlop and Team Dynamics and we just went on from there. [url=http://www.drifting.com/article.php?threadid=5500&goto=newpost&show_Title]Read an other Drifting related interview by clicking this link if you're interested[/url] In 2004 both my partner Russell Naftal and I secured sponsorship from Dodge/Mopar and Yokohama Tires. It was a great year for us as a team as we won the inaugural American drift series here in the U.S. We made the front cover of the New York Times, several TV shows featured us and we were in just about every auto magazine. We are now in the events business with a series called World Drift Championships; I am actually sitting in the airport as I type this as the WDC just helped run and judge a drift event filmed for ESPN in Indianapolis this past weekend. It’s a bit hectic at times but I love it especially when I get an opportunity to get behind the wheel and lay waist to some rear tires. -As pioneers of competitive vert riding, how different is the scene now from in your hey day? What are the main differences? I can’t believe the tricks the guys are doing today on vert, I am totally blown away. All aspects of the sport have evolved beyond what I expected in a way and I am sure it will continue to do so. Riders and tricks progress, and when it does, so do the bikes and the equipment. I am happy to say it seems the biggest difference is the respect the riders are finally given, the endorsements they make are well deserved and very overdue in my opinion. When I rode I never really made any money I did it because I loved it, and I know that if any pro rider didn’t get paid they would still ride too. But they really do deserve to get paid well, they appeal to an important youthful demographic who look up to them All these riders are true athletes and heroes and they put it all on the line every time they ride. -Back in the '80s, there was a really strong British vert scene that definately inspired the modern day Brits who ride vert? Who were the big influences then and what are some of craziest and best memories that you have? I have so many amazing memories and rode with so many great British riders, not only great riders but they are also great people such Andy Brown, Jason (Seal) Hassell, the Reardon brothers Mark and Andy, Mike Cameron, Billy Stupple, Chris Young, Andy Irwin, Dave Young all the Scotish riders… man I met so many great people the list just goes on. I had indoor ramps in a church hall so I would have people from all over the country staying at my mum’s house and we would ride until midnight. It was like one big family united by these 20â€? trick bikes, truly amazing when I think about it. I liked competitions but I really loved doing demos because you really got to meet and talk with a broad audience of people. When I rode for Torker we did the Ford BMX Challenge Tour around England, Scotland and Ireland back in 1984. We would drive into the towns with the ramps and have hundreds of kids chasing us through the streets on their BMX’s. England was crazy for BMX, then the Kellogg’s BMX Championships came along which was on Channel Four over the summer. So many times after that I would be shopping in town or I would be taking the bus home and people would come up to me and ask for my autograph, it was really bizarre. When I was riding for Haro I did several three and six month tours either just throughout the UK but also through Europe. Two of these tours were with professional teams of stunt drivers; I was in heaven, cars and bikes! At Aintree Race Course in Liverpool we had over thirteen thousand spectators, it was pretty cool. However let’s not forget BMX’s real hey day came when Ruffell did that song “BMX boys have a lot of funâ€?, remember that? Yeah cheers Andy, I took a lot of shit for riding a BMX after that, ha ha! -What was your biggest achievement back then, either in terms of contests or tricks or experiences (I seem to remember you starting one of the very first 'Rider Owned Companies', Terry)? Space Developments Ltd was probably my biggest achievement looking back; I started the company when I was seventeen and had to wait until I was 18 to officially register it. I had no idea what the hell I was doing, I just wanted to make these friggin handle bars; it was a huge struggle and learning experience. Looking back it was a bit of an obsession really. My dad and I also made ramps with proper transitions and vert, unlike the ramps we were riding at the comps back then which felt like riding a 50 pence piece sometimes there were so many kinks. -How much, if at all, do you still ride and do you ever think about coming back out to ride a contest? There would have to be a class for the old and physically impaired before I came out of retirement! I haven’t ridden a BMX in at least eight years, I would if I could though but too many old injuries are preventing me unfortunately. Truly the hardest thing for me to do was to let it go, the sport was ingrained in me from such a young age I always believed I was going to ride or be around it. Reality was different and my left shoulder never fully recovered, plus I have a collapsed disc in my spine which doesn’t help. I came to the realization one day that I was always aching to ride but physically I couldn’t do the tricks anymore, oh yeah and I was now in my thirties too. When I was younger, if I crashed I would get back up and do the trick again then go to the hospital. If I fell now I think I would just lay there and wait for the nurse…and hope she was hot! -Do you still follow bmx, vert especially? If so, what do you think of what it's become, with the X Games and all that? I do still follow the sport and I think it’s amazing, I feel a bit proud knowing that I was a part of it in some small way and that I was there at the beginning. I can only hope I influenced a few kids into riding and I hope that got the same enjoyment from it as I did. I love the X-Games and watch it often, I think the success of X is due to the amazing athletes, and the new found glory for these athletes is due to the televised events. Television can put you in front of millions of viewers and you, the rider, are why they watch. Whether you like it or not you are someone’s hero and that comes with a big responsibility too. -What tricks have blown you away the most and did you ever think that they would be possible? The riders just keep upping the ante; it seems all tricks are now performed upside down in some way. I think it’s stupid how high Jamie Bestwick goes, someone stop him please he scares me! Any rotational trick be it a 9 or a 5 variation, come on now that blows me away. I think we have entered a time when the viewer watching the riding on TV is unaware as to the level of difficulty going on. I think that’s why I liked riding demos as the audience was right there with you; although the TV reaches millions in many ways kind of like watching a video game. I was at the X Games a few years back here in L.A. and I was on the deck, let me tell you there is nothing like watching you guys ride in person. It was a bit emotional actually as all these feelings came to the surface about bikes, the sport and riding. I drove home and I was on a high, I called my mum the next day and told her all about it. Plus it was great to see you (Simon) and Jamie still riding and pushing the sport forward. -Is there anything from those days you would change or that was left undone? I don’t believe so; I think I achieved everything I wanted which basically boiled down to making my parents proud, I know my dad took a chance buying me that first bike back in 1982 after he sold his car because he was unemployed. My parents were great, no pressure they let me enjoy myself. If I had to do it all over again, I would in a heartbeat as the sport of freestyle gave me such a great life experience, I could do without my last trophy though! Thanks for listening. Terry Jenkins - For the Silver Team