Steve Turner - It's the end of an era
By TMX Archives on 6th Oct 16
In his final season Turner claimed the British MX2 Championship in the hands of Adam Sterry, while Shaun Simpson placed second overall in MX1, but not even those successes can change his mind.
As an amateur racer himself, Steve decided to set up his team after both he and his son Adam suffered an injury and he's been part of the fabric of British motocross since 2008. For someone who started it as a hobby, he didn't do too badly.
We grabbed a quick word with him at his final outing at the Motocross of Nations in Italy (as we entered his race transporter he kept his shoes on - my quip to him was: "There was a time when you used to take them off." I guess you really are over it then? [Which he found quite funny].
TMX: So how did it all begin?
ST: After we stopped riding I decided to help out Nez Parker. That was 2008 with the team being STR Honda. Jim Murro was the other rider on the team. For the first three years we just did the British Championship and then started to drift into doing a few GPs before committing full-time to GPs. So we've been doing GPs for over four years now.
TMX: Nez was your way in with STR Honda before the team became known as Proppa.com again with Honda and then you switched to KTM in 2012?
ST: Yes, with Nez and Matiss Karro. That was with KTM UK Motorsport. Roger Magee was the official MX2 team but there was no-one in MX1 and KTM wanted that covered and that was it and we've been with them ever since.
Each year we've continued to develop everything from the presentation of the team, the truck, to getting better riders each year culminating this year with a great line up, one in each class - Adam Sterry in MX2 and Shaun Simpson in MX1.
Matiss won for us in 2014 in MX2 and then Adam won for us this year so as a team we've won two British titles.
TMX: Sum up this year then and what has brought you to the decision to stop?
ST: The time's right. I've done enough and put a lot of effort in. Because of the way I am, I have to try and do everything right and that means you put more effort in than other people so you're literally living it day in, day out, every day for 365 days a year.
I just feel like I need to get my life back - I need to spend more time with my family and spend more time at home.
I'm fed up with all the travelling. It's just relentless and the way the team is funded through KTM through UK Motorsport I have to commit to doing the British Championship, as well as the GPs, so that's another eight rounds on top of the 18 GPs. It also means a workshop abroad and one here so when you start adding it all up it's just too much work and the enjoyment's gone out of it.
I only do it as a hobby but it's become more of a job and so I just feel the time is right to call it a day.
TMX: What's your day job?
ST: I don't have a day job. All I do is just run the team. I used to have a wholesale company and I sold it in 2006, so I basically retired in 2006. I enjoyed racing more, travelling around, going to Spain with my son racing. We had a good time but then we both got injured so that's when I started the team.
TMX: You've worked with some good riders over the years. Starting with Shaun. What have they been like to work with?
ST: Shaun is the most professional rider I've worked with and he's a great guy to work with, although to be honest, both lads I've had this year have been superb to work with. I think to myself: "Why the hell am I packing in?" but that doesn't outweigh the rest of the negatives of where I feel I'm at - it's not enough to keep me in it.
Adam's obviously had a good couple of seasons - twice third in the EMX250 series, third in the British and British Champion this year after missing a round at the beginning of the year and riding injured at the second round, fantastic. It shows a lot about who he is, his character and he's coming on.
Sometimes people underestimate how hard it is to make those steps and sometimes it's a little bit slow like one year he was third in the British and third in the European and then the next year he repeated it and you want him to go from third to second or to win it, and it didn't happen. This year and without that injury he would have been on a lot of people's radar - he's got the natural ability on a bike and he's got the work ethic to do it.
TMX: What about Nez? I'm guessing the reason you started with him was because he was a good local rider on his way up?
ST: Absolutely, he's a mega rider and as a junior he was fantastic with a great style. He throws a 450 around like it's a 125 but unfortunately he picked up too many injuries - he did his knees so many times and trying to do GPs like that was maybe just a little bit beyond him. His injuries knocked his confidence I think.
Matiss was fantastic as well. We had him for three years - always smiling, always jovial. That's just the way he is. He can be really serious, stressing himself out sometimes, puts himself in a zone and gets too serious, like when he won the MX2 championship - he should have walked that series but he built the pressure up himself, to such a high level that you couldn't even go near him for 30-minutes before a race.
We managed to knock that out of him later on in the season, where he started to relax and then he started to dominate. He'd win a race and lose a race. He'd be super fast in one and then just throw it down the track in the next, and then try to come storming back through and throw it down the track again. However, he was great to work with, always put a lot of effort in but had bad luck with injuries and some of the crashes he had were sometimes not his fault but, there were some big ones...
TMX: Listening to you recount some of those memories and looking at your facial expressions as well, you're going to miss it aren't you? You've had some good moments - some good times...
ST: I will miss certain aspects of it, but everybody has different phases in their life - I've just got to go into another phase now.
TMX: What would you put as your top three moments running the team?
ST: Things like getting on the podium with Adam for the first time in the European series was fantastic. Winning at Matterley Basin with him as well - that was great and a definite highlight. But, I don't know! There are too many - I'll say one and tomorrow I'll think of something better [laughing].
TMX: The MXON was your last weekend as a team owner then?
ST: Yes, my last one but I plan to help out with another team in the background, although to what extent I'm not really sure yet. But I will no longer be running my own team and I don't want to go to every GP - I'm 100 per cent certain about that.
I just want to get up in the morning and do what I want to do and not be controlled. The thing that brought it home to me, when I knew I needed to stop was getting up in the morning, looking at my phone and going: "I'm not even gonna read my e-mails, not gonna look at my messages, don't wanna look at anything anymore", and that's when I knew I'd done enough. I'd never been like that before...
