He might have missed the opening round of the Arenacross Tour series but it hasn’t taken Conrad Mewse long to get to grips – in what is a different style of racing than he is used too. He has a tough and experienced competitor in Dean Wilson but Mewse is good enough to at least battle him.
We caught up with Mewse in the freezing cold after the main event to discuss a range of topics.
GateDrop: Conrad, obviously you missed the first round of this series, but since you’ve got back you’ve been running at the front. Tonight, I think you were probably quicker in most places apart from the whoops…
Mewse: Yeah definitely, I mean it was a good night, I felt good all weekend. Yesterday I was a bit off, didn’t quite have it in the main, today I felt like I was the faster person in the main, lost a bit of time at the start there where he unfortunately jumped on the yellow. It’s a tough one, I don’t make the rules, it’s unfortunate it happened. We had a great race, but yeah it is what it is (Wilson ended up winning after a protest).
I spent the whole main trying to catch back up and I did, I got back onto his wheel, but yeah it was a tough race, it was good, I felt good, I was fast and we’ve got what it takes. We just need to put it all together now, he’s been doing this his whole life, he’s an AMA champion, he’s good at this and I can’t knock it. I’ve always got to rise to the occasion, I feel like every year, whatever I do, whether it’s Weston, whether it’s Arenacross, whether it’s British Championship, whether it’s GP’s, I feel like I’ve always got a rise to that occasion. I feel like I’m doing a good job there, I’m there or thereabouts, I’m proud of myself.
GateDrop: Both main events, it was very, very intense between you and Dean, over both mains really but what was it like with the backmarkers… Maybe not tonight so much, but last night it was pretty dangerous…
Mewse: Yeah, tonight to be fair to them they were good. Last night they absolutely killed me, I lost about eight seconds in one lap last night and that just ruined my main, so last night was tough, but tonight they were really good, and yeah they respected the leaders. The trouble is, me and Dean are going so fast that we come around on them so quick, and them boys are riding good as well, but we’re on the limit. We’re hanging it out, and that’s what it takes, we’re trying to beat each other and yeah it was nice.
GateDrop: Like you say, when it comes to Arenacross, you’re pretty inexperienced, it’s only been a few years… Dean’s been doing this a lot, I feel like you shouldn’t be this good, so you should take a lot of confidence from this…
Mewse: Definitely. That’s what I mean by when I say that I’m proud of myself, that’s not me being arrogant, that’s not me being big headed, because I’m nothing like that. I feel like no matter what I do, no matter how I’ve done it, I feel like I’m always there or thereabouts, I might not be the best straight away, but I’m always there or thereabouts, and the amount of Supercross/Arenacross training I’ve done is absolutely crazy. Dean has probably done that in a month’s work, the amount that I’ve ever done in my life. So it’s good, it’s nice to be able to mix it up with him, and a fantastic day for the team. The bike was absolutely incredible, the Crendon Fastrack Honda Racing team have been fantastic, my mechanics, hard work all day, and this new 25 CRF Honda is absolutely fantastic, you know, I rode the bike last year straight out of the crate at the Honda test day, and it was so so good. It just makes my life easy racing around here.
GateDrop: I was going to ask you about your prep, how much prep did you have for round 2 of Arenacross realistically, I mean is there anywhere even in the UK you can prep for it really… You’ve done quite a lot in Spain I think but maybe that’s more Motocross?
Mewse: Honestly I can count on one hand how many times I’ve rode around an Arenacross track. I spend so much time training hard for Motocross and putting my moto’s in the outdoors and things like that you know, and I just, it’s hard to fit it all in. I want to prioritise this and I want to make this an important championship of mine. I want to get an Arenacross title, but with missing the first round it’s always going to be quite difficult this year, so very very little prep, but I’m happy about that.

GateDrop: Well how’s the Motocross prep going? I think you’ve been in Spain quite a lot, and how’s it going compared to the way you finished last year, you were on fire at Matterley Basin at the MXoN to end last season…
Mewse: Yeah we figured a few things out towards the end of last season. We really got to grips with the speed side of things. As you’ve seen racing Jeffrey towards the end of the season we’ve really come on strong. I took a new approach to this off season and it’s going really really well. Honestly, it’s probably the best off season I’ve ever had so far, I feel absolutely amazing on outdoors and my bike setup is incredible. We’re really on schedule at the minute, so I’m excited to get racing, and we’re going to stick to the programme, we’re not going to run before we can walk. It’s going to plan, so as long as we stay on this road we’ll be good.
