Leighton Rice
April 03, 2007
When you chat to Leighton Rice it’s hard to pin down where on earth he comes from. Firstly there’s the remnants of a Welsh accent from his formative years, a twang which sometimes comes right to the fore. Then there are some soft southern English sounds in there from his time spent in the motocross industry down in Hampshire. And to confuse matters more there is a smattering of Americanisms too. The thirty-two-year old British national who started out with Mervyn Anstie over ten years ago is now based in Southern California working for the US KTM Factory set-up. While building motors for the races and making sure carburetion set-ups are running properly, he resides in Temecula, California. He also makes plenty of trips across the US, and you’ll see him at every other Supercross or National event working with the likes of the Alessi brothers, Josh Hansen and Nathan Ramsey. It’s exactly where Leighton always wanted to be, in the thick of the American scene. Moto caught up with him at the Unadilla National.
How did you get into the sport?
I used to ride from about the age of eleven to eighteen. I did the schoolboys and then did okay as an adult. But I hurt my ankle badly and I knew I wasn’t going to make it much further. It was costing me too much money, and I realised I couldn’t go on with it.
How did you get into the mechanic game then?
In around 1993 I was working in a bike shop called Hanham Motorcycles in England. Then Phil Hanham (who used to race in the British MX Championship) started organising mountain bike events. I met Mervyn Anstie at one of these events at the end of ’93. I got his number out of the telephone book, called him up and said that I’d be interested working for him. I met again him at another mountain bike race that weekend, spoke to him and that’s when I got my first job. It was a paid job straight away. Nothing great, about £100 a week and I lived at his place and that.
Mervyn has a bit of a reputation. What was it like working with him?
He was alright. He does have a bit of a reputation yeah. But I really wanted to get into it and it was a door in. As well as doing his bikes I was also doing his eight quads [for the business he ran], and that’s when it started getting too much. About six months down the line, halfway through the GP season we had a bit of a barny, because he is like he is, and I called it a day. Luckily James Marsh then came calling and I started working with him in the British Championship for the rest of ’94 and then I went to live with him in Belgium in ’95.
A lot of people look back on that era as the last stand for the privateers. With GP prize money all but gone now, is that true?
Yeah they were the good times for GP racing. We’d get to the race and go down to the beer tent after the bikes were done. In those days the riders would come down to the beer tent too. At the beginning of ’95 though, Marshy started taking it seriously and stopped drinking and his results went down a lot. But halfway through the year he started again and his results came right back up! At the end of the year I came back to England and started working for Nathan Shelton on the TRS Yamaha team in ’96, but he was struggling to qualify for GPs and I thought this is bullshit and looked for something else for ’97.
Next up was working for Kurt Nicoll, how did that come about?
He’d had a shit year on the 250s and he was coming back to England to race that KTM 360 in the 500s. I called him up and asked him for a job. I met him in a Little Chef in Chippenham, had an interview with him, and he gave me the job. It was a private deal, but all the material was coming from the factory. I set up a workshop near my home in Ringwood and all the stuff used to come to me there. It was still the days though of doing the truck, suspension and motors yourself and driving to the races. It all went well until a year or so later when Kurt broke his elbow and decided to retire from racing.
How long were you out of a job for?
Not long. I pretty much got a call from Factory Yamaha straight away, to work for Andrea Bartolini. It was to work on the new factory four-strokes, the really trick ones, with the carbon shit. I was part of a team of chassis mechanics and engine guys. It was a proper factory team out of a semi. The following year the team moved to Italy, but Kurt called me – he was now KTM Team Manager – and I went and worked for Shayne King. And I’ve been with KTM ever since.
Do you prefer working on two-strokes or four-strokes?
In the beginning it was two-strokes because as everyone knows, they’re easier. But I think there is so much more scope with the four-strokes now. Everyone is still learning and there’s a lot more to come, which makes it so exciting now. You know Andrew Metcalfe is riding a 250F for the first time this weekend. I saw him start his heat race and he completely overshot the first turn! That shows you four-strokes are the way to go.
How do you find the California lifestyle?
