John Purse
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John Purse (b. September 7, 1972 in Orlando, Florida, raised in Spring, Texas USA) is a former American professional "Mid School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1990-2000. Nicknamed "The Vigilante" early in his pro career for his alleged dirty riding and fouling competetors[1] and later and most famously "The Jackal" in the mid 1990's because of his "mad dog" riding style [2] and for his not backing off and fighting back.[3] He developed a reputation of being an erratic (termed "Squirrelly" in the slang of the BMX racing world) riding style that made him unpredictable and therefore hard to pass when he was in the lead. This was also partly responsible for him being labeled by his competitor a "dirty rider".[4]
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[edit] Racing career
Note: All first in Pro Class are on the national level unless otherwise noted.
Started Racing: February 8, 1981 at eight years old at Armadillo Downs in Conroe, Texas.[5][6]
Sanctioning Body:
First race result: Second place.[7]
First win (local):
First Sponsor:
First national win:
Turned Professional: 1990 at age 17.
First Professional race result: First place in "A" pro at the American Bicycle Association (ABA) Lone Star Nationals San Antonio, Texas in January 1990. He won US$525.[8]
First Professional win: See above.
First Junior Pro* win: See above.
First Senior Pro** win:
Retired: Still active in Senior Pro competition.
Height & weight at height of his career (1990-2000): Ht:6'0" Wt:~185lbs.
*In the NBL it is B"/Superclass/"A" pro (beginning with 2000 season); in the ABA it is "A" pro.
**In the NBL it is "A" pro (Elite men); in the ABA it is "AA" pro.
[edit] Career factory and major bike shop sponsors
Note: This listing only denotes the racer's primary sponsors. At any given time a racer could have numerous co-sponsors.
[edit] Amateur
- Eagle Snacks: March 1987-August 1988. At this time Eagle Snacks was still a separate racing team and had not merged with MCS.
- MCS (Moto Cross Specialties) Bicycles[9]/Eagle Snacks: August 1988-November 1988. Eagle Snacks formed a joint team sponsorship with MCS Bicycles in August 1988 to defer some of the cost of fielding a BMX racing (or in other cases freestyle) team. This was the modern start of trend of two separate companies jointly sponsoring a team that became standard practice by the year 2000.
- Free Agent Inc.: January 1989-June 1989.
- MCS Bicycles/Eagle Snacks: January 1990- John turned pro with this sponsor
[edit] Professional
- MCS Bicycles/Eagle Snacks: January 1990-Late 1990 By November 1989 Eagle Snacks had largely dropped its BMX effort. MCS did merge part of its team with Vans team having Terry Tenette, Pete Loncarevich and Danny Millwee on that team, but MCS also had a team that was separate from the Vans/MCS effort and by mid 1990 John Purse was one of the last MCS/Eagle Snacks racers.
- S&S Racing (Bicycle Shop): Late 1990-August 1991.
- ODI (Ornate Design, Inc.) /Revcore: August 1991-
- Balance: 1995
- Redline Engineering: May 1996-2001
- Profile Racing/Troy Lee Designs/Marzocchi: January 2001-December 2001
- Troy Lee designs/EVS: January 2002-October 2002
- Marzocchi/Troy Lee Designs/Intense Racing: October 2002-January 2003.
- Hyundai/Mongoose Bicycles: Februrary 5, 2003-December 2005.
- Redline Engineering: April 4, 2006-June 2006. This was a short two month sponsorship that was intended as a fill in for Redline's regular sponsored pro the injured Bubba Harris, who was laid up with a shoulder injury that was slated to take him out of racing for two months.[10]
- Sandersclinic.com:[11] June 28, 2006-Late September 2006.
- Redline Engineering: Late September 2006-Present. This is John Purse's third stint on Redline.
[edit] Career bicycle motocross titles
[edit] Amateur
National Bicycle Association (NBA)
- None
National Bicycle League (NBL)
- 1987 15 Expert President's Cup Champion.*
*The President's Cup was an amateur only non points invitational race held in conjunction with the Christmas Classic National after the last weekend of December after Christmas and before New Year's, usually on a Tuesday or Wednesday.