GateDrop: Next weekend, I think initially you were going to do Aberdeen and then make the long overnight drive to Hawkstone, but I believe now you’re not going to do Hawkstone?
Mewse: No, so I’m very gutted about it. I love Hawkstone, I’ve won it in the MX2 class, I want to go for the MX1 class. But with my shoulder injury at the start of January, four weeks off the bike, I’m just a little bit behind you know. Hawkstone is always a long day, you’ve got three motos, you’ve got a super final, there’s some top riders there. It’s a heavy heavy track, and I just don’t feel like I’m right where I need to be on my programme, I’m not quite at that level yet, so unfortunately I’m going to have to miss Hawkstone this year, but we’ll be coming back.
GateDrop: Between now and the start of the British motocross championship, have you got any plans of doing a little bit more in Spain, maybe do something in Belgium?
Mewse: Yeah, to be honest, I don’t really go home until the first round of the British.
GateDrop: Serious?!
Mewse: Yeah honestly, I live on the road all the time. It’s tough, I sacrifice a lot you know. My girlfriend behind me is tough, we don’t see each other that much, she’s really really supportive of all my family, but I don’t see anyone. I ship myself off to Spain, I get the graft in there, I go from Spain straight to Belgium to Holland, and I spend pretty much the whole year there. Then I have probably a month where I spend in the off-season at home, and then it’s back to work again, so I really do put a lot of effort into this, it’s my life. I train hard, I work hard, and I think that towards the end of last year has shown the results as well.
GateDrop: After the last Arenacross round, you put an Instagram post up, and Dave said if you got over a thousand likes you could do an AMA National, you got that well and truly, have you spoke to him yet? Are you going to do at least one AMA?
Mewse: We’re in talks, we’re in talks, I can’t say nothing yet. It might not happen you know, we’re definitely pushing for it, whether it works out or not I don’t know, but that’s something I 110% want to do this year. If it doesn’t happen this year I think it’ll almost definitely happen next year.

GateDrop: On the GP’s, have you got any plans to race any, do you know how many yet and what ones? Obviously you’ve done a few sand ones, I’d quite like to see in the hard pack too, you showed at Matterley you can do good in the hard pack too!
Mewse: Yeah definitely. I mean that again, that all depends on whether we do AMA rounds or not, really.
GateDrop: Oh so you’re thinking of maybe doing more than one AMA? You’ve slipped up there (laughs)…
Mewse: I think if we were to go out there that it would be silly to just do one. If I was to go out there I’d look for a couple on the bounce which work in my calendar. If I don’t do the AMA Nationals, I’ll be doing some GPs, if I don’t do GP’s, l’ll be doing some AMA Nationals. I’ll 100% be doing one of those options but which one that is yet we haven’t quite worked out which one it’s going to be and which works with the team.
GateDrop: I think for you also, you know last year in the British Championship it wasn’t so bad because you had Jeffrey and he’s a really good reference, now not to disrespect the other British Championship guys because it’s never easy to win, but without him I think you probably need more races to ride with the best riders in the world…
Mewse: Yes and no, I mean like I said to you just then, I spend my whole year in Belgium and Holland riding with good guys, so I’m always pushing for that level and the competition’s good in the British. You’ve got Josh (Gilbert) and things like that and that’s one thing I’ve never done in my career and that’s look over people. If it happens to be that I win a British Championship by a long way, then I want more, you know… If I win by twenty-five seconds, I want thirty seconds, if I win by thirty seconds I want thirty five seconds. I’m always pushing myself, no matter what and regardless of the competition. It is the same as with Jeffrey in the last round, I didn’t settle for just beating him in that first race, I tried to go as far as I could and that was what I’d done. I feel like I’m quite self-motivated like that, but yeah, overall I’m just happy and it’s going good so far.
GateDrop: Perfect Conrad, it’s freezing here, so thanks very much for the interview, I appreciate it.