Neale is really a nice guy, very modest and always working hard to make his video’s the best they can be. Having worked for Moto magazine since 2007 Neale has grown as a video photographer and his videos are widely considered the best in the business.

We just had to sit down with Mikey and ask him about his passion for bringing the sport alive in his videos.

MXlarge: Mikey, so how did you get into Motocross in the first place?

Neale: Same story as most kids really, woke up on Christmas morning and found a 50cc bike under the tree. I rode it in the street for the first time and crashed it straight away, my first ever crash was like 30 seconds of being on the bike. I’ve been hooked ever since.

MXlarge: When did you start racing?

Neale: I didn’t race as a kid because my parents were always working, but I used to go into the mountains near where I lived. There were always places to ride. When I finished university and I started working I bought my own bike, stuck it on a trailer and went off racing 125’s, I eventually got myself a racing license and worked my way up.

MXlarge: And you were a pretty handy Rugby player I heard?

Neale: Like most Welsh people Rugby is in your blood, especially in south Wales where I am from. If you don’t play Rugby you are looked on as being a little odd really. My father played for Cardiff and my brother played and then I started playing. I played through the ranks, played a little first division rugby in Wales, which is not premiership, but one level down. I just got burned out really, similar to the Motocross kids who start to early. I played from the time I was six and I played every weekend. I used to play for school on Saturday morning and then another game on the Saturday afternoon. By the time I was 23 I had had enough of Rugby. Then I went back to Motocross again.

MXlarge: How did you get into the video side of the sport?

Neale: I have always had an interest in cameras and such, but not really professionally. I have a great group of friends, Welsh lads and they are really passionate about the sport. We used to travel to some of the GP’s and have a few beers. I just happened to take along a little hand held camera and the boys messed around with some race stuff and some lifestyle stuff. Then when everything went digital it was easy to get a cheap editing package. I just played around with that for a while. I really enjoyed the editing, and when I look back at some of the early stuff it was pretty shocking really.

MXlarge: And then you started working for Moto. How did that come about?

Neale: Ray Chuss from Moto magazine saw one of the video’s on YouTube and asked if I would be interested in doing some stuff for Moto. That was in 2007, I think the first time I shot was for them at the 2007 Hawkstone Park International. I bought second hand camera from eBay, drove to London to pick it up. I figured if I was going to do it I was going to do it properly.  I did the race and then the first proper race was a British Championship race on the Sunday, but I had crashed on the Saturday and broken my wrist, so I filmed the next day with a cast, so it didn’t start off too well.

MXlarge: How was that suddenly being on the other side of the fence so to speak?

Neale: It was unbelievable really. I mean to be a fan that is passionate about the sport and all of a sudden you are on the side of the track, with riders you have watched and admired. I was star struck really. At first it was really difficult. Then I started doing GP’s, and I find myself around guys like Everts, real legends, but even photographers, people like Ray Archer, who’s photos I had looked at in magazines, then I am working alongside those guys. Sometimes I had to pinch myself.

MXlarge: How does somebody make a good video?

Neale: I just think its effort and passion. If you are generally passionate about the sport and I am, then I try and generate that passion into the video, and if I can do that, then hopefully the guys who watch the videos will feel that passion.

MXlarge: How long does it take to make a good video?

Neale: To make a good video is a lot of work, I think guys probably look at me and think I have an easy job and I travel about, even my mates think that, but it isn’t an easy job. I mean if you look at guys like Ray Archer who have been around for years and the work they put in, I’ve learnt a lot from work ethic watching Ray around the track. To make a good three minute video can take anything from three or four hours, to three or four days, or something even a week. If I get a good weekend I take three or four hours of video for a three minute clip.

MXlarge: I remember in Bulgaria you brought out a video on the Sunday morning. How did you get that one done?

Neale: Bulgaria I started editing around 9pm and finished around 5am in the morning, that is for something that needs to be out on the Sunday or Monday. Then you are on the track again 9am the next morning. I can do it now and again, but I try not to do it too often because it will burn you out. I am worried about burnout to be honest. I like to put 100% into the videos and I can’t bring myself to do it less than that. I could do it, make a video that is good, but not 100% and I can’t do it that way.

MXlarge: You are a bit of a perfectionist of not?

Neale: In this respect I am, but in many things in my life I am not.

MXlarge: You must get a lot of kind words about your work?

Neale: I think if people didn’t like my stuff they wouldn’t say anything about them and that is the reward, is getting the nice comments. I mean its tough being away from my family who I obviously love to death, I find that difficult. I am working in a sport that I love and I am passionate about and I am doing something I love to do. I mean you could complain that there are so many hours put into it, but at the end of the day I am doing something I love and I enjoy it, and that goes a long way in life.