Rider interviews - Tony Griffiths.

Posted by Jake Causier on May 21st, 2020

Tony from Cardiff in South Wales has been racing since 2015 and made history at the PDMCC double-header in 2019 taking 12 wins from 12 starts. (The story ran in UK Clubsport issue #6 as was accompanied by my first published image in a hard copy magazine).

Q1 - Race number? 7.

Q2 - Club / Championship? PDMCC, Tonfanau and Darley Moor.

Q3 - Class / Classes? Formula400, Forgotten Era & Up to 500cc,

Q4 - Debut? May 2015.

Q5 - Honours / Titles? PDMCC Champion in all my classes with lap records in each class for 2 years running including 'Rider of the Club' and most wins in the double header with 12 out of 12. Darley Moor Formula Darley Champion and lap record holder & Forgotten Era Champion and lap record holder. Tonfanau Steelframe 600 Champion in 2016 & 2017. Aintree F400 Champion in 2018 and a 3rd place finish in the Lightweight class at Aberdare Park in my 1st National road race.

Q6 - Favourite Circuit and Favourite corner? Wigan (Three Sisters) and Aintree because they're so different but the fast right hander at Aintree is my favourite corner, not sure of the name though haha.

Q7 - Boyhood Heroes? Definitely Barry Sheene and Joey Dunlop.

Q8 - Toughest rival? John Price, one of the quickest 400 riders I know.

Q9 - If I could swap place with any other rider? Anyone under 45! Then I could enter the Manx GP.

Q10 - Biggest accident? At Aintree getting rear ended by a Minitwin but I've had a few accidents and haven't broken anything yet!!

Q11 - Biggest influences on your career so far? 100% my twin brother Mark Griffiths and his GF Hayley Parkhouse also best mate Adam Short who's my mechanic and top helper.

Q12 - Rossi or Marquez? Rossi but you've got to admire Marquez.

Q12a - If I wasn't racing I would be? I'd like to travel.

Q14 - Nickname? Snobby when I was a kid, no need to explain why haha.

Q15 - If money were no object I would? Be setting up my own race team and travel the world racing in the Moto2 Championship.

Q16 - Brown or Red sauce, Coke or Pepsi? Brown and Coke but only with JD's!

Q17 - If I could be one person for one day I would be? My Dad because he's so laid back and happy-go-lucky and also he's handsome for his age, we call him Tom Jones.

Q18 - Cost to race per season? No comment!

Q19 - Dream bike? MV Augusta F3, stunning.

Q20 - Training regime (Gym rat or bike fit)? Don't do any training, the amount of races we do is enough to keep me fit at the moment.

Q21 - Dogs or Cats? Definitely dogs but if it's human I prefer pussies!!

Q 22 - From October to March I can be found? No doing my bikes as I'm always last minute, probably just drifting through life waiting for the season to come around.

Q23 - Dry track, wet track or ot fussed? Prefer dry and never used to like the wet but I've had some good results in the rain so really don't mind.

Q24 - Best ever race? 100% Tonfanau when I won my first ever championship in my first full season on the Steelframe 600 which went down to the last race of the championship and I won it by 600th of a second at the flag having followed Dean Elphgrave for the whole race. We had a mega party that night I can tell you!

Q25 - Special thanks to? Where do I start? All my family, Mum, Dad, brother, sister. My daughter and all the kids, Derek Smith at DSR Racing, Tim Slaughter of Mid Life Classics, Adam Short, Dean John, Two Wheel Engineering, Weekes Works, Skidmarx Screens, M&P's, Hels Brake Lines, Donna Sian Jones my sister, J&F Powder Coating, my teammate Marty Robbins and all the new friends and fantastic people I met. Just so many to name I could go on and on and of course yourself mate.

Big thanks to Tony for some fantastic answers, hopefully we will be following his and all the other featured riders when the season finally gets underway.

Up next we're off to South Yorkshire to catch up with Alex Latham.