Maybe it was the fact that I had no concept of being in control of a vehicle (I hadn’t got a driving license because I was about 5 at the time) coupled with the fact that I loved riding on the back of my dads 250 Honda super dream (what a beast ;)) But I had no interest in driving never did have never will have its just not my bag… Or maybe its just the fact that subconsciously I think that because I'm closer to the ground I'm less likely to get hurt when we crash if I'm on the back …

Anyway I knew from that moment I wanted to be a passenger and started bugging my dad to take me to every meeting that sidecars would be at… bugging the riders in the pits for autographs and asking if I could sit on the bike etc. One passenger who was always really accommodating and humoured my enthusiasm was The legend that is Mr TERRY MADELY…now anyone who knows Terry knows his love for racing is second to none and I think that just fuelled me wanting to race even more… So Mum if your looking for someone to blame for me getting into racing that's your first two names on the list dear old Dad and Mr Madely.

So it really started there with me dragging my dad to the world of rebels tour and England vs. Australia tests of the late 80's early 90's… I say dragging him round but I'm sure that's just what my Dad used to tell my Mum so he could go. It seems odd to think now that when I was watching these meetings Matt “not so fat” Fumarola was competing as the Irish sidecar champion on the back of T.P Gilsenan … Who would have thought I'd have ended up riding with him hey!!!

It was this era of racing that gave me many of my idols and influences I could write an endless list of names of crews that drove me to get involved Paul and Lisa pinfold, Gary Moon, Ray Blackhall and Terry Madely, Alan Artus… The list goes on and on and on…

Back to the speedway star… Ivor Matthews needs passenger … Due to his current passenger the late Peter Jones starting out as a driver in his own right Ivor was on the look out… Why not thinks me, I've never done it but hey I'm sure I'll pick it up so I gave past masters champion Ivor Matthews a bell and he agreed to give me a go… Again Ivor played a huge part in me getting into racing lending me leathers and gear, bringing me round videos of him in action so I could study his style… My first ever outing was to be at Mallory park and I couldn’t wait… We only went out in practice as the track was a little on the bumpy side but Ivor was very complimentary about my efforts and said If he didn't get a national passenger over the next few months we would look at taking things further…

As things panned out Ivor had hooked up with Ian Weatherly as he had a little experience and that all important national license… So I was back to spectating and leafing through the speedway star… I was now even more hooked than ever… Even though I had only done practice I wasn't giving up now… I didn’t have to wait long before there was another advert for a passenger … “NEAL OWEN?” “LEFTHAND BRITISH CHAMPION GOES RIGHT HANDED AND NEEDS PASSENGER?”… I have to be honest I'd never heard of him but then to be fair he had never heard of me either ;) So after a few phone conversations we were booked in for our first meeting at Frittenden… Practice went well and we both decided to give the meeting a crack… The overall result was a second in the B final which left both of us very happy so that was how I got my first full time ride…

After a full season riding with Neal and learning the ropes He decided to to have a new bike built in the off season anyway to cut a long story short the bike wasn't ready so I started getting experience jumping on the back of anyone who needed a passenger… Enter a Fat brummie ;) at the end of 1997 I rode two meetings with Matt and so our partnership, team, marriage or whatever you want to call it was born…