Dean Wilson - revved up and ready for Arenacross
By Words: Ben Rumbold on 23rd Dec 24
News Arenacross Arenacross Tour
There is, quite simply, no other British Motocross racer quite like Dean Wilson. He is one of our fastest and most accomplished riders of the 21st century, and yet at the age of 33 he has never raced a British Championship round, a Motocross Grand Prix, or until 2025, a round of Arenacross!
Instead, the Scottish-born star, with one of the strangest “Scotnadian” accents you’ll ever hear, has made his name completely in the United States, having moved to Canada with his family at the age of seven, and coming up through the ranks on the other side of the Atlantic. Not only did he win a National American Motocross Championship in 2011, but in 2023 he turned his hand to Supercross Down Under and won the Australian National Supercross crown, a championship that is rapidly growing in prestige. So how did this all come about for the lad from East Kilbride, near Glasgow?
“I started racing locally in Scotland when I was a boy, then the family moved to Canada in 1999. We lived in Calgary, Alberta [towards the west of the country, the other side of the US border from Montana], and I kept racing there for fun, as an amateur. [Note: the term “amateur” in American Motocross usually means “youth”] I started to progress quickly and for the racing, we moved to California in 2006, and I’ve been here ever since!”
That move came after moderate results on 85cc bikes, but on moving to full-size machinery the results started to come quickly, with three amateur national Championships and victories on 250 four-strokes at the massive Loretta Lynn’s Youth Nationals in 2009 earning him a spot on a Motocross of Nations squad due to his other passport… with Team Canada!
“It was my first big Pro race, actually! It was in Italy, Franciacorta, I think? [Yes it was, near Milan!] I had both passports so I could be picked for either country, and it was a great experience, massive crowds! We didn’t make the main races [only 20 teams can compete in the Nations races proper, and over 30 usually enter!], but I did get talking properly to [Pro Circuit Kawasaki boss] Mitch Payton at that race and tied down a place on his team for 2010, so it was well worth it!” Dean actually won the B Final on his 250 Kawasaki, ahead of Russian MXGP star Evgeny Bobryshev, so obviously Mitch was impressed! As a point of interest, Team Ireland won that B Final with a certain Martin Barr, another 2025 AX racer, finishing fifth ahead of his teammate Gordon Crockard, the two best results putting the greens through!
What followed for Dean was undoubtably the most successful period of his career. In the legendary Pro Circuit squad, one of the best in the USA since the early 1990s, which has launched the careers of all-time greats such as Jeremy McGrath, Ricky Carmichael and Ryan Villopoto, he proved to be a real force in 250 Supercross and Motocross.
Taking his first podium in Supercross, he then scored his first Pro victories in the outdoor series at Budds Creek, just south of Washington DC, and in his new home state of California. Narrowly beaten to the East “Lites” Supercross title by wild child Justin Barcia, he then led a Pro Circuit 1-2-3 in the 250 National MX Championship that year, defeating former World Champion Tyla Rattray by over fifty points with 11 moto wins from the 24 held, including a clean sweep of the last two rounds of the series.
For both of those years, he was selected for Team GB at the Motocross of Nations, finishing second in class to Ken Roczen first time out, although the Brits just missed the podium with fourth overall in each of his three appearances.
After again missing a Supercross title, this time to future legend Eli Tomac, the first of a cruel spate of injuries hit him just as he was preparing to defend his outdoor crown, and while he was still only 20 years old.
“The injuries started in 2012, I hurt my knee before I could defend my outdoor title from the previous year, and then in 2013 I was leading the East Lites SX series but crashed and broke vertebrae, also collapsing a lung. In 2015 I moved up to the 450, I was on the factory KTM team with Ryan Dungey, and then I tore my ACL after the first three Supercross rounds. Then the following year, almost a year to the day from the previous tear, it happened again and it cost me my factory ride.”
The KTM years were a complete disaster for him, but he still showed top ten pace when he was healthy enough to compete. His knees, however, have never quite been the same since. Finding a home with Rockstar Husqvarna, his regular top ten speed, a handful of podium finishes both outdoor and in, and his great popularity amongst the fans kept him there for a significant portion of his career.
“From 2017, I went onto a private Husqvarna, but I got the call up after just three rounds to get a factory ride again, which I kept for six years! I went to Australia after that because I had always wanted to experience racing in other parts of the world. I stayed with a friend in Melbourne and really enjoyed it there, plus it’s always nice to win a Championship, which I did in 2023. This year, I made a few mistakes of my own and couldn’t defend it, then I got taken out and injured in World Supercross.”
Six times a member of Team GB at the Motocross of Nations, he was joined on the team four times by Tommy Searle, and the two are good friends. The pair finally enjoyed podium success at Dean’s only big British race so far, the Nations at Matterley Basin in 2017. Boosted as the team was by Max Anstie’s double win, it’s easy to forget that Wilson scored third in his class that day as well and was a vital part of that result. He hasn’t raced too often against many of the other AX contingent, and despite his serious indoor experience, which also included a podium in the new World Supercross Championship round at the end of 2024, he’s certain that it won’t be any easy switch to this form of dirt bike racing.
“I had been asked to do Arenacross for a few years, but I was always so focused on racing in America, which you have to be because the level is so high. Now that I’m not looking at that anymore, I took up the offer! I have always visited my family in East Kilbride during the off-season. I’ve got a house there, so it’s gonna be really nice to live ‘at home’ between the AX races and enjoy racing in the UK, which I haven’t done since the 2017 Nations! I did do Head-to-Head races in Brazil once… yeah, not a fan… really hoping I don’t have to do any in AX this year! It’s tight racing and a different discipline to Supercross for sure, so I’m not expecting it to be easy at all, but for sure I wanna be right up there, especially when it comes to Aberdeen in front of my home Scottish crowd!”
The proud Scot’s easy-going nature sometimes conceals his fierce will to win and ability to battle through adversity, and his speed through the whoops will be interesting to compare to some of the seasoned Arenacross specialists. Either way, Dean Wilson is a fascinating addition to the AX World Tour and will most certainly get the crowd behind him wherever he goes!
