Dave Thorpe interview - MXoN

Dave Thorpe really needs no introduction when it comes to our brilliant sport. Three World 500cc championships, 22 GP victories and a long list of battles against the all-mighty American riders during the golden era of American motocross.

Thorpe put his hand up on many occasions for Team Great Britain, and while he might not have won the Chamberlain Trophy as a race, he did win class honours, and took moto victories. He also led the British riders to victory in 1994 as team manager. There have not been many riders in the MXoN history who represented their country as well as Thorpe.

Always polite, modest, and quiet, it’s a pleasure to chat with the British legend, and we thought with the Motocross of Nations just around the corner it might be nice to get his opinion on some things and tell us some of his experiences in this amazing event.

MXlarge: Motocross of Nations is coming up, and everyone gets excited for this event and of course from the old stories from past events. Do you still get excited for this race?

Thorpe: I am excited, but I will be watching on the television. It’s the biggest event in the motocross calendar.

MXlarge: What are you most looking forward to this year?

Thorpe: I think the Jeffrey vs Tomac thing probably excited me more than anything. It is always nice to see the best riders going head to head.

MXlarge: I am watching Jeffrey in the GP’s, and he looks so fast, and then I watch the highlights from the Nationals and while Tomac looks fast, he doesn’t look crazy fast like Jeffrey does. What is your opinion on it?

Thorpe: I think Jeffrey, he  has a little more pace than anyone. If you look at Tony, he has ridden amazing, but Jeffrey still has a little bit more. If you look to America, Eli has ridden really well this year. He will be stirred on by his home crowd and he will be pumped up, but Jeffrey will as well and you wouldn’t discount Tony from winning the individual overall either, because I might come back stronger and faster than before.

MXlarge: Did you watch the Assen GP, and if you did, what did you think of it? To me it was like an MXoN atmosphere.

Thorpe: Yes, it looked amazing. I think when the calendar was produced at the start of the year, I can imagine that the promoter and Jeffrey would have hoped it was going to be the championship decider, and it must have been a dream come true for both of them.

MXlarge: We have talked about it before, and you were in an era when the American teams dominated the MXoN and one of the Europeans that kept up the battle to make sure were didn’t look stupid. Did you have a favourite des Nations where you were really happy with?

Thorpe: I kind of, enjoyed them all. It would be true to say I enjoyed Maggiora least, because Johnny (O’Mara) beat me on a 125, of which people still remind me, which is funny. The des Nations is about three people from a country producing on the day, and the Americans back in the 1980s, with Johnny, David Bailey, Ricky Johnson, Jeff Ward, Ron Lechien, all those guys pulled together really well and made a fantastic unite, which made them difficult to beat. It wasn’t about an individual win for them, but a team performance and when you look at it on that basis, what is why they were so successful through those years.

MXLarge: When you mentioned Maggiora, or course that was one of the most popular ones and I remember back in Australia it was a popular one, because Craig Dack finished I think fourth in the last moto and mentioned that he was catching you. You must have had experiences when you were young, when you first came into the event and you had an experience like that, catching somebody who you maybe looked up to?

Thorpe: No, when I was young, one of my first was in Bielstien in Germany and from memory we lost by one point to the Americans. We finished second and as a youngster that was one of my first ones and it was a special experience. It was with Danny Laporte, Chuck Sun and I had some great races with them, and I was only a youngster. I remember, the crowd was massive and I was thinking towards the end of the day, our pit board was saying we could win it. As a young boy, stepping into the deep end it was a big experience. To race against Danny and those boys, it was special. You saw them in the magazines and then all of a sudden you were lined up next to them.

MXlarge: You mentioned you didn’t like Maggiora, but I imagine you won races where you won the overall?

Thorpe: I had some great races with David Bailey and Jeff Ward at Gaildorf in 89, we had a good battle in one of the races and I came out on top. Once at Wohlen I had a good race with Danny “Magoo”, but he had a bit more pace than all of us that day. Again, we had a good battle that da. When you think of the American riders and the Grand Prix riders, everyone has had a long season. It wasn’t easy keeping the motivation and the fitness for that one extra race. A lot of the times it was about being motivated to ride for your country and wear your heart on your sleeve. That was the motivation.

MXlarge: Obviously as a team manager you won with Team GB in 1994. Did that make up at all for not winning as a racer?

Thorpe: It was fantastic, because nobody expected us to win, and everything that happened that weekend, with the track, the prep of the track, it all worked for us. Paul (Malin), Kurt (Nicol) and Rob (Herring) all rode amazing and that is all you want from your riders.