At a crossroads in his pro career, Jack Simpson has hedged his bets with a collection of race-ready vintage motocrossers
After three highly rewarding seasons in the USA, simultaneously campaigning in both the World Off-Road Championship and the National Grand Prix Championship, Jack Simpson returned to Australia at the end of 2024, announcing his intention to switch from enduro to motocross.
It’s been 10 years since we last spoke for Grid Talk. At that time you’d just jumped from motocross to contest the Australian Off-Road Championship – since then, winning the 250 Division of the World (USA) Off-Road Championships. What’s the format of those events?
WORCS is a 20-race cross-country series held across western USA – Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, California and Arizona. Gate starts as in MX, then 10 to 12 cross-country laps over two hours; really different terrain and considerably longer than Aussie enduro events.
You were riding for the SLR Team in the NGPC and for Purlines in WORCS – a bit of a balancing act?
I was based in Joshua Tree, just east of Palm Springs and both series were scheduled so there were no date clashes, and no clashes with the Grand National Cross-Country events over in the east. But yeah, with all the travel it was a busy time for sure; testing, development and driving up to four or five hours between events. Then, towards the end of 2024, the boss of Purlines had some health problems which shut the team down and there were no comparable offers on the table. Besides, I was already thinking it was about time I pulled my weight in the family earthmoving business.
So, in early 2025, you’re back on home soil without a plan to shift dirt, other than with a bulldozer or bobcat?
I’d had some discussions, sure, but after a decade of competing in every type of enduro, I really wanted to test my skills banging bars with our top motocrossers. My long-time sponsor Peter Stevens Motorcycles provided the opportunity to link with the Winner Team in Victoria on the Triumph TF 450-RC.
In a 15-year career, your best performances and National Championships have been won on 250 machines. What was behind the decision to race a 450?
I’d won the WORCS Pro 250 championship for Purlines in 2023 and moved up to the Pro 450 division in 2024, finishing fourth, so I was just as happy on the 450. The Winner Australia Triumph Team was breaking new ground. I wasn’t born the last time Triumph raced motocross.
Having now completed a full Aussie Pro-MX season where you consistently finished in the top half of the field while improving the suspension with each event, are you satisfied with your decision to move from enduro to motocross? Or is the jury still out on that?
Considering we were developing a stock bike with no former R&D to rely on, we did well, making the MX Superpole session in the final event at Queensland Motorsport Park; where I was battling for seventh when I crashed and broke my thumb. No excuses, but coming from a year when I was riding for 40 hours every month to an entire motocross season that’s less than 40 hours total was a real game-changer.
You’re reported as saying earlier this year that you’ve lost interest in enduro. That seems a little premature for a bloke only just turning 30 years of age.
Nothing is off the table for 2026 as far as I’m concerned. Not even Hard Enduro, which seems to be growing in popularity.
Right now, I’m really happy to be back home in Australia putting in long days on the ‘dozer. Next year is an open book. I’m talking to Husqvarna and Kawasaki, but who knows? The only thing for certain is that I have unfinished business at Hattah.
Following two podium finishes at Hattah, it must have been a real bummer going into the final lap of the 2024 event with a commanding lead, then losing due to a stick puncturing the radiator?
I was gutted after all the effort the team had put in, but we finished on the podium and showed that Yamaha is capable of taking it up to KTM.
In hindsight, I really shouldn’t have raced this year’s event as I wasn’t match fit, resulting in my worst-ever finish; even slower than when I raced in the 250 class.
No matter what I race in 2026, I’m certain a Hattah win will come sooner rather than later.
