Interview – Ben Cathro

How did you feel when Tommy C approached you?

I felt a wee bit apprehensive to be honest because I think we pushed things pretty flipping hard in the first film and it was like, “Ummm, I’m not sure if we can safely push things any further”. There were so many crashes the last time so I was excited but definitely nervous.

Who built the new track?

It was the Dudes really – Joe, Lachlan, Liam and I think a few others helped as well. When I got there it was all brand new, which is always exciting trying to go flat out on a track you’ve never seen. I think they just wanted to go classic Fort William – fresh, rutted out, just mess because that seemed like it went down well the first time. We just went filthier.

I think Fort William you either ride rocks on the downhill track or dirty boggy ruts everywhere else. Fort William is just perma bog.

Who took the biggest bail? Was it your stone smasher?

I don’t know if you’d count it as the biggest bail, although it was actually pretty violent. I took the worst injury but the crash was absolutely rubbish, it was a poverty, slow motion, shoulder barge to a tree. I think the plum smasher might take the biscuit just because it was the most painful. I pretty much much thought I’d ruptured something downstairs

The most spectacular has got to go to Mackie just for the sheer comedy of it. It was just the nastiest drop into actual deep bog and no one wanted to ride it so we just started egging on Mackie, knowing full well that there was no chance of him nailing it. And then he just nailed himself face first into the bog. It was amazing because his head just disappears, all you see are his shoulders flush to the ground 

Next it was on to Inverness with a van packed full of fireworks and a crew ready to lay down some bangers