DAN LINFOOT THE WORLD AT HIS FEET...

The racing world is full of characters who generally like to keep themselves to themselves, and I respect that. However, some of these people have a great story to tell. I'm incredibly fortunate to be friends with a few, have access to many more, and through my role with the award-winning podcast Chasin' the Racing, I get to sit down and chew the fat with some amazing individuals, so I wanted to give you lovely bunch a peep through the keyhole and an opportunity to get to know a bit more about some of these 'people of interest'.

To kick things off, I called up my best mate, Mr Dan Linfoot. He had an incredible season in the British Superstock 1000 in 2023, and it's fair to say he's been in the limelight after his performances throughout the year. He's just signed for the factory Suzuki world endurance team, SERT, and it seemed like a good opportunity to chew the fat. A quick background on me and Dan. We're both now in our mid-30s, both now fathers of two girls, and live half an hour away from each other.

We've known each other since we were 11, went to school together (although Dan was in the year above), and we spent every day after school out on our BMXs, riding round the sleepy streets of Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. Dan's the reason I find myself in the bike world. He introduced me to minibike racing in 2004 and the rest is history, as they say.

Dan's racing career really has been something to admire. He's raced in British Championship support classes, European Superstock, Spanish CEV, South America, Australian Classic, 125GPS, 250GPs, World Supersport, British Superbikes, and now World Endurance. We met for a coffee to reminisce over the last 24 years.

Joe: Right chief, for the benefit of the reader, let's go back to where it all started. [Dan smiles awkwardly because we've been on this whole journey together, so I know exactly what he's about to say. I've tried to press record on my phone four times, but every time I press that red button, we both drop to bits and start laughing].