Jeff Perrett is without doubt one of the friendliest guys in the media room at any GP or British championship event. The former Grand Prix and British championship racer, who has been through just about every job in the industry, including running teams, being involved in running GPs, magazine bike tester, columnist in magazines and also working closely with Kawasaki and Yamaha pushing the youth riders.

In 2024, fortunately, we will see a lot of Perrett, as he is heavily involved in the Arenacross series, something he has done for some time now, he also be a major player in the British motocross championships live streaming of each round, he helps out with the Blu Cru Yamaha experience in the UK and also obviously his academy award winning podcast with Dobwob, where they speak to the legends, great, good and just average riders from the UK scene. If ever the UK was in good hands with media, it’s now.

I have known Perrett now for many years, as far back as in his racing days in the 1990s, when we both had hair and were kilo’s lighter. I ask him about his plans for 2024 and the huge amount of work he will have to get through.

MXlarge: And I must admit, when I used to see you. I don't know whether it was because of the team you were in or you, but I used to think, he looks like a pretty unfriendly guy. I couldn't have been further from the truth.

Perrett: Ah, there you go. Unfriendly, I had hair then maybe, I don't know. Like me, Eastie (Mark Eastwood) and a few others were kind of that 90s grunge rock music, Pearl Jam. Nirvana, all that kind of stuff.

MXlarge: You work for MXUK magazine or one of those magazines. Did the test riding right?

Perrett: I was a test rider DBR towards the end, yeah. I had the column. Lawless went to become editor of Dirt Bike Rider and asked me to come over to Dirt Bike Rider and that's when I started writing those columns. The rear page called Rear Gunner in the back of DBR. That's when the journalism thing really kind off took off. I was doing that and test riding and racing, yeah.

MXlarge: Tell me, obviously we spoke about it. We haven't actually spoke about it in an interview, but you've got a massive year coming up because you're involved in everything.

Perrett: Yeah, the thing is, because of the passion, I like it, I tell myself not to do it, but people ask, and I would say I can't say no. If it excites me, I'm passionate about what I do. I like the sport and, I definitely want to see it, you know, evolve and improve in the UK. So yeah, currently.

, I do the Arenacross. I've obviously been doing the live stream coverage of the MX Nationals over the last few years and that's hopefully going to go forward into being, live streaming for the British championship. So, I think I'm going to be presenting that. Then I obviously do Talk Moto with Wobs podcasts, that has been over the last 18 months or so. Yeah, I've also been asked by Yamaha to be there. Blu Cru manager, ambassador, So I front up all the. Blu Cru stuff in the UK now.

MXLarge: That's fantastic. You've got a good list of things. It's fortunate that there are guys like you, like Matt Bates, Paul Irwin, the fella from Dirt Store. There is a group of guys that really want the sport to get better. I'll throw in Gareth Hockey into that with his junior series in 2025 and his work with the British championship this year.

Perrett: Yeah, of course. Yeah, I mean, it just needs exactly that. Like there's a lot of people, but, you know, there's always been other people, sort of with an agenda and going off in different directions. Everybody wants to do something their own way, but it just feels like over the last, I don't know year or so in the UK, a lot of change. Obviously, a new ACU chairman, Tim's come in, Tim Lightfoot and made the decision to offer the championship now to Paul (Irwin) and although Gareth did a good job, with the resources that they had, but that's now changed and I think everybody's got to try and get behind Paul, particularly the youth riders. I know they're introducing a new 125 British Championship, so that's really good because that will align with the EMX125 series, because we've got some good young riders in the UK. Like Jamie Keith and Josh Vail and several others that should be out there doing the EMX125. So, I think the new calendar that Paul's put out allows riders to go and do that and now obviously what Matt (Bates) is trying to do along with the Arenacross, is to try and sync a calendar. Maybe we can have it like the AMA does and have Arenacross early part of the year and then a bit of a sort of three or four week gap before the outdoors start. Riders can commit to both series, because the Arenacross obviously brings high profile and takes the sport to a load of new people.

MXLarge: It's actually when you think about Arenacross, you know not only is it a fantastic event, but I think you only have to look at the French and they've obviously got Supercross which you know there's a bit of difference, but it's how good the French have been over the years, producing guys that have been able to get good enough to even go to America and race there. I mean, do you think the Arenacross as much as it's a great series, do you think that maybe it needs to be taken more seriously by the young riders. Maybe they need to look a little bit closer and go okay, maybe this is good for our techniques and everything.

Perrett: 100%, I can't say it better than that. I was having conversation with Stephen Sword, and he said the same thing the other day. The modern motocross track now has so many supercross style obstacles and it is now a big part of motocross. I just think from a young age it gets them their skill set on. Back in the day Merv Anstie took Max riding a lot of supercross, obviously he has gone on to do that, but it also helped him with his motocross skill set. You get the likes of Swordy and those guys saying a similar thing, it's a no brainer.

