Conrad Mewse is relatively new to Arenacross but he has took to it like a duck to water. The Brit is a main contender – it is a shame he missed the first round of the championship this year but he’ll still be a battling for wins.
The British fans have will get to see Mewse battle against Dean Wilson and Tommy Searle as well as last years champion, Jack Brunell.
Jeff Perrett caught up with Mewse ahead of rounds three and four in Belfast and the Arenacross guys were kind enough to send us the interview. You can read, watch or listen below…
Perrett: You had some bad luck in Belfast last year but what are your thoughts on racing here?
Mewse: Yeah definitely, I mean to start with I’ve obviously got a kind of bit of a love-hate relationship with Belfast but in a way I have absolutely no hate with it, this is my favourite round of the whole year. I love this track, love this arena, love the city. It’s got such a good feel about it, so for me last year obviously picking up that small injury here which put me out for the Arenacross series, it’s not in my mind at all, it was a freak accident and I felt good around here up until then. It was just one of those things, so I’m so excited to get back here, like I said it’s my favourite race of the series actually and this round in a doubleheader as well to make it even better.
Perrett: I think so and that’s the point, I don’t know what it is about Northern Ireland but like obviously we’ve got a lot of fanatical fans in mainland UK but there’s something about coming here, they all seem to be petrolheads over here, do you notice that in the crowd, in the environment, because they are genuinely one of the most amped up crowds, they’re one of the most enthusiastic?
Mewse: Yeah definitely. You know even when like just to the point of we flew in this morning, when we land we get the taxi into the city, they talk the whole way there, they talk to you about bikes, they love bikes, they’re mad for it. It’s just a nice place to be and I just feel like every time I come here I’m excited to go racing and I love the place. I’m looking forward to getting this weekend underway.
Perrett: Overall mate, you missed the first round but you must be pleased with where you’re at in your career right now, you didn’t win the British Championship last year but you really did push Jeffrey all the way and that’s an amazing achievement, you’re looking so good to start this year, I’d love to be able to sound a drop in a video clip now, I’ve actually watched some of you in the week on socials in Spain, tell is a bit about that…
Mewse: Basically, like I do every year, when Arenacross starts up I set myself off to Spain, I base myself out in Spain for two months and I just get some serious riding done. You know I’ve had an amazing camp out there, I’ve done a lot, a lot, a lot of laps – Motocross and Arenacoss, so we’re coming in very prepared. Wembley was good for me, finished second, not exactly where I want to be at all, I want to win you know, that’s why we come here and that’s why we give it 110%. But it’s a good starting point and I look to improve at each round and that starts this weekend, but like I said training’s going well, prep’s going well, everything’s going well and it’s just a lot easier to stick to a routine out in Spain than it is back in the UK. It’s hard to make a plan and stick to it back home when you’re looking for places to ride and then the weather changes things and makes it difficult. Out there I feel like you can live a proper athlete’s program and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing.
Perrett: After missing round one then, I know your target is to win, has your strategy changed or anything like that you know, like now effectively you are playing catch up and let’s say if you got off to a good start at round one and you weren’t injured, does that, when you’re leading a championship as opposed to playing catch-up, does it change your mindset on how you ride on an evening?
Mewse: Yeah, of course it’s a bit different. I mean you try not to let it change your mindset, but overall now realistically I’ve got nothing to lose. You know, I’m the chaser, I’ve got nothing to lose, there’s other people that are in a in a more pressured position than I am, you know, and that kind of makes me dangerous I think, and like I said, like I think one of my standout rides from last year was the last round of the British Championship Preston Docks against Jeffrey. For sure, I went into that one with nothing to lose because I had a 15 point gap to close it down and it would have took something quite drastic from Jeffrey to lose that championship, so I had nothing to lose and I feel like that was probably one of the best performances of my career, so I’m in the same situation now, I’ve got nothing to lose and I feel like we’re just going to keep getting better and better.

Perrett: I just want to highlight this because you’ve said to me, and I know you’re not paying me lip service, you really want to win the Arenacross Championship, you know, like you said, you’ve won most things for your youth career in Britain, you’ve won MX2, MX1 British titles, I mean you want the full array don’t you…
Mewse: I mean it’s the one that’s missing. Yeah of course, 100%, like I want an Arenacross title badly. I think that for me, missing round one, I’m by no means out of it this year. Just missing round one, I feel like that was my best bet in still getting a championship because I think that if I was to race round one I’d have still had a kind of niggling pain now, you know, and that isn’t what I wanted. Now I can race to win and I need to win every race to get that championship and it’s going to be tough, I’ll be getting some tough competition but I still believe every time that I ride that I can win the championship. If I don’t do it this year then I’ll be coming back next year and do it.
GateDrop: From a riders point of view, you know, are you happy, pleased with where Arenacross is at and what it’s trying to achieve to elevate the sport, I mean you must notice it with your own personal sponsors, you can at least offer them a nice night out with, you know, I say warm, it’s still pretty chilly in here because we’ve got the ice rink underneath but you know I’m getting at it… does it bring value to you as a rider racing Arenacross?
Mewse: 100%, you know, I’ve got some personal sponsors which help me out massively and I couldn’t do a lot of the things I do without them, you know, and for them to make it to a British round throughout the year is quite difficult. When they do come the weather could be bad and things like that but they’ve come to every round I’ve raced of Arenacross so far and they’re coming again this weekend to Belfast so they’re loving it. You know, from a sponsors point of view it’s absolutely fantastic and once I’m into the swing of things I don’t want Arenacross to end. I want it to carry on going throughout the year.
Perrett: We all want that! Thanks for your time and good luck for the double header in Belfast.