In 2010, the ‘Just Reid RaceTeam‘ became Team Dirt with Ben and Dan Stanbridge at the wheel. By 2014, Ben had stopped racing altogether and was now running the team full time.

The team has gone from strength to strength under his guiding hand with Jacob Dickson grabbing third as a first year junior at the Hafjell World Champs and Phil Atwill nailing the team’s first senior podium at Lenzerheide this year.

Ben said: “Even with all the experience I have from doing this over the years I still find myself learning every year, building a better understanding for the difference types of teams out there and how we all get to the same end goal of having our ducks in a row come March time each year.

“The Dirt team is a privately run team where currently Propain is our frame partner and we rely heavily on securing co sponsor deals in a timely manor so we can nail down our riders and staff. Although we always seem to get there in the end it can somethings take a little longer for a team such as ours to nail down enough budget so we can be in the position to make those all important offers to our riders.

“Factory teams on the other hand are run in house by the bike manufacture themselves where most of the budget comes from them and through internal OEM deals that prompt the co-sponsors to contribute a percentage of the sales towards their team, therefore they can be in a more financially secure position much sooner and can take advantage of this by hand picking the team they desire.

“Fortunately the Dirt Team has some great sponsors on board with a clear understanding of whats required to make it all happen so this really hasn’t been to much of a problem for us and on the other hand being a privately run team with myself as an ex World Cup racer at the wheel I have a lot more flexibility and control over the entire structure from media, and making sure all the riders needs are met.

“Right now I am working on some big plans for the team and feel 2018 is going to be our most exciting year yet…