MXlarge: Some young kids or even older riders are worried they are going to get hurt doing something they are not great at?

Perrett: It's a long season for a lot of people and they always have this fear of getting hurt. Doing Arenacross, the Supercross, but you know I think it's the chicken and the egg and it's catch 22. We get kids into Arenacross the more chances we've got of tracks and practice facilities cropping up in the UK. I know our weather shit, but you know so many riders go down to Spain in the off season to train and ride. So, and there's tracks being built down there now, I just think for me, it's an absolute, no brainer, certainly if the opportunity arose, when I was a kid, I would have jumped to it and like you said you've only got to look at those French riders and what they've produced. And of course, the American riders. And there's room for it in our calendar.

MXLarge: And Arenacross it's not anywhere near as lethal as supercross right?

Perrett: No, exactly, and that's the thing, there is a misconception in the UK which people confuse to, Arenacross, it's not Supercross. Also, we're getting fresh people coming out to see it, and I know there's been a handful of kids, down the years that have come out watched Arenacross and then taking up motocross. A kid come down to me in front at Belfast after the show, and he was absolutely buzzing and then he said he wanted to do it, he's going to speak to his parents, then two years later, he was on the gate at Belfast. How cool is that!!

MXLarge: It tell me, obviously you are working closely with Matt (Bates). There's a lot going on in the Arenacross. I mean, it's always been a fantastic series and a great way to start the British season. What can you tell me about this year, because I spoke to Matt a couple of months ago and there was stuff going on, big stuff. Obviously, we've got the calendar which goes to Abu Dhabi.

Perrett: Yeah, well, Matt made no secret, he's had 10 years of Arenacross in the UK, a quarter of a million fans coming out. All those amazing shows, you know, packed out arenas, but Matt just basically said that we have gotten to 10 years and we have to expand. In the UK, yeah, there's only so many arenas we can go to, and he just felt it warrants to be bigger. He absolutely wants to make it a World tour, so in 2025 obviously we're off to Abu Dhabi and that's the starting point for a World Tour. He wants to add more countries in Europe and maybe places like Australia, New Zealand, Canada, those kinds of countries. You know, World Tour because obviously you could argue that it's doing a similar thing to World Supercross, but World Supercross is exactly that, Supercross at Supercross venues. Right now, we've got five events in the UK, with Belfast being a double header and then he's going to invite some foreign riders to qualify at rounds one and six of those of the British rounds. They will be the qualifying rounds to get to Abu Dhabi and the top 20 riders will go off to Abu Dhabi and that will be all accounting for (by Matt Bates), all the freight hotels, everything for the riders and we're also taking 12 youth riders with everything paid for, which is phenomenal for those kids throughout that opportunity

MXlarge: For those young riders that will go to Abu Dhabi, I mean that seems to me like a pretty good incentive to race Arenacross, because as you know, when you're starting, you're not thinking dollars and cents, you're just thinking experience and that's a great motivation for some young kids to all. Have you started entries yet or is that not started yet?

Perrett: Doing that now, doing that today, as we speak actually. So yeah, pro riders for the. British Championship confirmed because we've got obviously a British championship, with riders eligible, are British riders that you've had a British passport, or they race the British Championship all year round for a British team. So that's the British championship that's happening over the first six rounds and then the foreign riders, will then do the World tour and then you. All the teams get more exposure, more chance of getting in more corporate sponsors.

MXLarge: The events that stand out in the winter for me are Paris and the Aus-X Open, because those events are not just great racing, but a great presentation for the sport and the Arenacross is without question, one of the best run series in the World, not just in the UK. I think if you look at the events, which are attractive, let's say in the off season, you're thinking Paris, which is a massive show, and the Aus-X Open, which is also a really well-run show. In fact, those two races probably, are definitely much more attractive than a World Supercross Championship just because of the show.

Perrett: I agree, and I think that's what we need to get people into it. That's obviously what Matt does very well, and he is a perfectionist with it, no doubt about it. It is a show you know, for the purists, we want, you know that you're into the sport already. You want to come there and watch the race and see the racing, but if you're new to it, it has to be, wow this is amazing and that's what's getting new people into our sport.

MXLarge: Finally, back to the stuff you are doing in 2025, because the Blu Cru thing is also great for the sport.

Perrett: Obviously, a lot of people in the UK, kind of got to see what the Blu Cru is all about. Regarding my involvement with Blu Cru, we're just looking forward to expanding the program in the UK and do a lot more. You know a lot more stuff with that. Hopefully me and Brian Jorgensen, we are going to get together a bit more and do a lot more Blu Cru events, ride days for the kids and stuff like that and coach them.