American Bicycle Association (ABA)
- None
International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)
- 1988 15 boys (Expert) World Champion
- 1989 16 boys (Expert) World Champion
[edit] Professional
National Bicycle Association (NBA)
- None
National Bicycle League (NBL)
- 1995, 1996 National No.1 Pro.
American Bicycle Association (ABA)
- 1997 National No.1 Pro.
- 1997 ABA Pro World Champion.
United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)
- None
International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)
Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)*
- 1997 Pro World Champion.
*The UCI World Championship is a direct descendant of the IBMXF World Championship as a result of the merger of the IBMXF and the Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme (FIAC), the UCI's amateur Cycling sanctioning body. It was also responsible for the UCI's BMX program and had its own BMX World Championships. The IBMXF and FIAC started holding joint Championships in 1993 and completed the merger in 1997, the year of the first UCI BMX World Championship making John Purse the first UCI Pro World Champion.
Pro Series Championships
[edit] Notable accolades
- He is a consecutive three time winner of ABA's BMXer magazine Golden Crank Award for Pro of the Year in 1997, 1998, and 1999.[12]
- In 1998 he set the single season record of most wins at 25.[13]
- He is a 1998 BMX Plus! Racer of the Year Award winner.[14]
- He is a 1999 BMX Plus! Racer of the Year Award winner.[15]
- He is a 1999 winner of Snap Magazine's Number One Rider Award (NORA) Cup*.
- In 2005 he set the most mains appearances record at 308 becoming during that time the first to break the 300 mains barrier.[16] As of May 2006 his mains appearance is up to 310.
- His Senior Pro career is a contiguous 17 years, the longest BMX pro career in its history.
*The NORA Cup was an award first created by Bicycle Motocross Action magazine in 1978, with Bobby Encinas being the first recipient, until its demise as Go magazine in 1992. Gary Ellis was the last winner in 1991. Snap magazine revived the award in 1998, with Gary Ellis being its first winner. The NORA Cup is now owned by Ride Magazine.
[edit] Significant injuries
- Had seven broken clavicles (collar bones) over his career.
- Broke thumb at the January 2001 ABA Silver Dollar National in Reno, Nevada.[17]
[edit] Peccadilloes
[edit] Post BMX career
[edit] Miscellaneous
John Purse like countless BMX racers before him has tried his hand at Mountain Bike racing, the first being the 2001 NORBA Downhill event the Bump & Grind at Oak Mountain in Birmingham, Alabama. He came in fifth place overall with a 4 minute, 35 seconds first run and a 4 minutes, 33 seconds second run.[18]
[edit] BMX magazine covers
Bicycle Motocross News:
- None
Minicycle/BMX Action & Super BMX:
Bicycle Motocross Action & Go:
BMX Plus!:
Bicycles and Dirt:
Snap:
Twenty BMX:
[edit] BMX press magazine interviews and articles
- "John Purse: Model Citizen" Snap November/December 1995 Vol.2 Iss.6 No.7 pg.32
[edit] End Notes
- ^ BMX Plus! August 1992 Vol.15 No.8 pg.19
- ^ Snap November/December 1995 Vol.2 Iss.6 No.7 pg.92 (Balance Advertisement)
- ^ Cash Mathhews September 15, 2006 "Vintage BMX" website Interview.
- ^ Snap November/December 1995 Vol.2 Iss.6 No.7 pg.32
- ^ John Purse BMX Ultra Interview
- ^ BMXStars.com Profile of John Purse.
- ^ John Purse BMX Ultra Interview
- ^ BMX Plus! May 1990 Vol.13 No.5 pg.22
- ^ BMX Plus! September 1988 Vol.11 No.9 pg.28
- ^ FatBMX article on John Purses subsituting for Bubba Harris
- ^ Website annoucing sponsorship of John Purse by the Sanders Clinic.
- ^ Winner of Golden crank Award
- ^ Mongoose.com congragulating John Purse for his 2005 season
- ^ BMX Plus! August 1998 Vol.21 No.8 pg.66
- ^ John Purse's Website.
- ^ Mongoose.com congragulating John Purse for his 2005 season
- ^ Daleholes.com 2002 interview
- ^ BMXtreme.com Press release.
