Rider column: Jordan Scott – his career so far!
Our second ever rider column features Jordan Scott who is a jack-of-all-trades on anything two-wheels related!
Bout ye? For those of you who don’t know me my name’s Jordan Scott, I have competed in almost every form of off-road two wheeled motorsport known to man! It all started when I was a kid, my best friend Jack had a TY80 Yamaha trials bike, I used to watch Jack ride up the Leadmines or around his house almost everyday after school. I had the bug, I used my BMX like a trials bike, chucking it up and down anything I could find. After turning my shins to pulp with push bike pedals I finally talked my parents into getting me a trials motorbike! From that day on it’s always been about bikes!
I rode trials for around 6 years, winning Ulster & Irish Youth championships and competing at British and International level, I was starting to get bored with the whole going slow thing. I traded the trials bike in for a Motocross bike and never looked back. It didn’t take me long learning the basic skills to go Grade C pace but I still had that trials mentality plus I couldn’t jump.. like at all!! I remember the first day I grew a set and committed to jumping the arena at Desertmartin. I took off, went sideways and landed in the water trench between the finish straight and the arena jump. It was all a big learning curve for me. I used to watch the grade B riders and be gob smacked by the speed they were going, then the A riders would come out. They looked like world level riders to me at the time; if you had told me back then I would have ever made it to that level I wouldn’t have believed you!
I went from Grade C to Grade B in the first year while I still competed at trials in between times. Grade B was the turning point for me, I got in with Robert Topping & Ian Spratts’ team TSR KTM. That meant I was able to practice with people I looked up to. Wayne Garret was the man; still is the man.. living legend. He would lap me in practice but what I learnt by just watching him back then brought me on so much. I never trained, never done the motos but that year with just riding and watching guys like him it put me at the front of Grade B. That year I done some British MXY2 races, the standard in England opened my eyes even more!
Pic: Nigel McKinstry
The following year I got stuck into Grade A, a dream I didn’t think was possible. I was sh1tting myself coming into that season. The thought of even lining up beside Bird, Gibson, Hammy etc was scary! I had an up and down year, showed some good speed but had some huge crashes. I wasn’t shy of a good crash! Think it was Downpatrick John Donnelly, it was soaking. I went well in the wet, I was making ground on the front boys and battled my way right up behind Merton. Got carried away and ended up putting the bike through a couple of chestnut fences. After the race Nick Craigie from CCM approached me and asked would I like to do a British enduro the following weekend. I couldn’t turn down that opportunity and immediately started working on enduro skills as I only had a week to prepare. The race then got cancelled and I thought that was the opportunity ruined! The following week Nick rang and asked would I like to head to France for the final World Enduro. I didn’t sleep that night! Picked up a brand new 125 TM from Nick at CCM and headed for France. I had never done any enduro races before, I didn’t know what to expect. It rained for 4 days solid before the Event. In World level enduro you’re not allowed a sighting lap or anything like that. You walk 3 tests Extreme/Enduro/Motocross then come the Saturday you just get stuck in at race pace and hope for the best. It’s crazy. I was in over my head. Two 9 hour days in the mountains of France for your first enduro isn’t advisable. I swore I’d never be back. Took me a week to recover from that race.
A winter passed and before I knew it I was back riding for Nick in the British Sprint Championship and the World Enduro Championship. I raced to a 2nd in the British Sprint series and a 3rd in the World Enduro Championship. It was an unbelievable year and great life experience. Living in a van, getting washed in rivers, traveling Europe for Months at a time. It was a childhood dream!
