Rider Interview - Joe Walton.

Posted by Jake Causier on June 1st, 2020

26 year old Joe from Preston in Lancashire followed in his Dad's footsteps when he began racing and immediately revealed himself as a seriously quick peddler on any machinery. Always happy to stop and chat whenever he spots me at the circuit to share his wit and wisdom on how thing are going over the race weekend.

Joe also provided me with one of the most spectacular run of images I've ever captured on camera at Darley Moor in 2018 (See Q10).

Q1 - Race number? 173.

Q2 - Club / Championship? I run mainly between No Limits and Darley Moor.

Q3 - Class / Classes? At the moment we are just running in the 600 class.

Q4 - Debut? 2016 at Three Sisters (In the pissing wet!).

Q5 - Honours / Titles? I won 2 championships on the Minitwin in 2016 and 2017.

Q6 - Favourite Circuit and Favourite Corner? Oulton Park! And has to be Druids.

Q7 - Boyhood heroes? My boyhood hero was always my Dad, watching him race his old Steelframe 600 when I was a kid, I just couldn't wait to race my own bike.

Q8 - Toughest rival? Without a doubt Andrew Lowe, even though we only had a handful of races together in the Pre-Injection class. We didn't half knock the shit out of each other but it was always fast and fair!

Q9 - If I could swap places with any other rider? Tough question! Anyone with a shit load of money.

Q10 Biggest accident? Well that one's easy. Stars at Darley 2018, I can't give you an exact place as I think it covered about 3 corners lol.

Q11 - Biggest influence on your career so far? Would have to be Dave Carson, not giving you a reason why as his heads big enough already!

Q12 - Rossi or Marquez? Always Rossi.

Q12a - If I wasn't racing I would be? Rich!

Q14 - Nickname? Wally Walton.

Q15 - If money were no object I would? Spend every second on 2 wheels!

Q16 - Brown or Red sauce, Coke or Pepsi? Brown, and I don't drink either.

Q17 - If I could be one person for one day I would be? My girlfriend so I could feel how amazing it is to have a boyfriend this perfect!

Q18 - Cost to race per season? If I was to count, I wouldn't be racing.

Q19 - Dream bike? Yamaha R7.

Q20 - Training regime (Gym rat or bike fit)? Squash, Ice Hockey and MTB.

Q21 - Dogs or Cats? Dogs, I'm sure most people have seen me at Darley with my 2 pet horses!

Q22 - From October to March I can be found doing? Mainly recovering from the annual September/October crash!

Q23 - Dry track, wet track or not fussed? Always go well in the wet, but you just can't beat the dry.

Q24 - Best ever race? Coming from the back of the grid (26th) on the Pre-Injection SRAD to finish 2nd is the race that always comes to mind, I think just due to the talent I had to pass In that race. 2018 Pre-Injection / Steelframe has to be one of the most competitive grids I've ever raced with.

Q25 - Special thanks to? So many people who have helped me over the last few years, it wouldn't be possible without any of them!!

That's a wrap from Joe and up next is another PDMCC runner in the shape of Tom Major.