Pain barrier
By TMX Archives on 12th Dec 03
family is well known in the world of MX. THE CHURCH family is well known in the world of MX. Mike Church built-up and ran the successful MJ Church Kawasaki racing team, wife Paula played a big part in it and their daughter Lisa - as well as dating Josh Coppins - handled, among other things, the team PR.But this story ain't really got too much to do with any of that - we're interested in Mike and Paula's son Tom. Now being born into the Church family is a definitely an advantage if you want to go racing (Mark Hucklebridge is Tom's cousin) but, as we all know, you don't get Jack in MX if you're not prepared to work your *******s off to get to the top.As with any other grand prix rider, Tom has to work hard - real hard - to keep moving up the rungs of the GP ladder. A lot of people will know that I've worked with Tom in the past, through good times and bad. He's been through a lot of ***t and has come out the other side a better and stronger rider so, with this in mind, I sat down with TC for a bit of a chin-wag...dbr: Any nicknames Nipper?TC: "Er, Nipper, TC, Slim, Muncher - in fact, all the names which you came up with Paddy!"dbr: What about Little Tommy Church?TC: "Yeah, that as well!"dbr: Hometown?TC: "Marshfield, Wiltshire - the 'El Cajon' of the UK. It's great round there. Me, Huck (Monster) and Swordy all live there, we ride and train a lot in the area and it's pretty central to get around the UK to race and to get to the airports for the GP travel thing."dbr: I ain't really into too much history but you're a bit of a quiet one. I think you need to take the readers on a past to present trip to get everyone up to speed. Take it away Muncher...TC: "Okay then... I done the schoolboy national thing from the age of 10-16 and in that time I won a few championships but I was never the dominant force in schoolboy racing such as Nunny or Swordy, I just kinda quietly got on with it."At 16 I went into the adult ranks still mounted on a Kawasaki as I'd been through all of my years racing. Finishing 17th in the 125cc championship wasn't mega but I kept improving as the year went on and my best result was a seventh at Lyng in Norfolk."1999 was another year of steady progress and improvement and towards the end of the year I got the chance to compete in my first GP in Portugal. The experience was absolutely awesome and I was hooked. I qualified and finished the first race in around 24th position. It was so hot that day - Swordy holeshot the first race and passed out after around 15 minutes so I was pumped to finish moto one and really looked forward to the second."My pace was quicker in moto two and I battled with Eric Eggens in around 19th position for a while in the race then I hyper-extended my knee exiting a turn into a drop-off. My knee ligaments snapped and that was that."The injury and operations after made my season in Y2K an up and down affair but I just had to get my head down and try to work through the difficulties and hope all would come good in time. That time came at Gaildorf at the final GP of the year. There was a boat strike so I was struggling to get my bike to the GP."Because of the tie-up with Kawasaki, in desperation we called Jan De Groot in Holland to see if he could spare us a bike to use. "Just a stock bike would be good if possible Jan..." He said he would sort something out so we flew to Germany and there it was - Steve Ramon's second bike. The thing was the tits. A factory bike, I was absolutely pumped. The weekend went really well and it remains one of the big highlights of my career to date."I finished the first moto in fifth place and in moto two I was running in the top six again when I got real bad stomach cramps and I ended up finishing in eighth position for fifth overall on the day and 29th in the world championships - giving me automatic entry to the next year's GP schedule."For 2001 I was selected for a training year with Jacky Vimond through Oxbow Europe. I was real happy at this because it showed the faith people had in me - as it turned out I should have carried on as I was."I underwent a ridiculous amount of training through the winter and upon my return from the Australian GP - where I had a race-long battle with a fellow young rider by the name of Ben Townley - I was totally wrecked. My body had cried out "enough" and eventually after many tests and even more miles I was diagnosed with over-training syndrome. That pretty much messed everything up for me for a long time."dbr: Nightmare times. So for '02 you left the Kawasaki fold and rode a Bott Motovision KTM.TC: "Yeah, the '02 season started off not too badly. I was still feeling the effects of my illness but the support from people like Rob Hooper, my family and Howard (International) Smith at Bott really helped me along. Early season my speed was real good and I scored points pretty easy at the first round."Things were going along pretty nicely, then I broke my collarbone and another nightmare began. An injury, which should have been a simple fix, turned into a long line of problems. The rest of the year was spent riding with the shoulder injured and I needed four operations."But I did finish with 11th place in the last GP of the season in Russia which was pretty cool as I was riding my practice bike which we carried there in suitcases."dbr: I remember it well Slim. Still, despite another bad injury, '03 has been your most successful season so far. Did you enjoy being part of the Albion Team?TC: "Yeah. The team worked good and after having absolutely no help from KTM UK in '02 it was good to be able to bring in resources to help my racing. As with '02, I started off '03 strong and felt better as each week went by. My shoulder was coming stronger and stronger and my confidence was growing."With scores in the first two GPs and the lead in the British championships secured by 26 points after my first race win at Lyng all was looking good. I wasn't I wasn't riding over my head, just smooth and consistent."Unfortunately, Lady Luck kicked me in the nuts and I crashed my pit bike and my collarbone broke again. I didn't know but one of the holes from the plate which I had removed from the bone the previous year had not healed correctly and the bone was just waiting to break."dbr: That's real bad luck Little Tommy Church!TC:" Yeah, I suppose these things happen and you just have to get on worth it. After the bone graft operation I tried to get ready to ride at Hawkstone Park to keep my championship lead but when the surgeon tried to remove the external cage from the bone the pain was unbearable as it hadn't healed up enough after three weeks. The championship had slipped away so I decided to get it strong before trying another return."dbr: The return went okay as you finished with a score at the last GP and third in the British championship.TC: "Yeah, it turned out not too bad. I was pumped with the GP in France to run in third position for a while. I know I can run the pace, I just gotta be fit and strong enough to go the distance. In my four years in the pro ranks I have been injured for 50 per cent of the time. I want to get up front again at the British championships and more importantly GPs."dbr: "What are your aims and plans for '04?"TC: "For '04 I'm back on the Kawasaki marque. The bike is awesome and I just want to get strong and ride hard and consistently through the entire season. My body's getting stronger as I get older so I'd like to think I can be challenging the top guys at every race I compete in when the season commences and then all through it."The new deal with Kawasaki gives me all the opportunities to go forward and get faster, I'm really looking forward to the challenge and just getting out there and havin' it!"dbr: Okay TC, do you want to thank anyone before we wrap this up?TC: "Not really, everyone who helps me along the way knows I appreciate all they do. But I will say thanks to the editor of this fine publication for printing this interview. Have you seen him recently? He's lost loads of weight and is looking real good (see TC, don't mess with the press - SL)."By Geoff Walker