MXoN and British GP promoter, Steve Dixon has been front and centre of everything when it comes to the British Grand Prix and the UK held Motocross of Nations. It has been that way for nearly two decades and there is no doubt, without the support of Dixon and of course Infront, you can be sure, there wouldn’t be a British GP at all in the last 20 years.

Together, as a team, Dixon and Infront have put aside financial gain, to make sure Great Britain has a Grand Prix and that deal between the two seems it will continue and despite the British GP not being on the calendar now, don’t be surprised to see it turn up, in 2025, or in 2026.

We caught up with Dixon and asked him about the MXoN, the running of the event and the chances of the British GP turning up on the calendar in the coming weeks or months. As always, Dixon is very passionate about the sport and gave us everything we needed to know.

MXLarge: Tell me just quickly about the Nations because, obviously, we were very lucky with the weather on Friday and Saturday, which made it really, really nice. Sunday was not too bad, but it it's never nice when it's overcast and a bit cold, but the racing was brilliant.

Dixon: You know, between me and Lee McGarry and what I wanted to do was, if a fast rider got a bad start, we wanted it, so they were able to pass easy, and get the leaders. Then obviously it helps because we had a deep field of riders, so, there was lots of battles going on everywhere and I think I think a lot of teams have a chance to win. They gave it their all. Also, they have their personal pride and national price. I know people say the riders don't get paid, but the winning team does get prize money and outside of that, back in 1994, Paul Malin had a great Nations and got a big deal the following year and it was the same for Dean Ferris in 2013, after his performance in Germany, KTM USA signed him, so its more than just racing for your country. It is also a place to show your skills to the motocross World.

MXlarge: Can you say what it costs to run a Nations, like more than a million?

Dixon: Yes, oh yes!!!

MXlarge: Why I wanted to do this interview; I know you're for the GP's and I know you're 100% realistic. And you know what things cost and the effort people put in, including Infront. People think its just a money grab, but the series has opened up a lot of jobs for a lot of people.

Dixon: I was there in the 90s and you know, I've got a mechanic that's worked for me for 20 years. He has gotten got married, got a house, got kids. Back in those days (the 90s) it was like, this isn’t a career I'm going to do for more than a couple of years for a bit of a laugh, go round Europe and yeah. then I'll get serious and get a real job. Now you've got proper structures, you know, proper people doing the work, getting paid. There is 100% more people getting paid at motocross now and it rubs off, because now British based (none GP) teams have got workshops and structures and you know, the whole sport improves from what is happening at the MXGP series. How professional it is.

MXLarge: Steve, no British GP on the calendar so far. We have seen GPs not be on the calendar in the past and suddenly, back on the calendar. Is that the case for 2025?

Dixon: We have the organisers meeting on the 1st of December and I said to Infront if you can come up with something, let's do it, if not, you know, let's wait until 2026. I said, either way, I don't mind, It was a lot of work this year with a three-rider team and also organizing the Nations, but, I mean, I didn't want to decide until after the Nations and everything has settled, because it's been a lot of work for the Nations. I think it's about time the British fans got something in the summer and not early in the season, or late in the season. We have a contract, a multi year contract, but we (Dixon and Infront) are both relaxed about it, we both want the same thing.

MXlarge: As we know, making a calendar for a World championship of any kind, be it F1, MotoGP or MXGP, they are not easy to make and keep to the same schedule all year long. We see changes in both F1 and MotoGP throughout a season, nearly every year and the same with MXGP.

Dixon: You know, a calendar is always mixed up a little bit, because it's very difficult, for the countries to speak to their councils and everything, the people who want to invest in a World championship round or speaking to the federations. Things are a lot deeper than anyone knows, and things can also change quickly. The British Grand Prix doesn’t get government backing, so it is a round that we (Infront and Dixon) need to work around to make it work.

MXLarge: Tell me something because obviously, you have a great relationship with Infront as do most of the promoters, in fact, I think all of them have great relationships with Infront. One American podcast (Gypsy Tales) said that you hand over a cheque for €1,000,000 to Infront for the Nations, which everyone in the GP paddock and most people know, that just isn’t true. What is your opinion on that comment?

Dixon: Unfortunately, in the UK, motorsport doesn't receive any of that type of backing from the government. Britain has excelled in other areas like cycling, Olympic sports. The government fund sports that are available to the masses. Motorsport, or horse jumping, or whatever, it's not available to the masses, so, that's why there's no funding there and you know, I understand this. To make British motocross continue, and we have to go back to the main reason I took the Grand Prix over and have run for as long as I have. The British Grand Prix was always a massive part of my sponsorship because I used to take 300 guests to the VIP at a GP. I would buy an area at the GP, in the paddock and invite my big sponsors, the team sponsors. Same as Jacky Marten does at Lommel.

