2015 Dirt Orange World Team Announcement

We’ve just had Ben Reid on the blower and the cat that is the new Dirt team for 2015 is well and truly out of the bag and running wild! Reidy will be heading up the crew this season and after Harry Heath moved on to the Norco team there have been a few changes in the cab of the Vampire Deluxe. Here’s the word from Ben and some details as to what will be going down for the team in 2015.

Since the Dirt team began it’s become known for bringing talent through the ranks, last year the team had some of its best results to date seeing Harry Heath establish himself as a solid top 20 World Cup rider and Jacob Dickson taking home the Bronze medal from World Championships as a first year Junior. For 2015 the team will continue with Jacob adding two new Elite riders to the roster in the form of Phil Atwill and Alex Bond. The team would like to wish Harry all the best with his new team for this season, we shared some good times on the road and no doubt Harry will still be over to sample the best tea in the pits! The team will also be working with some exciting new sponsors this year including Bliss clothing and protection as well as X-Fusion suspension. More on all that from Ben and the riders below:

Ben Reid

Firstly I’d like to thank all our sponsors from 2014 for their support, we had one of our best seasons to date and couldn’t have done it without them. I really enjoyed working with both Harry and Jacob helping them as racers, being fresh off the circuit myself I felt I could really tune in to what they needed to help them focus on racing their bikes. After taking Jacob under the wing last year I was very impressed how he was able to adapt to World Cup racing and it was great to see him make the most out of being on the team. With Jacob having another year in Juniors I feel we can put this young ripper on the top step at the British Nationals, World Cups and at the World Champs. I am also really pleased that we have been able to add Phil and Alex to the team.

Phil really impressed me last year as a first year elite taking 14th at the Meribel World Cup and also finishing 3rd over all in the highly competitive European Cup series. With some good structure through the winter for Phil and support from the team I feel he can be well inside the top 20 at World Cups on a regular basis. I am also pleased we are in a position to bring Al Bond on board the team, I have known Bondy for years and you really would be hard pushed to find another rider out there with more raw talent and sheer out and out speed than this guy. Who remembers Bondy’s killer season in 2011 when as a privateer he smashed the UK national series taking the overall title? Since then Al has had nothing but injury after injury and for the first time in a long time has a full off season in front of him fighting 100% fit, with the added structure of having coach Alan Millway and with Bondy’s undeniable hunger for World Cup results I look forward to seeing what he can do this year.

Phil Atwill

Well excited to be on the Dirt Orange Team for 2015, I started racing on a little Patriot back when I was 11 and it’s cool to be back with Orange as an Elite! Alongside a great bike I’m chuffed to have Ben as a team manager, Al bond and Jacob Dickson as team mates will be sweet too! Bring on a top 2015 season!

Follow Phil here
Twitter: @PhilipAtwill Instagram: @phil_atwill FaceBook: Philip Atwill

Al Bond

I’m really pleased to be riding for the Orange Dirt World Team for 2015 and working with Ben Reid. The last 2 seasons I haven’t had much luck with injuries, and as a privateer it’s been difficult managing everything. Having support from a team at the races is so valuable and I can’t wait to just focus on my racing!

Follow Al here
Twitter: @albondracing Instagram: @AlBondRacing FaceBook: Alex Bond

Jacob Dickson

I’m really happy that I’m on the team again for next year, I was happy with my last result at Worlds and hope to continue with this for next season, it’s a big help having Ben as my manager as well, I want to win the overall and worlds title next year and I think we have the bike and equipment what will make that possible, now I just can’t wait till the new season comes round!

Follow Jacob here
Twitter: @jacobdickson19 Instagram: @jacob_dickson63 FaceBook: Jacob Dickson

We will be bringing you updates all through the season and you will get a proper introduction to the guys in March when they are ripping on their fresh bikes in their new kit!

Testing Testing, 1 2 3

As well as moving forward with Orange I’m pleased we will also continue with many of our multi year partners such as DT Swiss, Schwalbe, Bell, Renthal, Works Components, Gamut and Slik Graphics. We also have some exciting new company’s we will be working with, the team has always been keen on working closely with it’s sponsors on product development and I’m delighted to have the opportunity to work with some great new sponsors this year such as Bliss protection and clothing and X-Fusion suspension. Things have been going great so far with Bliss, their padding and protection is already dialled and we are working closely with them to develop new line of kits for Enduro/Trail and DH which they will launch later this year.

I’m just back from a week of testing with X-Fusion Shox, they are a young company and have a great team of highly enthusiastic and experienced employees. Everyone working there is a good bike rider and for me it has been really easy to relate when discussing suspension and giving feed back, it was refreshing to spend the week with them and too see how closely they all work together on each project to make sure they haven’t left a stone unturned before going to production. I’ve seen their products on the circuit last season and heard only good things about the RV1 DH fork and the HLR damping system which they now use in their 140 and 160mm forks as well. After meeting the guys at Euro bike back in August I was really keen to have these guys on board and after testing the suspension in October we didn’t hang around before signing up for the season ahead. I am also pleased to add to the sponsor list Giro Shoes, HT Pedals, Formula Brakes, Race Face crank sets and Rip N Roll goggles. Below is our full list of 2015 sponsors:

Media and Spanners

We will also be working with Tom Caldwell/Caldwell Visuals who will be taking care of all things media and shooting our new series of on line videos, some of you might have seen the awesome job Tom has been doing shooting winter riding videos for Dirt with a bunch of flat out underdog UK riders. We worked with Tom a bit last year and its great to have him on board as our full time media guy this year, we have some cool ideas for the videos this year so please keep an eye on those for everything from racing to road trips to flat out riding edits. Also new to the squad is Derick Davoren who will be our new road man and bike mechanic, Derick has been running his own bike tuning and repairs shop for a few years and I couldn’t help but be impressed with his sharp looking set up when I met him at some Irish races earlier last year. He also built his own camper/race van which got us off to a solid start! (You know you can always trust a man who built his own camper!) I was so impressed with his van in fact that ive had him finish off all the little jobs on the team bus that I never got around to finishing, Derick has has the Vampire Deluxe for a couple of months now and is giving her the full Davoren treatment, he sent me me some photos of how he’s getting on, the work shop doesn’t know what’s hit it with airlines plumbed in now and switches for just about everything you can imagine! I cant wait to get the VD back in a few weeks time and check out his handy work, he is a true craftsman!

See you at the races! – Ben Reid