Rob Hooper Interview – The Lockdown and British Motocross going forward…

Rob Hooper, the owner of the Rob Hooper Racing Yamaha team, is the most experienced Team Manager in the British paddock having started in the role back in 1987. Before that, he had a successful racing career where he earned a Motocross of Nations Silver Medal for Great Britain back in 1979.

Now with a focus on youth the 2020 RHR line up of Taylor Hammal, Sam Nunn and Howard Wainwright were raring to go in 2020 with expectations of breakthrough seasons for the trio.

Rob may be experienced and has been there and done it and got a wardrobe full of T-Shirts, but Covid-19 and the situation the sport is in is a different beast, so we caught up with him to find out what he has been up in these strange times, and what his views are on the British Motocross season going forward…

Dirt Hub: Hi Rob, what have you been doing during lockdown?

Rob: Funny enough catching up with a lot of bits and pieces which just get pushed to one side with racing going on or practising. The winter has been such bad weather its made it so much work each time we have ridden. It’s not as if you can go riding one day and get everything sorted the next. For every day of riding its two or three days of work, it seems. Every time we rode in the winter, it just seemed to be knee-deep in mud or very very wet. But since lockdown I have caught up, the bikes are sat there, and we have a couple of bikes completed ready for sale, and then the last three weeks I have just been decorating the house.

Taylor was back on a bike Tuesday for the first time since March and looked good, and again Thursday and looked really good, though it did start raining and made the track very slippery.

Sam Nunn – Image courtesy of Warren Kee

DH: So you have been earning your brownie points?

Rob: Yeah, lots of things have been ticked off that have been standing there waiting to get done.

DH: You have gone this year for three young riders, do you think the break will help the younger riders, or hinder them more than it would an older experienced rider?

Rob: Hinder I would say more than anything in that the younger riders, say Sam (Nunn) who is in his first full year needs races. You need the experience of racing week in and week out. The older guys they have done that for many seasons. What Sam could have been doing in March, April and May in the early part of the season, he is going to have to repeat to gain that experience riding with the best in the country whenever we resume in a shortened, condensed season.

I don’t know if it’s an advantage or a disadvantage, but if anything I would say it’s a disadvantage for Sam. For Taylor, he is in his fourth year of Pro level racing, so for him, I don’t think it’s a plus or minus. Howard is actually a bit older than Taylor, but he has missed quite a bit of the last few seasons. I don’t think he has managed to complete a season in the last four years, so he is waiting for a full trouble-free season and getting the momentum going to get into the top ten.

Taylor Hammal at this years British MXGP – Image courtesy of Ray Archer

DH: Have you had any contact from any of the Major Championships about when they are looking to get back on track or any of their plans?

Rob: There have been some emails from the ACU, informing us there were going to virtual committee meetings and did we have any views we would like to say. But I have seen no report back as to how those meetings have gone other than their general press release which said the ACU would be issuing Race event permits for club level racing from the 4th July. As far as I can read it, no British championships will go until August or when all of the other nations, i.e. Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland are all following the same set of rules.

I picked up the phone to Paul Irwin from the MX Nationals about two weeks ago. At that point, he was fairly confident we would be going to Canada Heights for the first round, which I think is scheduled for early July but he said he would be disappointed if we weren’t there by the end of July at least. That’s obviously been pushed back a bit.

DH: Have you got any thoughts or ideas on how you would like to see the National Championships run this year?

Rob: I would like to see the MX Nationals get through maybe five rounds instead of six and the Bridgestone British Masters could have five and the ACU Championships we could have six instead of the eight. Obviously, if they are doubling up rounds, for instance, Landrake, how do I go about it if there are no hotels. If you haven’t got a camper van where are you supposed to stay if there are no hotels? I can’t travel up and back to Landrake each day. Hawkstone I could, Fatcats I could. I am not saying they shouldn’t run the meeting because of my personal situation; I am just saying that needs to be a consideration if hotels are still shut, and you cannot get overnight accommodation two days are going to be difficult.

I had heard a rumour that the ACU had got a proposal to run every week in September or four weekends with doubleheaders. So there would basically be eight rounds with just the adults, so there would be MX1, MX2 and MXY1. If spectators are not allowed if would be difficult as the ACU events rely on spectators whereas the MX Nationals and the Bridgestone British Masters have large entries to pay for the event to happen. If you asked say Canada Heights or Blaxhall to run a British Championship round, but you can’t have spectators, without those 2000-3000 people who pay to come in there is going to be a big dent in the finances of those clubs. On the other hand, they may say we can run it, there will be no spectators, but there is no prize money for the riders, which for some riders who rely on a bit of prize money to pay their fuel it won’t be good.

Its unprecedented circumstances and I am sure there will be some unprecedented condition under which we will run. I think they should forget about trying to avoid Grand Prix’s as I think the Grand Prix calendar is going to change week to week, month to month with different countries at any one time.

The British Championships only have to concern themselves with the devolved governments, which are all basically running to the same rules. My argument is to stop worrying about the five elite riders and concern yourself with the other 125 riders who want to be at a British Championship. Look after the masses for once rather than the top end of the pyramid. If the ACU said they are running a British Championship round in the first week of August, I expect they would have a bumper entry because everyone wants to race. I would like to think we will have a condensed form of every championship and I am hopeful that they will all run.