MX2 Pro Rookie Jamie Keith stole the show at the first round of the 2026 Motul ACU British Motocross Championship by taking a stunning start-to-finish Moto 1 race win at Hawkstone Park on Sunday, so we caught up with him later in the week to see if it had sunk in yet and his thoughts on what was a memorable day for the rider, his family and sponsors.
Dirt Hub: So first up, how’s your week been? And have you come back down to earth now after what was a pretty special weekend?
Jamie: Yeah, because I’ve been back to work. I have been out on my bike with Ash, been a bit in the gym, just back to normal life, really. At the weekend, I did something to make a bit of history, but you can’t let that get to you, so it’s just straight back to work on Monday, and we’ll go again in three weeks in Preston Docks.
DH: Preston Docks is a local one for you as well, isn’t it? Going into that one, because it’s a track you know so well, are you going into it with even more confidence now, or do you feel a little bit of pressure because it’s your local track and you do know it, or is there a mixture of both?
Jamie: There’s definitely a mixture of both. I am still definitely going to be nervous because obviously I’ve only ever done Hawkstone in the Pro MX2 class, but I know that track like the back of my hand. To be honest, I probably know it better than 95% of the gate. So, yeah, it’s literally a local track. It’s like an hour for me. So, there definitely is going to be a little bit more confidence, but there’s also probably a bit more pressure as well, as people know what I can do now, and I know myself what I can do, and people are going to be wanting to see a bit more, and a few more results and that, and obviously if that doesn’t happen, then it looks a bit like i’m a one weekend wonder, doesn’t it? A fluke, and that’s not what I’m about. So, yeah, we’re gonna try and go to Preston Docks and repeat what we did, but it’s a stacked class, and we’ll probably struggle, but I’m just gonna go out and do what I did at Hawkstone, which is just rip a start and ride my bike.
DH: In terms of ripping the start, you absolutely did that. So I wanted to ask you: when you got the start and were up front, what were you thinking? What were your thoughts on that 1st lap? Was it to put the hammer down, or was it just to ride smooth?
Jamie: I always just try to go as fast as safely possible for the 1st 10 minutes and just try to break the people behind me. The first few laps in MX2 are absolutely carnage, and everyone’s just trying to get passed as many people as they can because everyone’s so bunched up. So, I obviously put a few heaters in and created a 4 or 5 second gap, which gave me a little bit of room to play with. Yeah, that’s about it, really. I was just thinking, get as far away as you can from 2nd and then you can chill out a bit, and ride your own race to the end, and that’s obviously what happened.
DH: When you were at the front, like you said, you were putting the hammer down to get some quick laps in, but were you expecting anybody to catch you, or did you feel like, “I’ve got the pace here that no one’s going to get me”?
Jamie: The 1st few laps, I was thinking with it being my 1st one, “I don’t think I’ve got the pace just yet to run the whole 25 +2 with these boys”, because they’ve been at it a few years, all them boys I’m with now. As the race started to go on, I was actually gapping them, and I was thinking, yeah, I’m in for a winner here. I’d seen me and (Ollie) Colmer were doing pretty much the exact same lap times near enough for the majority of the 1st half of the race and then, after that I broke them. I broke him, and Heyman, and the gap was just getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and I didn’t really know what to think after that, but I just managed to stay calm and brought it home.
DH: The impressive thing for me, probably from the midpoint to the end of the moto, where you said you were extending the lead, you literally looked like you were on a training ride, you seemed to be in the zone, and you looked so smooth, calm and controlled…
Jamie: I didn’t look back once, to be honest. I had Luke and that on the pitboard, and he was just telling me everything I needed to know. Everything I needed to know was on the Pitboards, which is a massive, massive help. I don’t really know what happened. I’m still in a bit of a shock, to be fair. I’ve made history with it, haven’t I? So yeah, I’m happy.
READ MORE: BRITISH MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP NEWS
DH: What was on the pitboard?
Jamie: It was just a bit like motivational quotes, like, “you can” and all that, and “stay strong”, then my gap, like the second and my lap times. So yeah, just my lap times and a few kind words, just 3 things, which is all you need to know really.
DH: The 2nd moto didn’t quite go to plan. What happened in that one?
Jamie: So I got another decent start. I was coming around the top corner in third, and I think someone slid out, didn’t go down, but someone slid out, and I got a face full of sand, and I could not see one bit. I had no other choice but to start pulling my roll, and I think it was George Hopkins. He came from the middle to the right, like right to the middle and then straight into my line, and I had nowhere to go, and I just hanked on the brake and tucked the front and then snapped my clutch lever. Well, I didn’t snap it; the bolt broke. And then as I was going round, the bolt came out, and I had no clutch, and if anyone’s ever been around Hawkstone, it’s near on impossible to go around Hawkstone with no clutch. We had a good 1st race, came away uninjured and happy. I didn’t call it a day, but I didn’t really have a choice, to be honest with you. I would have liked to have finished. I tried to finish, but obviously, I couldn’t, and it is what it is.
DH: As a Rookie, you have done what you needed to do, you’ve shown to yourself and everybody else that you’ve got the pace to win and be fast. And as you said, I watched the start of race 2, and you were right there where you needed to be, weren’t you?
Jamie: Yeah, exactly where I needed to be. And when I crashed off the start, I got back to 13th, and that would have put me on the podium as well, so that would have been a good thing to have in the locker, a rookie and a 1st and a 1st podium, but it is what it is. We go again in Preston Docks, can’t really sit here and moan about it because, we set a big bit of history, being the 1st ever rookie to win a pro race, and obviously it’s a big thing for Honda as well, so, I’m happy either way.
DH: Round 2 at Preston Docks is obviously the main focus, but have you got anything else leading up to that? Because I know they’ve got a race meeting at Preston Docks this weekend, which looks like Conrad Mewse is going to do?
Jamie: Yeah, I was on the phone with Luke yesterday, and he said him and Con were gonna go. I was already booked in for there anyway, so I’m gonna go up there, and I think I’ll be racing with Con, to be fair, so I’ll go and hand it to him if he wants it.
DH: It looks like you are good friends with Charlie Richmond. It was great to see him doing so well with you, both being rookies. So that’s good news for the future, isn’t it?
Jamie: Yeah, I was on the phone with Charlie on Thursday ahead of the meeting, and I was just telling him how nervous I was, and he was like, ” Yeah, so am I”. He was like, “I’ll just be happy to finish and get home with a 20th” and I was like “20th. Don’t be daft. We’ll both be in the top 10 I think, and if not, we should both retire.” And then for us to both get inside the top 10 and me win, I think it’s a massive achievement for us both and for us being rookies. I think it’s something for the older boys in the class to start worrying about because I think I would be.
Feature Image courtesy of TMS Media
