Interview: Jamie Carpenter’s Crescent Yamaha Crusade!

Image courtesy of Shred Moto

Following a breakthrough year in the MX Nationals racking up his first-ever Pro podiums and finishing third in the final Pro MX2 class standings Dorset based racer, Jamie Carpenter has landed a deal with Crescent Yamaha for 2021.

We caught up with Jamie to discuss his 2020 and his plans for next year with his new ride…

Dirt Hub: 2020 was a strange season for everyone, but you had a really good MX Nationals finishing third overall in MX2 with second in each of the final two rounds, you must have been chuffed with that?

Jamie: Overall I’m happy with the end result. I hadn’t actually planned to race the series until just a week before the first round at Hawkstone, my plans to race abroad this year, unfortunately, fell through and with COVID I ended up back in the UK. The first two rounds were not as good as I expected but after making a few setup changes I managed to get going better and finished the Championship strong with two 2nd place overalls.

DH: You also travelled to Lommel to race rounds of both the EMX and MX2 championship how did you find that?

Jamie: I started off with a good qualifying but the week didn’t go as planned for me, unfortunately. The first race another rider collided with me in mid-air which caused a big crash, it left me a bit beat up with cuts and scrapes all over my arm and back as well as an injured thumb. That kind of held me back for the rest of the week with Lommel being the toughest track of the year especially when not physically 100%, but nevertheless I got back out there and finished every race bringing home some points.

DH: There doesn’t seem to be a huge difference between the two now would you say?

Jamie: The guys at the front of MX2 are obviously a bit faster but there are more gaps in the races whereas in EMX250 there is a lot more intensity for the whole race where there are so many riders close on pace, it really keeps you on your toes and provides great racing.

DH: In 2020 you raced as a privateer with different title sponsors at each round, how did you find that, was it a bit of a struggle to make ends meet?

Jamie: I do most of my own bike work and mechanicing myself and I take pride in prepping my bikes for the races. I’m lucky to have a few great personal sponsors and I try to keep my race bikes looking as good as possible to advertise them. As a privateer, it’s quite expensive to be putting on new plastics and graphics for every race to do this so I came up with the idea that any company could be the title sponsor on my graphics for a fee per race which would help me cover the costs of new plastics, graphics, entry fee and fuel to get to the race. As I have to finance most of my racing myself I am really grateful to the people who supported me and got on board with this idea.

DH: It has recently been announced that you have signed to ride with Crescent Yamaha for 2021, how did that come about?

Jamie: Crescent Yamaha is only about five minutes from where I live and I have talked with the owner a few times over the past few years about trying to piece something together, Paul managed to link a deal with Yamaha UK with some budget to go towards me along with a great package all round to ride under the Crescent banner.

Image courtesy of Nuno Laranjeira

DH: It must be great having that signed and sealed early. I have seen you have already been out on the bike so your preparations for 2021 have started already…

Jamie: Yeah for sure, it has been a bit of a long process as we have been talking for a while now but I am extremely grateful that they were able to put something together for me. They’re a very professional set-up and I’m looking forward to next season with them. I have mainly been working since the last race of the year and took a complete break from riding and training. I rode for the first time on the new Yamaha last weekend so, for now, it’s really just getting used to the bike and testing parts to find out what works best for me. I will start my physical preparations from December.

DH: What are your racing plans for 2021?

Jamie: I will race the ACU British Motocross Championship and the MX Nationals series in the MX2 class next year along with selected EMX250 rounds and other domestic events such as the Bridgestone British Masters.