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Catching up with Chris Birch

Tuesday, 30 June 2009 23:30

Steve Sommerfeld catches up with Pom FMXer Chris Birch on why he spent 25,000Euro on his van, the shithouse FMX scene in the UK, and how his Backflip made a fellow freestyle rider screw the ugliest prostitute in Europe.

There’s nothing like heading to the world famous Lommel MX track in Belgium and thinking we should probably have a huge factory transporter so at least this bunch of freestylers look like they’ve got some game. Instead I chose to roll with Chris Birch in his pimpin’ Mercedes Vito with custom paint-work and panel-work. Hop inside and you can see that there’s been easily 25,000Euro spent on the stezza, bucket seats and trick bits and pieces throughout, but the big rig is no closer to being finished than a Mexican working during a siesta. So here I am, rolling in style and interviewing Chris Birch, a native of Great Britain, and getting his take on riding in Europe and travelling the world.

Swampy, firstly is there anywhere to ride in the motherland of Great Britain?
Nah, not really. It’s a pretty small scene in the UK.  There’s no competition over there and FMX never really took off. We sometimes have shows, but competitions just never work.
There are a handful of riders that are doing shows, but being that it’s small everyone is fighting for the same piece of pie and end up all undercutting each other. If they worked it out it could be cool. It’s half the reason I moved to Belgium – it’s so much easier to ride here now. Kris Brock is from the UK and he’s one cool guy and one of the most talented riders I’ve ever seen.

I’ve seen you doing IFMXFs and IFMAs in years past. Are you still into the competition side of FMX?
Not so much, as I have way more fun doing shows. I do have a competitive side to me, but it’s more about me competing against myself, not other riders. I always have the fire inside me to try something new or bigger tricks and I work off of other people’s riding.
I’m not a flipper at the moment, so I’m more keen on doing demos and it’s a much more relaxed way to live. We ride and travel the world with Red Bull X-Fighters Exhibitions, which is much more fun knowing you can party, and not have to back it upwith a comp the next day.
However I do have a big comp coming up soon that’s hush hush, so keep your eyes out for me soon!



I take it you’ll need the Backflip for this comp? Will you stick to them this time?
Yeah I’ll definitely have to do the flip and this time I won’t stop doing it. I flipped to foam years ago off a kicker in Germany and I managed to get all the way around first go. By the end of the week I was ready to go to dirt, but it just never happened.
A year later I went to Chuck Carother’s place in the States while I was doing IFMAs and I tried there too. It rained for four days, then the last day was sunny so I hit it up at 75ft. I didn’t gas off the ramp and I stuffed it so I went flying through the air. I landed at the front of the pit and the bike went to the back.  I’d kind of had enough by then and left it.  Then I got in contact with Jimmy and he said his foampit would be ready, so I tried there. I’ve been to dirt a few times, but the best one was my first flip.
Gilles DeJong made a bet with me that if I didn’t flip two weeks after X-Fighters I’d have to shag a prostitute of his choice. There was no way I was letting that happen so I went out and flipped to dirt. So it’s turned back on him and he still has to have sex with the ugliest, fattest pro I can find.
At the time, winning the bet was the main reason and I really wish I kept doing them, but riding shows week in, week out it was hard to get the chance to keep on top of them and I lost my confidence.
Since all you Aussies have been here and Brad Burch just flipped straight up, I have to do it next week. I’m going to dirt!
NOTE: after this interview Chris lived up to his word and stuck the Backflip to dirt again. Congrats, mate!

I also heard you were supposed to ride the Crusty Demons UK tour.
Yep, you heard right. Chris Foreman asked me to ride it as the UK rider and asked for all my tricks, but because I didn’t have the flip down at the time I didn’t get in. I had a few months to learn it before the tour, but with all the Red Bull shows I just didn’t have time. But it was all good, Luke Smith who’s also a Pom got to ride the show, which was cool.

Well we’ve arrived at the track, and I have one more question: when will all the work on the van get finished?
I don’t think it ever will. I originally went in to get a paint job and the guy in the shop kept telling me I needed more and more. Everything was sweet until I’d spent 25,000Euro and they wanted money and they still haven’t finished it. I think getting a Toyota Tundra would have been a better bet.

Cheers Swampy, good luck with everything and I’ll remember to never make a bet with Gilles!  

QUICK STATS
Name: Chris Birch
Age: 24
Lives: Belgium, originally Cambridge, UK
Occupation: Pro FMX
Sponsors: DVS, Kini Red Bull, Wings for Life, Factory one Racing, FMX4Ever, KTM, Laser helmets, Von Zipper, Alpinestars, Donjoy
Bike: 2009 KTM 250SX
Years riding: FMX since 2002
Favourite country: Oh that’s hard... Prague in Czechoslovakia
Worst injury: Lost the end of my right index finger.  Crashed and my hand got stuck between the exhaust and rough bitumen.  I slid along and tore the end off.