RIDER PROFILE: OLI SANSOM


August 15th, 2019.


We turn the profile spotlight on Oli Sansom this week. At 32-years-old, he is the oldest member of the 2019 QXoN Team GB, alongside 20-year-olds Harry Walker and Murray Graham, but age clearly hasn’t dampened his enthusiasm for the scene, or his energy for the sport.


It could all have been quite different. Sansom almost quit racing last year as, following several injuries, his father suffering a stroke and his sister having a baby, Sansom decided to focus on the importance of family, health and his new business Sansom Motorsports. He dabbled with karting, but fortunately for the quad world, he was encouraged to go for a play on a quad by his pal Stefan Murphy and he quickly rekindled his quad racing love affair.

He contested the 2018 end-of-year beach races and then turned his attention to the 2019 British QX Championship. He won his first-ever British Championship quad race in the fourth round at Mildenhall. The boost to his confidence after the miserable season the previous year was immense. He was ecstatic, “I know I’m seen as a top ten rider, but if you don’t give up, dreams can come true. I won’t stop trying to improve and to give it my all,” said Sansom. Observers had seen a quiet and steady improvement in Sansom’s riding from the start of the season, among them Karl Robinson, QXoN Team GB manager. With Robinson’s selection criteria favouring both current form and commitment, ahead of the announcement, it was widely predicted that Oli would on the team.


A delighted Sansom wins the final moto at round 4 of the British QX at Mildenhall

Sansom’s love for quadbikes goes back to early childhood when his father bought him a series of fun quads. Thoughts of competing in those days were more focused on the boxing ring though as, inspired by his grandfather, who had been a schoolboy boxing champ, Sansom took up the sport initially to lose weight and get fitter. He finally joined the quad racing ranks, starting with the youth classes, but despite being the fittest he had ever been thanks to the boxing, Sansom quickly found hanging on to a powerful race quad was something quite different. “I was rubbish. I had a lot to learn,” he laughed. Nevertheless, he loved it and won the Norasport Championship in 2005, was second in the Pro-Am category of the Californian based QX Series in 2012, and in 2014 he won the British Beachcross Championship.

Sansom avidly followed the performances of top guys Paul Winrow, John Mitchell and Justin Reid. “They inspired me. I wanted to be that fit, that good.” It was Winrow who helped Sansom get his mojo back at the start of this year. “Paul and I are completely different. He calls it as he sees it and I really want to thank him for the training he’s been doing with me. Perhaps I’d been a bit too intense and too serious, but Paul helped me calm down, step back and take a good look at my performance and approach."

Sansom is the first to admit he led a charmed life in his younger racing days. His father Marcus, who is the owner of Cromwell Trucks and title sponsor of the British Championship, was willing and able to give his son both time and money to chase his dreams. Sansom explained; “When I left school, much to Mum’s dismay, Dad gave me a job in the family business that allowed me to concentrate on competing. In those days you had to qualify to compete in the British Championship and you had to be focused. For years my folks let me continue, despite bringing home too many broken bones and broken machines for their liking. I’m sure they’d have been much happier if I’d got more involved in the business and played table tennis in my spare time!”


Sansom gets stuck in at Preston Docks

Recently, Sansom’s focus has had to change. “I still concentrate on fitness and training, but I have another target too, to repay dad’s investment in me.” To this end, Sansom Motorsports has taken on a Yamaha dealership in the Midlands, with a motocross track and training facility. There are two tracks, one hard-packed, the other sand, along with showers for the riders, jet wash for the bikes and floodlights for winter nights when the track will open till 8pm. “Most of our clients will be motocross riders, but we plan to open our doors to the quad community too. Although we don’t officially launch until later this year, I’m looking at opening the facility early to our quad community, purely as a fundraiser for Team GB.”

Sansoms biggest supporter, girlfriend Becky Rouse, will be in Germany with him for the QXoN event; she and a small group of friends plan to help him do the final round of the British at Canada Heights in Kent and then head straight over the channel and drive to Germany. Missing from the pack however, will be Sansom’s mechanic, Dave Porter. He has been his full-time mechanic for seventeen years now and Sansom rates him highly. “My only regret about QXoN is that Dave is not going be able to join us that weekend. He’s been with me so long now, it just won’t feel right without him.”
Sansom attributes his desire to be professional in everything he does to the standards set by his father and grandfather. “Aiming to always do your best is a Sansom trait. My family are right to expect the best from me in the new business venture they have helped me set up. Although my dad’s rarely seen at events now, he encourages me every step of the way and it’s down to me to make a success of it, to make it work and, for it, not dad, to help me fund and achieve my racing ambitions.
I’ll never give up, it’s just not in my nature. Look at Winrow. He won his last British Championship in his early forties and that’s awesome. I’m still in my thirties and my dream of winning a British Championship is not over yet!”

Sansom is also passionate about building the profile of the sport. “Wouldn’t it be great for quads to be on TV again,” he enthused. “When you compare how the USA support and promote their talented riders, we have a lot to do over here. I looked up to the top guys when I was young and we need to provide a platform for the Pro riders of today to inspire and encourage the younger riders. There’s so much potential to tap into, maybe the time is right to grow the sport again.”

Words: Ann Wood
Images: John Cook & Julian Webb

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