When people talk about the World Vets Motocross event at Farleigh Castle on the 19th and 20th of July, we all think of the old school vibe at the event and the long list of legends who are involved in the weekend, but there is a lot more that goes on behind the scenes to make these events possible.

Like in all motocross events around the World, support from the industry, or people in the industry is as important as the race itself and the World Vets Motocross event is fortunate to have SBriggs Commercials as their title sponsor. SBriggs Commercials have supported this event from day one and as you will read below, that support seems like it is a partnership that will last as long as this event continues.

The Briggs family are long time fans, racers and luckily for the sport, sponsors of many riders, teams and events around the UK. We were fortunate enough to catch up with Bradley Briggs and have a chat about what got him and his family into the sport and what makes them want to be so supportive of a sport that has been in their lives forever.

MXlarge: Bradley, thanks for your time. Tell me, where did your passion for the sport of Motocross begin?

Briggs: Well, we come from London, East London and we then moved to Surrey way. We had a farm, and we loved motorbikes, and we had a Puch, and a Malaguti and we just rode around and around on the farm. My father used to tell us, how he would hear us coming around on the bike, but he never heard it stop revving. Everyone time it came around, one of our mates was on it, or Spence, my brother or myself on it. We just loved it, and we said to Dad, we want to race motorbikes. He told us to join a club, and he would buy us a new bike each. So, the next day, we joined The Border, a Schoolboys scramble club and he bought us a bike, I had a 1981 CR125, I was 16 and Spencer had an RM 100X and off we went racing. And off we went racing.

MXLarge: How did you do?

Briggs: From that first year on, I won some schoolboys events, and championships. I was more dedicated than Spencer. He would check his air-filter on Saturday and if it wasn’t too dirty, he would just put the seat back on and go racing. He wasn’t somebody who did maintenance and I always took pride in my appearance and those type of things. I wanted to be like that when I went racing. Even today, anything we support, we want it to look good. I was running top five in National races back in the day. I did the support class for the British championship, and I rode a CR125 in the British 125cc championship and finished fourth of fifth, but we had a bike, and we didn’t do anything like suspension, maybe a new pipe and that was it. Had we known then, what we know now, I would have been a better rider. It was the era of Dave Thorpe, Kurt Nicol, Rob Herring, those guys. A Great era.

MXLarge: You got the know the Thorpe family pretty well?

Briggs: When Dave (Thorpe) had the CAT Honda team, his workshop was at our farm. For like 15 years or more and Dave and his dad and family, a close family friends. My family, as Airport Autos, sponsored Dave Thorpes teams and other teams and riders in motocross, for well over 30 years now. We sponsor Brad Todd this year and we give him a bit and it feels right to support these guys and the sport.

MXLarge: You see in the Grand Prix, and obviously, a lot of successful businessmen, who love the sport, want to support it and these people are the backbone of the sport really. That must feel nice to be able to give back to a sport you love so much.

Briggs: Yes, it is very good and so many people don’t association with our two companies, S Briggs and Airport Autos and they come up and thank us for putting back into the sport and people ask what do we get out of it, well, we put into a sport that we love so much. Coming out of London, it wasn’t always easy, but thanks to our dad, who was a worker and installed the right work ethic into us and we both have good businesses. It isn’t always easy, but we have really moved on with it.

MXLarge: How did the motorbike collection begin?

Briggs: When Dad passed about a decade ago, Spencer said he wanted to start a motorbike collection. We got bikes from everywhere. We have about 150 bikes and original bikes from Dave Thorpe, Andre Malherbe, Marniqu Bervoets, Mike Brown, Johnny O’Mara, Jeff Stanton, serious championship winning bikes.

MXLarge: What are your favourites from the bikes you have?

Briggs: The most iconic are probably the factory Mugan Honda, you don’t see many of those and I got it from Japan, but many people say the Andre Malherbe 1985 500cc championship bike the RC500. That is a true factory bike, Dave Thorpes 1989 RC 500, that he won the championship on. My personal favourite would be the Mike Brown Pro-Circuit Peak Honda, and we also have the Pro Circuit Kawasaki 2001, the one he won the championship on against Grant Langston. When you look at that bike, it is just electric. So nice.

MXlarge: Ever since the World Vets at Glen Helen, big veteran races have popped up all over the World. Be it in Italy, France, or the UK, it is really something the sport needs as many motocross fans are from that era you mentioned before, the Thorpe, Malherbe, Jobe, Geboers era. We all remember those bikes and its has brought a bunch of events out of the woodwork. What makes you enjoy the World Vets Motocross at Farleigh Castle so much and want to support it?

Briggs: It is just a nice event, with a casual feel about it. You talk Vets motorbikes, and the Farleigh track is the best track for this type of racing. It suits these old bikes, and we sponsor the event the first two years and we will carry on as title sponsor and it is just a nice event for family and riders. We will maybe take 10 bikes to that one, to put on show, for the fans to enjoy. It will take a bit to get the event going, but I just like that type of event, a nice feeling with families around and that is what we are about in our team.

Tickets for the World Vets Motocross here: World Vets Motocross

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