I dabbled in British Enduros the next year and local motocross, broke my collarbone a couple of times and threw the head up. My friend Ben ran a mountain bike team and he was looking a travel partner for a few months. I worked every hour I could at home to gather up the funds to head of with him. We hit the road, headed to Italy for some training. I talked him into lending me a bike while we were there which a few days later turned into, “here Jordan, fancy doing a race in Switzerland in a few weeks?” Thrown in at the deep end again Ben had entered me in a IXS Cup (European Downhill MTB Championship) I was just hanging on from top to bottom, hadn’t a clue what I was doing. Somehow, I finished 40th out of near 500 riders. This qualified me to race a world Championship. The Road trip continued for another few weeks, I was getting the hang of the whole no engine thing. Entered for a World Cup in Valdiser France with one goal in mind Qualifying for the top 80. I was able to train with Ben and try and learn as much as possible from him for a couple weeks before. Two days before the race we were doing a video shoot for his team and I took a big tumble. Broke my shoulder in couple of places and that was my hopes over. I flew home but still had unfinished business with the MTB hopes. A month later I raced a British Downhill in Wales, came down in 9th.
I had almost found a new love over motorbikes until I met Phil Caldwell from HTM Motorcycles. He asked me to ride the Glenarm endurocross and offered to lend me a bike. From then on Phil’s been there for me 100% I couldn’t have asked for a better sponsor. He helped me out with bikes, gear, suspension you name it he was there. Since then I’ve been back getting stuck into Motocross & Enduros. We have competed twice in the ISDE together. Not too many sponsors you can do that with! 2014 to now has been a blur, I’ve crammed as many races in as possible. Broken my back, Leg and shoulders. Its been a whirlwind! 2nd in the Ulster mx2 Championship 2014 after breaking my back mid-season at endurocross. Broke my leg in 2015, managed a gold medal in Slovakia ISDE 3 weeks after getting my cast off. 3rd mx1 Ulster championship 2016.
2017 was crazy, my original plan was to focus on British Enduro and the ISDE. A couple weeks before the first round, Davey Mulligan (Cornerstone Academy) and Rick Gilpin (Securashred) threw a bike together and motocross was now thrown into my plans also.
The British Enduro clashed with Ulster motocross so it remained my main goal. Mid-season I was showing good speed in both motocross and enduro but the British enduro was just becoming too much on my finances. I was running out of wages quicker than I was making them even with the help of Phil at HTM and wee Ricky. I had to pull the pin on the British enduro championship whilst sitting 8th overall and 2nd in e3 class.
Scraped together as much money as I could to make the ISDE possible, I was so glad to make it to the finish and secure another gold medal to make it worthwhile! In the motocross scene at home I had the speed to win, just couldn’t put it all together.
I also took a stab at the Weston beach race. It was crazy, one of the craziest races I’ve ever done! At the 2 hour mark I was within the top 10. Miss timed my fuel stop and ran out of juice.
For 2018 I’ve changed my plans again. Focusing on the extreme enduro championship and Ulster motocross. For years I’ve never really known what I want from racing. Its always been for fun. Going into 2018 I know what I want and I’m doing as much as possible to achieve that.
The season has already started for me with the first British Extreme done and dusted. I learnt a lot from round one. It’s all about survival. Making sure you and your bike make it to the finish in one piece. I had one too many issues as result of me not thinking during the race. My rear sprocket took a big hit with an hour to go and from that point on it was a struggle to make the finish. Last lap my chain eventually gave up and I was forced to push my bike to the finish. Round two is a couple of weeks away and I can’t wait to get going again! I have opted for a 250 four stroke instead of the usual 300 two stroke for the rest of the year. Hopefully I can make good progress in the next few weeks with the bike and give myself a better chance for the rest of the year.
I haven’t been doing as much motorcross training as I’d have liked to but bike times bike time and once the season comes around I’ll be in a better position than I was this time last year.
This year wouldn’t be possible without Phil at HTM Motorcycles in my corner again along with Ricky at Securashred.
I look forward to keeping you all up to date with how my years going.
Thanks to: HTM Motorcycles – Husqvarna – Securashred – Ulster Aerials – Hilltop vending solutions – Acerbis – Suitor Autofix – Alfa Oils – Impressive Automatics – Crockstar – Minprint/Alpine Signs – JJB Electrical – Last but not least my better half Cheridan.