The atmosphere is different to England. When you go into a bar you can’t go to the pub and sit down and have a sandwich. You’ve got to go to TGI Fridays and have wings and drink piss (laughs).
How does it work with the visas and that, can you talk about it?
At the moment I’m legal, all through work visas and that. I’ve never managed to get a three year visa, I’ve always had to get one year ones and renew them from one year to the next. But I got married to an American girl almost two years ago so it’s pretty much sorted now, and we’ve got a kid on the way too.
How do you find the Nationals?
The thing that America has going for it is the supercross. That is what everyone is here for, the Nationals are secondary really. [The set-up] is no different to a British Championship back in England. The only difference is we get to watch Ricky Carmichael.
Who was your favourite rider to work with?
I’ve got to say Kurt, because he’s my boss.
Who’s been the biggest arsehole then. Kurt?
No (laughs), Mervyn Anstie. I wouldn’t say he was a complete lunatic. But he was fanatical about his racing, and sometimes lost it because of that. If you’ve got a real passion for something then that’s how you’re going to be. If I meet him on the street I still say “hello.”
What’s your worse f**k-up?
I remember a British Championship round with Kurt Nicoll. I think his gearbox broke for some reason and we changed everything over to the spare bike for the second race. After about five laps I think the shock-bolt came out. But we were using Ohlins and as the bushes got crushed you were tightening against nothing, I’d seen that before. And I still to this day remember tightening that bolt. I guess that makes it ‘possibly’ my worst fuck-up. I remember the bike being ghosted to me by Nicoll. I loaded that truck up so fast I was out of that track in minutes.
Who out of all your riders had the most talent but failed to use it?
I think most of the riders I worked with reached their potential. If I was to name a rider I haven’t worked with it would be Carl Nunn. He’s always had good deals. I think he needs average deals and good incentives, with goals to aim for. I think he’s had some rough times and that, but he’s a guy I think who could win a World Championship. He was going to be the guy at KTM before Dobb, but Dobb got the deal because Carl turned it down, and look what Dobb did, won the World Championship. Kurt would have been very direct with Carl and I’d really like to have worked with him.
What’s the coolest pit board signal you’ve put out?
Back when I was with Kurt, at the last GP in ’97 I boarded him that he had to pass Daryl King in the race to take second in the Championship. We were all cheering Kurt on at the side of the track, but he crashed. And his words afterwards were something like, “why were you pushing me so hard, why didn’t you let me finish third in the Championship. I’ve been second four times!”
What’s the trickest bike you ever worked on?
Bartolini’s factory Yamaha by far. Carbon fibre sub-frame, carbon fibre tank. Apparently each carburettor was about $10,000 a piece.
Have you ever crashed a race truck?
I was on the way back from a Nations testing session. I was coming down this country lane doing about 40mph. We had this water tank filler sticking out on the side. This woman was coming towards me really fast, and it ripped the front wing off. Kurt paid her off cash.
What are the best and worst motocross inventions?
The worst one was the fad for putting loads of plastics on the side of the bikes, for stickers and advertising. The engine overheated! The best is the start-hook device because it gets the power to the ground. It does was it’s supposed to do. A lot of these ‘inventions’ don’t.
What’s the best gift you’ve ever been given by a rider?
When Jamie won the Championship in 2001 he gave me and a few of the other guys a TAG watch to show his appreciation. That was really, really cool of him.
What’s your funniest road trip story?
Me and Marshy were in our truck. Brian Wheeler was in with us and Danny Smith and a couple of his buddies were towing Wheeler’s caravan in their truck. So we’re going down the highway and they are just looking at us as we take the exit to where we’re supposed to be going. They go the other way, with Wheeler’s caravan on the back. When they eventually turn up at the campsite there’s no caravan, they’d lost it on the highway somewhere. Wheeler’s face was a picture when they rolled in without it. It had his bikes in and everything.
What’s your advice to any mechanics or wannabes reading this?
For a mechanic in England, your goal should be to come over and experience the Supercross and work for a team here. That was always mine. All respect to GP racing and everything, but Supercross is the pinnacle for me. Some might disagree, but if you can get out here, get on it. I recommend it!
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