Easy come...
By TMX Archives on 8th Feb 05
gutted," laments Lewis Gregory. "I WAS gutted," laments Lewis Gregory. "They always say it's tougher to defend a championship than win it in the first place but I'd never expected my defence to end so soon." And it was soon - in fact, Lewis' hopes of defending his #1 plate went bang at the very first round of the Future West British SX champsOf course, doing things with a bang isn't Lewis Gregory's normal modus operandi. The likeable Gloucestershire-based lad is considered to be quite quiet - almost shy - off the track and he'd much prefer to let his riding do the talking on it.And if you let Lewis' riding style influence what you think about the man himself you'd probably reckon he was an articulate, stylish, neat and tidy sort of chap - and you wouldn't be a million miles wrong. I mean, how many other riders do you know who hang their freshly-ironed race kit up in their camper's wardrobe when they go racing on a weekend?Paying attention to detail - like wearing freshly ironed duds on the track - has obviously been a major part of Lewis' life so far and just as with his off-track mannerisms, his on-track style owes a lot to his parents' influence (and we're not just talking about his mother's ironing skills).Gregory's dad Alan - a keen AMCA racer back in the day - was never gonna be a world-beater himself but when it was time to get young Lewis racing he made sure things were done properly. "Even when he was starting out in the automatics we always concentrated on style and made him stand up in the right places," remembers Alan about those early schoolboy days.Although an accomplished rider, Lewis didn't notch up a list of schoolboy championships like a lot of his British championship counterparts. "We never really did full championships," explains Lewis about his lack of schoolie silverware. "We did a race here and a race there but we spent a lot of time abroad. Aside from the UK Supercross wins I didn't win any major youth championships."And it was abroad where Lewis' adult career began in earnest. "I finished my exams at school and went out to do the Loretta Lynn's qualifiers in America. 18,000 people tried to qualify for it that year and I was one of the 1,400 that qualified for the finals."I was running in the Intermediate class - one down from Pro - with riders like Broc Hepler and Bobby Kiniry. These are guys who are doing the AMA 125 supercross races now."There's three races in each class and I was racing in the 125 stock and modified classes. In the stock class I had a 10th then a sixth in moto two. I was running eighth in the last race - which would have been good enough for fifth overall - but in a rhythm section I hit a downed rider and wrecked my throttle. I ended up 15th in the stock class and 16th in mod after my gear lever fell off in one of the races."With Loretta's done and dusted Lewis came back to try his hand on the British outdoor scene. "I did a couple of British championship rounds at the end of '02 at Culham and Hawkstone but they didn't go as well as I hoped. I didn't score in the first race at Culham and only got a couple in the second, then I scored about seven points at Hawkstone - it was definitely more difficult than I thought it would be."I never thought it would be easy but I'd been out in America all year and felt I was riding good but the step from schoolboy to adult is a lot more difficult than people think - they expect to come out of the schoolboys and start winning right away but it's a different kettle of fish. The races are longer and there are bigger names up against you, I personally thought I'd have been a lot higher up than I was."But although the results hadn't been as good as the Gregorys expected, someone had already spotted Lewis' potential. "Rob Hooper had seen me riding at some races and also practising at Olympia, he gave me a ring at the end of the year saying he was trying to sort something out with Suzuki and then a little bit later we signed a deal at the Dirt Bike Show."So for '03 Lewis had a new team with a new team-mate - John May. Both team Hooper riders were gonna spend their first full year in the Brit champs and also their first full year on Suzukis after previously battling away with KTMs. "We knew how fast the top guys like Swordy and those guys would be so Rob gave us the advice to go out there and just try our hardest and never give up. So that's the way we started off and we built ourselves a base around that and then tried to get better each week."And even though '03 was spent as a learning year improvements did come and at the season's end third in the under 21s and 13th in the 125 Brit MX championships were a worthy reward.But it's indoors that Lewis perennially performed at his best and entering that winter's Future West SX championship he had to be considered as one of the favourites. "Supercross can be anybody's game - especially in the tight tracks we run in this country. Pretty much anybody on the line for the final can win so long as they get the start and ride sensibly."I knew that the Future West championship was wide open. I felt pretty good going into it and I knew I had good supercross experience. I was fifth at Sheffield, won one final and had a second at Weston, did okay at Cardiff and then we went to Dublin."It was pretty close in points and I went down hard in my semi and was feeling pretty spaced out but I made it to the final through the LCQ. I sat on the line for the Main thinking there's no way I'm gonna get the holeshot from there but I did."I rarely holeshot anyway so I was pretty pleased to do it from the outside when I was feeling like crap. I won the race and Prince DNFed which gave me a good points lead so I just had to go steady at the final round in the