With it recently being announced that new manufacturer in the sport, Triumph will be entering the British Motocross paddock, we thought we’d catch up with team manager, Jon Giffard to discuss the opportunity.
Giffard knows plenty about British Motocross as he’s been in the paddock since the early 2000’s starting out as a mechanic before more of a management role. Then along with his Brother starting up his own race team.
We discuss a range of topics with Giffard below…
GateDrop: Jon, before we get into the exciting news, can you just tell me a bit about yourself and how you ended up a team manager? I think you started out as a mechanic back in 2005? I remember your Brother was a mechanic too for years as well…
Giffard: Yeah, so we both rode as youngsters and only local club stuff. We weren’t much of a national level or anything like that. But yeah, we were both interested in Motocross from a young age, from our dad. Then when Dan stopped riding and started racing Speedway until he hurt himself and stopped that, I stopped riding and just went to work in a Motocross shop really. I got involved with Mel Pocock who was local to us at the time and that was about 2004-2005, which I spent a few seasons with him racing British youth motocross at the time.
He went on to ride for Steve Dixon and I joined Roy Emberson’s Samsung Yamaha team in 2007. And then yeah, just worked there. I was there for 10 seasons and pretty much after the first year that I was there, and I was actually mechanic for Robert Hamilton in my first season.
The year after that, the guy that was a team manager there, Mike Forster, he left and then I sort of quick stepped into a team manager/mechanic role there and did eight seasons pretty much there with lots of different riders Wayne Smith, Mark Jones, Neville Bradshaw, Ben Lamay, Ray Rowson, Graeme Irwin, Steven Lenoir, Lewis Trickett, Brad Anderson and Kristian Whatley when we won all three British championships in 2013. In 2017 I left there and started a company JGR Performance on my own doing Motocross bike servicing and repairs and tuning. In 2020 me and Dan decided that we’d start a team of our own along side still operating JGR and it progressed quickly over three years.
At the end of 2023, we got involved with Tommy (Searle). He contacted us and had a deal on the table with a sponsor that he was involved with, GTCI, and then we quickly became a Kawasaki team. From then on, did a season with Kawasaki and then attracted some attention from Triumph and it’s gone from there really.
GateDrop: I was going to ask you about going from a mechanic to a team manager role of your own team. How did you adjust to that? I’m assuming because you already had a role at Emberson’s like you’ve explained there that was a bit of both, that probably actually helped you quite well for when you had the role on your own team then?
Giffard: Yeah, for sure. I mean, Roy was really, really, really good. He was a good team owner and had lots of experience from everybody that I’ve worked for and with. You kind of pick up lots of traits and lots of ways to keep everything organized and budget-related and just kind of took to it quite well, really, just with doing it. Even this year, I’ve still been a mechanic as well.
I’m still a mechanic for Tommy and run the workshop here and try to do as much as I can with obviously helping the background from Dan and also Nick, both the guys from Dirt Store. It’s been really good.
GateDrop: Just on the team, correct me if I’m wrong, but I think initially you focused on youth riders in England to start with and then quite quickly you got support from Kawasaki to run the official UK team. I mean, that must have felt great to get that support and getting it quite quick. It shows that you’re doing a pretty good job because that’s not quite the normal…
Giffard: Yeah, I mean, like I said, we tried to do everything from our experiences with working with people before Dan. Dan worked with the guys from Revo for a couple of seasons. Obviously, my time with Roy. We tried to put everything that we could into our own team with coming across professional and doing the job right and everything being correct and having decent riders and people around us for the first three years with doing the youth stuff. I think I’d like to say that we stood out in terms of doing things correctly and that helped when Kawasaki and the guys were interested.
GateDrop: Obviously for 2025, it’s really exciting news, a new British brand triumph. It’s amazing that they’re going to be coming in the British Championship paddock and you guys are going to be running the setup. Just when did you start speaking and how did all this deal come together?
Giffard: Yeah, I mean, we’ve been speaking on and off for a good few months. And when we realised that the deal was coming to the forefront, it was quite nice to have them interested in us as a team.
Obviously, we’ve got some good riders and good people around us. They were keen to work with everybody in the team, which is really nice for us as well, for a complete British team, British riders, supported by a British online sales company with a British manufacturer. Everything just seemed to click and there was some good excitement about joining that program early and hopefully building something for the Triumph brand for the future in selling British bikes in British motocross.
GateDrop: A rider you know well, Billy Askew, I think you’ve worked with him before when he was a British youth rider. You’ve got him back for 2025. And not only that, the team will be racing the entire EMX250 championship with Billy. So that’s going to be the first year for you guys doing the full series. You must be excited for that and to have Billy back with the team as well…
Giffard: Yeah, for sure. Billy was great when he was with us before. He won all three British championships that year that he competed in. He’s a great kid, great family. He’s got great potential in world and British motocross. It is great. He’s got a close relationship with Tommy as well, which works really well. Really looking forward to seeing what he can do. We have been and competed in quite a few EMX125 and EMX250 championship races in the past. We haven’t ever done the full season but yeah, it’s not something that’s completely new to us. I’m hoping that we can hit the ground early season and be fighting at the sharp end of that.
GateDrop: Just on Billy, it was his first experience this year racing outside the UK with Steve Dixon racing the EMX250. Sometimes Brits, they go abroad and maybe they go into their shell a bit. But actually, at the first round in Spain, it was stacked because everyone was there. He had a lovely, smooth, flow and style. He was able to keep that and he’s very nice to watch. Even though he had a few injuries this year, and he probably didn’t get the results that he would have wanted, I still think this year, this experience will only help him for the future…
Giffard: Yeah, 100%. You can’t beat actually doing it and Billy’s got a great mindset. He’s not fussed about who he’s racing with. He’s not fazed about the tracks. He’s a very technical rider and he does adapt well to the European tracks. The speed is there. With a little bit more control over his eagerness to do great things, I think a championship long season will be really good.
