Gareth Hockey is well known in the motocross industry from running GP’s, the iconic Weston Beach Race, British Championships and club events.

As passionate as they come about the sport and while business is important, you can be sure that Hockey will do everything possible to run a championship that grows for himself, organisers and clubs, teams and riders involved. Recently the ACU in England awarded Hockey with the job of running the British motocross championships in the coming years.

Expect some big changes as the series will get live streaming, infrastructure changes and a more professional look is something that Hockey will be working on for 2021 and with or without the Coronavirus, the sport will go ahead in UK next year, and the British championship will once again gain the respect it held in the sport as the pinnacle of Championship to be involved with.

MXlarge: Congratulations, because I know you have wanted to run the Adult British Championships for a long time. How long have you wanted to do this?

Hockey: Roger Harvey, back in 2010, told me to re-focus my efforts and skills from running a British round of the Grand Prix to focusing on promoting the British Youth and Adult Championships, to raise the sport and its riders as a force to be reckoned with on the world stage.

MXlarge: How did it come about, because you were going to run some rounds this year, but because of Covid 19 that didn’t come about, but how did you get the whole series?

Hockey: I have made it known to the ACU I have wanted the chance to promote the Adult Championship for years. The ACU for 2021 had made an operational decision to elect promoter and after hard negotiations, I and my company were the chosen promoter.

MXLarge: As you said, the ACU should take over the FIM role and I have to be honest, I haven’t been to a British championship round for a long time, so my opinion is just based on what I read and am told, but it seems that the series lost a lot of its lustre over the last decade. Maybe a lack of big GP teams with GP riders doesn’t help, but what do you think you need to change to improve it?

Hockey: You hit it on the head and ACU are very protective of the British Championship and what it is, but I think one of the problems was as much as they did do a good job. I think it lost its way a little bit and it is hard to say the reasons, but I think it needs to be like every other championship and that is have a promoter working on it. This Championship will have a staff of 15 working on it every week. I think it is a long-term thing, where it has been maybe focused on watching finances and not investing money into it. I on the other hand are willing to put my money into the sport to improve and grow.

MXlarge: Which as a motorcycle federation, that is easy to do, be more careful with the money than take risks.

Hockey: Yes, we are all a bit scared at the moment.

MXlarge: If you think about the Dutch championship ten years ago, it was also pretty average, but now, it has really turned into a national championship that ranks close to the AMA Nationals as the best national championship in the World. I mean it isn’t to the AMA Nationals level, but it is a lot closer now than it was 10 years ago, and they brought in a promoter to promote it like a series should be promoted.

Hockey: Yes, I agree, like you said, when you look at the changes in Holland, that is the changed we need to do, and no disrespect, but we can’t have the Dutch doing a better championship than the British. The Australians are having a change and it is hard for organizations accepting you need a company running it.

MXlarge: I think you need a company that wants to make money from it, so to make money, you need to invest money and I am sure you will invest at times more than you make, just to build it up to what it can be.

Hockey: All companies want to make a profit; it is just a dirty work in this country. My passion can incur me, and my company great loses that’s why I unfortunately have an accounting team behind me, who sometimes force me to say no, but everyone knows if I make a pound I will spend three pounds.

MXlarge: I know the Dutch championship have a lot of the elements of the MXGP series, with pit boxes and other things. What changed would you make?

Hockey: Well, I am very passionate about live streaming, I think that is important going forward. Infrastructure, we will have the start pads, the backdrop on the start and like you said, it is about branding, and I think if we create a good look, and create the right atmosphere, then we will see the audiences coming back. What is why we are working on a exciting new format. I didn’t think value wise we didn’t’ see that much racing and everyone wants value for money don’t they.

MXLarge: I follow a lot of sports and I notice the promoters that make the most out of their branding like in Boxing you have Matchroom who do a great job, or UFC it is Dana White, the branding is super important I think. Somebody like Harri Kullas needs to be promoted better. What about the branding of the riders and teams, is that important?

Hockey: We will have a team of people here in the office who are dedicated to that. To be honest, the teams at the first round looked amazing and there was a lot of positives from that round this year. I think it is about the riders and we know Jeffrey Herlings sells tickets and we know that Tommy Searle, or Jake Nicholls or Shaun Simpson sell tickets.

MXLarge: When will you speak to the teams about 2021?

Hockey: I spoke to a lot of teams before this happened and a lot of people in the industry and we were all under the impression this needs to happen, or the series would die. It probably pushed the ACU to make the changes.

MXLarge: We are obviously in the middle of Covid 19 and that makes it difficult to invest in anything. How have the industry been about investing into the British championships in 2020?

Hockey: No support yet, none to be honest. We are just a week into signing the contract, but we have a meeting with the motorcycle industry on Thursday, and we have already got one very good sponsors and brand, those are from inside the sport, but we want to also get support from outside the industry. Maybe with the current situation with the virus we use 2021 as a marketing tool, and go into 2022 with more knowledge of what we are selling, because we haven’t even started yet and as you put it, historically it hasn’t been that good.

MXLarge: As far as live streaming, I know you have done that with some of your other championships, but it is very expensive. Tell me a bit more about that?

Hockey: It is expensive, but I am willing to put my money where my mouth is and invest in this with the clubs to put the offroad world on the same stage of our counterparts. We all would like to see spectators at events, and this is RHL’s goal, however we have to acknowledge times and demands are changing and we need to appeal to a bigger audience for the sake of the sport and our sponsors.

MXLarge: Yes, definitely. Obviously Maxxis was a long-time sponsor of the British motocross championship, and you mentioned you are dealing with a big company and also a big brand, but do you have a title sponsor yet?

Hockey: Going into next year, we might not even look for a title sponsor, we are looking at partnerships and I think it is the wrong time to look for a sponsor. We need to get through Covid, and next season and I think in June and July we will be a lot stronger and there will be more people in the industry wanting to get involved, who will be watching closely in 2021.

MXlarge: The rumour is the 2021 GP season won’t start until April. Do you have any type of plan for your schedule and also how many rounds will you have?

Hockey: We are like everyone else, we are waiting for the GP calendar, but to be honest, we probably won’t start until April, and we are reliant in the first year on having spectators. We have to achieve at least three rounds in 2021 for Championship titles. That is also where the live stream comes in and if you can’t come through the gate, I am sure people would be happy to pay to watch it online.

MXLarge: Would you have a round at the Weston Beach race and what about other tracks?

Hockey: There is a willingness for clubs to get involved and we are looking forward to working with the clubs. We have used the same tracks for years, but there are some really good venues we can run at. I would like to race at Ryder in mid-Wales, I would like to push that one, because we know they get massive crowds up there. Wakes Colne would be great to have back and there is an explosion of top-quality tracks in Scotland. I want to look at some different venues and perhaps move it around the country a little more. We are also working on getting as many clubs involved with running this prestigious Championship as possible.

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