NEC. It felt good to win it."So already the British supercross champ at 18, Lewis entered his second full year of the Brit MX series. "I didn't score so many points at the first few rounds but then it just started getting better."By mid-summer Lewis was flying, even more so after receiving some alternative treatment for an age-old motocrossers problem. "I'd been getting a little bit of a problem with arm pump. It looked like I was unfit - I'd get a certain way through the race then my arms would lock up and I couldn't feel anything in my hands."I'd drop back and people thought I was getting tired. I visited a few people to try and get it sorted and eventually I ended up getting acupuncture. They put the needles in my shoulder and the top of my back."The next race after the treatment was Desertmartin. I normally got arm pump as soon as I tried to put in a fast lap in qualifying. I'd get halfway around the lap and it would end up like a balloon."At Desertmartin I put a few fast laps in and they didn't pump up at all. I think that alone just gave me some more confidence and I nearly holeshot the race - I was level with Swordy. That race definitely got the ball rolling - I had more confidence for the rest of the season and I was having fun on the bike."And by the time the final round of the British championship came around at Gore Basin that extra confidence paid dividends with a 5-6 scorecard - by far Gregory's greatest result in a domestic championship round.The following weekend Lewis made his grand prix debut at Ballykelly. Sneaking through qualifying as first reserve, Lulu had to wait for moto two to come around before he could take his place on the start-gate. "Doing the GP was like taking the step from schoolboy to adults again - the pace is just that much quicker."I had to start from the outside because that's the only gate that was left, I think there was a bit of a pile-up in the first turn but I got away in about 20th or so and was running there until I collided with someone. The shifter was all bent up and stuff but I kept going to the end and ended up 21st. It was a really good experience."With the outdoor season done and dusted there was just the little matter of defending that supercross crown. "It had definitely felt good to win the supercross championship in '03/'04 but I'd have liked to have won it this year even more. With the likes of Nunny, Bradshaw and people like that it was a lot more stacked this year."I was ill in the week before Sheffield so physically I wasn't too good but mentally I felt great - having a #1 on your bike is like (Lewis just breaks into a massive grin) - I've never had it before. I felt really good in practice and then I hit a wall!"And, no, he's not talking about the kind of wall Paul Radcliffe collided with! He means a proper wall..."It was just a freak thing, I landed off a little jump and my right foot slipped off the peg. I fell back and gave it a handful of throttle by accident and went braaaaap right over the berm - the wall was right behind it so that was it."You were lucky," pipes in Lewis' pappa. "It was a fast crash." "Yeah," agrees Lulu. "People who were up in the stand reckoned they could feel it when I hit - they said it all went like doiiiiiiiiiiing!"As I went over the berm I let the bike go. I hit the wall quite hard and I thought I'd broke my leg but that was fine - I'd broke my thumb instead."At this point I can't help myself and give Lulu both barrels of Sutty sarcasm - "that was lucky!" But instead of reeling he takes it in his stride. "Actually, that's what people were saying to me," replies Lewis. "They were like 'you were lucky mind' and I'm like 'yeah, cheers, I've got a busted thumb!'"While Lewis missed the double-header in Glasgow, Nunn racked up his third straight win in the series - the championship was already mathematically out of Lewis' reach. The best he could hope for now was a handful of redemption in the form of a Main Event win.Cardiff was Gregory's comeback race but with the Alessi boys in town, Nunn out to prove a point on his KTM debut and Bradshaw still chasing Carl in the points race, the odds were stacked against Lulu from the off before a duff start in the Main made things a whole lot trickier. "I tried to get by people as fast as I could but I got tangled up, banging bars and stuff and the leaders just got away."Which brings us to Dublin - home of Molly Malone and Lulu's latest supercross triumph. "It was good to win in Dublin - good for myself and also the team. I've been struggling with starts just recently - at Sheffield, Cardiff and here in the heats - but I got a decent start when it counted in the final and took the race win."But even with a win in the bag, Lewis is coy when it comes to talking about what might have been had he not been injured in Sheffield. "I can't say yeah I'd have won the championship or whatever - that would have been talking big time because there's a load of good guys out there."I mean, Nunny's nearly won every race and I can't say if I'd have beaten him or not. I would have loved to go out there for the full series and done battle with them, definitely, but that's all I can say."And that's Lewis' style, he's not willing to talk trash and surely that's not a bad thing?While he knows there's no point in talking about what he might have done if things had gone down differently he's slightly more forthcoming when it comes to talking about the '05 season. "I hope for a lot of top fives - that's where I aim to be - but I don't want to set my goals too high and end up disappointed."Even without Swordy, McFarlane or Rattray there's still a lot of fast guys in there. I mainly just want to go out there and race as fast as I can for as long as I can - that's as much as anybody can do."By Sutty