GateDrop: Just on Joel Rizzi, so in the UK, he’s going to step up and race the MX1 class. Who made that decision? Was that a team decision or a Joel decision? Because obviously, he’s still got a year to race MX2 GPs… I do believe he is going to do some MX2 GPs with you guys. Logically, it might have been a bit easier for the team just to give him one bike, but you’re going to be swapping the bikes. Just how did you come to that decision?
Giffard: Yeah, obviously, with the new TF 450-RC bike going to be hitting the market early next year, Triumph were keen to have their British based team using the new bike. They’re not quite ready for it yet for their MXGP debut, but they really wanted us to have a rider on the MX1 bike. We had the discussion with Joel. He looked at it and was keen to step up and get some early years under his belt on the 450 bike.
He realized that with only one year left racing MX2 GP’s… Well, actually, I think he can do two years left racing MX2 but this year he hasn’t got an MX2 GP ride on the table. For the following year, he looked at it and said, is he going to get a one year deal racing MX2? That helped him make the decision to ride the 450 because he can then get another few years under his belt and hopefully progress and shine in the MXGP class in the future. We’re quite keen for him to do some MX2 GP races when we go to some European tracks that he’s keen to go to. We’re going there with Billy, so it makes sense for him to drop into the MX2 GP class and race those while he still can and we are going.
GateDrop: You just touched on it there briefly, but just how exciting is it to run a Triumph MX1 rider? You’re getting quite a lot of trust there from Triumph because they’re not going to have an MXGP rider next year. We’ll have to wait until 2026 for that. It must be great for you guys that you’re going to have the first official Triumph MX1 rider, really?
Giffard: Yeah, for sure. On a British basis, only for us with the 450cc. We just need to see how well Joel adapts to the 450. Depending on his speed and position in the British Championship, we’ll discuss possibly maybe doing the odd MXGP race on the Triumph in the latter part of the season. They’re keen for us to give feedback on anything that we test with the bike and that we race with the bike. Any feedback that we can help them with for their MXGP program, we’re more than willing.
GateDrop: Just on Joel, do you know yet how many rounds of GP rounds he’s likely to do? Obviously, he’s going to mainly be focused on the domestic UK Championships. That’s not going to be easy with Conrad Mewse, but I think riding against him should be able to help raise his level, hopefully…
Giffard: Yeah, for sure. I’d like to think that Joel will get to maybe five of the European GP rounds.
He’s hungry to showcase his skills on a 450, he has ridden a 450 before. He rode one at the Coupe de l’Avenir at the end of last year and rode the bike really well and won. He’s not fazed by riding the 450 or riding against the other guys in the British Championship. He’s going to take the experience with both hands and hopefully show that he can run with the guys at the front because he’s young, he’s hungry, he’s training, he’s doing everything he can as if he was lining up in MXGP.
GateDrop: Tommy Searle, what a legend, what a career he’s had in GP’s and in America. Obviously, you’re working with him at the tail end of his career, but what’s it like working with him? He’s obviously won titles for you, won plenty of races for you. Heading into next year, there’s no doubt that in the British Championship, so he’s probably going to be at least one of the big favourites, if not the favourite…
Giffard: Yeah, Tommy’s great. He’s still a breath of fresh air for the team. He brings so much in terms of knowledge and experience and race craft. The younger guys, they still can’t believe that he’s still going as fast as he is. He shares stuff with the guys and they both look up to him. Joel was a hater and then a fan. Through his younger days and now racing him this year, he still can’t believe how he still looks.
Looking into the British Championship for next year, for sure, he’ll be one of the favourites. He was one of the favourites lining up for this year. The season started not quite as we’d hoped with the first few rounds, but he showed his experience in coming on strong midway through and finishing the season really, really well. There’s going to be other young guys that are in the Championship and there’s always people that have had good winters and got better. For sure, we would expect him to be at the sharp end and definitely contend for that title.
GateDrop: It’s been announced that the team are going to be involved in the Arenacross Tour again. I think Tommy is the only rider confirmed for you guys at the moment. Are you looking forward to the start of that season again? Just how important is Arenacross? You get a lot of exposure from it in the UK, selling out packed stadiums. Necessarily not from people that would come to motocross races, so that side of it is going to be quite good… Obviously, with being on the Triumph this year, you’ll probably get more exposure than ever…
Giffard: Yeah, for sure. Tommy’s signed up to do the Arenacross Tour again, which is great. He loves the intensity of racing those races. There’s lots to be said for gate time, gate drops, and racing in front of new crowds. What those guys do and what they bring and offer the riders, especially at a time in England where there’s not any outdoor races going on, the weather’s naff.
They bring crowds and mainly non-motocross fans into arenas, into city centres, and showcase the riders in front of new audiences.
GateDrop: This is obviously an amazing opportunity you have with Triumph. Long-term, have the team set themselves any goals they’d like to achieve? Would you like to break into the GP paddock? Obviously, it’s very expensive… You’re maybe happy domestically, long-term. Have you set yourself a goal?
Giffard: Yeah, no real long-term goals set for whether we want to be a Grand Prix team, or we want to do this, we want to do that. We’re focused on doing a good job nationally for Triumph, and also trying to build a bit of a platform for an EMX250 stepping stone.
It would be great for one of our young riders to progress onto a factory team from the work that we’ve done. It’s something that we just want to help the young lads, young British lads, to achieve further in the sport.
GateDrop: That’s great, Jon. Thank you very much for your time. That was very insightful. I’ll see you at Belfast in the new year, and good luck for next year.
