Justin Morris might be a name many associate with his training school, or coaching, but Morris was, back in the day, a high-level Grand Prix rider, who was capable of getting himself on the box in GP and also winning British Motocross championships.

In an era that reeked of brilliance, depth and romance. While the 250 GPs were run by Action Group (now Infront), the sport was probably more simple and a lot changed at the Bellpuig Grand Prix in 2001, when Dorna took over for a year or two, and the sport become much more professional and in many ways different to what we were used to.

For names like Justin Morris, Paul Cooper, Mark Eastwood, Gordon Crockard, Mark Jones and many other British riders, it was something of a travelling circus, where the athletes could fill their weeks with travelling, racing, having fun and in general having the time of their lives.

As the World changed over the last 30 years, there is a now a lot less of the fun and a lot more of just hard work and trying to be as professional as possible. Team expects maybe more and places inside the GP paddock are more difficult to enter.

Morris who now runs www.jmmxcoaching.com and has a handful of very good young riders under his wing, will be at the worldvetsmotocross.com on July 18 to 20 at the magnificent Farleigh Castle circuit in England. While Morris won’t be lining up on the start line, he will be helping young riders with some advice and will also be taking a track walk.

We had to catch up with Justin, speak about his career and also give some insight into what he will be doing at Farleigh in July.

MXlarge: Justin, hi, it’s been a while, I think last time we met, I gave you a lift to the track in Argentina a handful of years ago. How are you doing?

Morris: I am doing well thanks Geoff.

MXlarge: It is kind of funny, older fans like me, we all know who Justin Morris is, but as I said to Kurt Nicoll, a lot of the younger fans wouldn’t know you raced at the highest level and were a regular Grand Prix rider in the 250 class.

Morris: I would say, I kind of had the odd podium here and there and I was generally a top 15 guy and we had such a stacked class, you could finish third, or 15th and I think the highest I was in the World title was 8th, and I won a few British championships and bits. A long career, but very difficult beating guys like Stefan Everts or Sebastien Tortelli, who were the leading guys when I raced.

MXLarge: When you talk about that era, I mean for anyone involved, be it fans, media, or the riders, it was a special era, with the two strokes, the track were much more natural terrain, not as professional as now probably, I mean the events themselves. It was more how the majority of us old guys remember the sport, when we came into it. How did you see it as a racer?

Morris: It was insane how it was, the greatest rider the sport has seen, so dominate in all classes. You had the youngest World champion ever in Tortelli, you had Bolley, Beirer, Demaria, Nicoll, Vohland, Bervoets, De Wit, it was just a very deep, packed field. It was World scene we haven’t seen since I think. The way the GPs were structured, we would race a hell of a lot, not just the GPs or national championships, but also a lot of international races during the week. We were racing with each other all the time. We had Stefan racing British championships in the HRC that I was also racing for at the time. We had so many good riders racing the national championship and those national championships were thought of very highly. The British championship now is horrendous and the weakest I have seen since I started 40 years ago.

MXLarge: A lot has changed in the sport, hasn’t it?

Morris: The World of motocross has changed and the circuits we rode back in our time were, I don’t know, maybe less demanding, but then again, our races were longer, but the circuits now are way more demanding, and I am not sure if they have gone in the right direction, if I am honest. The race length back in the day was what was difficult, and you cannot imagine riders riding around Matterley Basin this weekend for 45-minute motos. The bikes have come on leaps and bound, and it was massive toll on our bodies back in the day. Jeff Ward put something up on social media after they cut a race short in America due to the temperatures and I had to laugh, because they never thought about doing that when we were racing around Venezuela or Indonesia back in the day, racing for 45 minutes. Back in the day, our British championship was two 25 minutes motos and then a 35-minute moto. That was hard graft, plus qualification and practice. The British championship was a hotly contested championship, with Stefan, Gordon Crockard, Rob Herring, Paul Cooper and Joakim Karlsson. Any of those guys could win and you would have half a dozen British riders inside the top ten.

MXlarge: You will be doing a track walk and chatting with young riders at the World Vets?

Morris: Yes, we want to do type of a coaching thing and also the track walk. They have all types of classes and bits and bobs, and I want to be involved. The guys are also involved with me with their motorhome business, and I think they want me involved with some coaching and I think its going to be a really good event.

MXlarge: We don’t have as many big-time international events throughout the season anymore, but these veterans’ races seem to be taking over a bit. Sounds like the World Vets at Farleigh is a little like old school motocross from back in the day. Have you been to the event before?

Morris: I haven’t actually, because the calendars don’t line up for me as I still attend a lot of the GPs with my EMX riders. To be honest, the vets’ races seem to be the biggest races of the season in the UK, apart from maybe the GP and the Hawkstone Park event at the start of the year.

MXlarge: What do you look forward to most about the Farleigh event?

Morris: I definitely drink beer, and it will be a nice time. What is great about catching up with older riders, we only knew each other on a professional side and now you get to see riders on a different side. We would touch bases, but it was never over a beer, and I am looking forward to chatting with guys like Kurt (Nicoll), Rob (Herring) or some of the others.

MXlarge: You must have raced Farleigh a lot back in the day?

Morris: It still kept its heritage, and it is what it is. They didn’t try and make it a modern-day racetrack, and that is not like, for instance Hawkstone Park, which has moved with the times and lost a bit of itself. Farleigh is the same circuit that Dave Thorpe rode around there in the 1980s. It is close to my place, so I grew up on circuits like Farleigh. Grass field kind of feel and I love to see that. It is a task riding a bike around it and the slippery conditions and it is an amazing circuit and holds a lot of memories for myself, watching Dave Thorpe winning there, when I was a young child. Just being in awe of 100.000 people at Farleigh Castle. I am looking forward to getting back there.

Get your tickets here for an old school weekend to remember: World Vets