MXLarge: I remember when you first got involved and it was a shared agreement with Youthstream right?

Dixon: In Britain we didn’t have a Grand Prix for three years and the country needed a commitment to have a place to run a Grand Prix, a place that would become the home of the event. The ACU came to me and said, we need stability of the British Grand Prix, will you run it, and we pay for it, then weeks before the GP contract would be signed, ACU decided to pull out. So, Youthstream (now Infront) said, we'll partner you in running the GP, we need the British, motocross is a great heritage in Great Britain and its sort of been the same ever since. For me, they have a big interest in keeping motorsport alive in the UK, and it's difficult in the UK, there's a lot of laws, there's a lot of costs. Huge amount of costs, but people only see the rosy side. People don’t realize what Infront do behind the scenes for the sport in the UK.

MXLarge: Can you give me a rough idea what it would cost to run a Grand Prix like complete cost?

Dixon: Well, I mean. If you just say it's expensive to run, very expensive to run. I could go on really in depth, but then like it gets really technical and complicated.

MXLarge: Changing the subject, but I am always amused, about how many people say some riders don't make money in GP, and I'm like, mate, its a lot better now than in the 80s or 90s, when half the riders would go home with no money and in fact, hope they qualified, or they might have to call home to mum and dad and ask for petrol money to get home. Younger people might not realize how much the sport has grown and how many people now make a living from the MXGP series?

Dixon: Back in the 1990s, I was working from a little garage, and we finished second in the world. When I asked Roger Harvey (who was team manager of the Yamaha UK team), if we could buy some paper towels to clean up, he would so, no, just use rags and when I would ask where do I sleep, he said just get an air bed, sleep in the back with the bikes. Where do I go to the toilet, he would say, just use the motorways toilets. I always take the mickey out of Roger, but we forget, we forget how that was back then.

MXLarge: I remember Brian Jorgensen telling me stories of stealing fuel from the big trucks at the truck stops to get back to Denmark. So many stories of riders struggling to get home from the races and this was long before Infront were involved. Its change for the better, and its a lot better.

Dixon: I mean, that's the reality. There are far more people earning money now from the MXGP paddock. You only had the select view factory riders that were earning a huge amount, everyone else it was like a hobby. Some riders think they have a right to earn a good living because the sport is dangerous, but they choose to race. Jeffrey Herlings has earned a handsome portfolio through being good and winning.

MXLarge: Tell me something, Steve, when you were in the 90s and you were involved with the Yamaha team, and it was Yamaha UK, andwe now have around 17 factory riders in MXGP and a similar amount in MX2, they're all factory riders, but what was it like when you had your Yamaha UK team? I remember when I arrived at the GPs in 1993, the Yamaha factory team didn’t really seem like a factory team and nothing like now. How was it in your eyes?

Dixon: Take us for example, Yamaha UK sold a lot of bikes, they paid for everything, they bought me a new truck and we didn't need a title sponsor, I just put my invoice in and that would cover it. I would get support from Yamaha UK, and I would get like 36 bikes (from Yamaha UK) and hand them out to different riders, and each manufacturer was the same, be it the Italian teams, the German teams, the Dutch teams. It isn’t like in America, where Honda might have a budget and give it to 10 teams in America, because in Europe, its spread through all the European countries, so spread a lot thinner. Teams had a marketing budget for Italy, one for Spain, one for the UK, one for Holland, one for the eastern European countries, one for Austria. Yeah, it was really spread out.

MXLarge: How many factory teams was there back then, in the 90s? I remember when I first started, I can only remember half a dozen factory teams, nowhere near the riders now that have factory deals, maybe five in the 125cc class and that was it, now there are like 15. The 250 class might have been eight riders. 500 class way less than the other two classes.

Dixon: God yeah. Early 2000’s it was RWJ Honda, who were based in the UK, Jan De Groot based in The Netherlands, Sylvain (Geboers) based in Belgium, Rinaldi based in Italy, then we also had CAS Honda in the UK. But not a lot more than that and nowhere near as big as now.

MXlarge: People talk about teams leaving MXGP, but that happens all the time, in fact, all those teams are long gone, replaced by other teams, who are probably also gone. You must be the only guy left from the 1990s?

Dixon: Yes, I can’t remember anyone else from the current paddock being there back then. It seems to go in different stages and different countries because you know for a while a lot was coming out of the UK. In the 1980s, it was HRC and Kawasaki who were based in the UK, Heron Suzuki factory was based in the UK, and then there where some teams from Italy that were factory. Now it seems to be Benelux wealth that is there.