Back Home with Dean Wilson: Racing, Riding Schools, and Enjoying Life

Racing around the world can provide an eye opener to the talent in other places of the world we may not know about. Wilson has raced in several different countries such as Brazil, Australia, Germany, just to name a few. How did the competition compare to the other countries he’s raced in?

“Yeah, the competition over there was pretty good, you got Tommy [Searle] who's a legend in the UK,” Wilson said. “Conrad [Mewse], who is very fast and then a lot of other UK boys that have been racing that series for a long time, so, yeah, it was pretty good. And obviously I've got so much experience racing supercross and it's not really anything near like [AMA] supercross but it's very tight racing and anything can happen. You know that the start is everything and it's easy to get caught up in the first corner so if that's what makes the racing, you know, still a little bit difficult to when is because anything can happen. And it's short lap times, but there is definitely some good boys there racing and kept me honest. Same as all the other places I've raced like Brazil and Australia…people seem to race a lot better in their home countries. They just have more confidence and feel more comfortable in their home countries. Yeah, the competition was pretty decent for the arenacross.”

A lot of differences between racing in the U.S. compared to the UK. I asked Dean about some similarities, differences and things he had to adjust to while racing in the UK compared to the U.S.

“The major differences from the arenacross in the UK and supercross… I mean the lap times are probably half the time of a real supercross and it was pretty tamed down and it wasn't anything too crazy,” he said. “You know supercross in the States, it's just next level. They keep the track fairly prepped the whole weekend. In the arenacross in the States they do prep it, but it gets very rough gnarly technical, and demanding and then also the main events are 20 minutes plus a lap in the States. Over in the UK they’re probably about seven minutes. It’s in smaller stadiums and still a lot of fun though and some good racing action, aggressive, passing, and, yeah, but the tracks are definitely just two completely different things.”

Racing wasn’t the only thing Dean was up to whilst back in the UK. He also held a series of riding schools in between races. Does he feel he has an influence on the younger generation of riders in the United Kingdom?

“Yeah, it was really cool to do a couple riding schools as well back in Scotland, I like to try and help the youth and whoever needs help, you know, it's something I do enjoy doing and it was really cool,” Wilson said. “We had a great turnout at both of the schools I did, and it was really cool. I think it's important for riders to learn. It's not really just about going fast but it's about riding safe and correctly, so if I can pass my knowledge down, I think that's pretty cool. It’s also something I enjoy doing and we had a couple of weekends where I wasn't racing so managed to squeeze in some riding schools. So that was really cool because it's not something that I do very often and it was in the UK, which is more of a once in a lifetime type of opportunity. I really enjoyed it and there was one at the track I grew up riding at, called DrumClog Moto Parc, so it's pretty cool to go back to where all started for me, and do some coaching.”

The future of Dean Wilson is uncertain: will he continue racing or after his scheduled plan of events will he call it a career? What is his plan moving forward after he finishes The Deano World Tour in 2025?

“Yeah, so I'm on the Deano World Tour,” he said,” So, this idea came about…[I’ve] been racing hard for the last 16 years now, which is crazy, and I wanted to keep racing I feel like I still got the skills and I'm still talented and I still work hard, and I still enjoy it. But my body took a big toll, and my knee is pretty trashed, which has took a big toll on me so to be racing at the top level is really tough with how my knee is. I'm gonna be doing five U.S. supercross [rounds] this year which has always been part of the plan, we'll see as far as 2026. I'll maybe figure that out towards the end of this year but I do like what I got going on racing in the UK, Ireland, Scotland, America, Brazil, Australia, and the World Supercross series and recently Germany.

“So, I'm racing in all these countries and visiting all these places and seeing different cultures,” Wilson continued. “I know this is something that doesn't last forever and racing, so I figured if I can race my bike still make a good living at it and get to visit all these countries and explore the world and do it with my family. I think that's pretty cool. I think I can look back at that when I'm older and be like, ‘Man that was cool.’ I really got to check everything out and tour the world, race my bike, and do what I love and get paid to do it. I'm really enjoying what I'm doing right now, supercross in the States is just so gnarly. It's at such a gnarly level now. As I'm back in the UK watching the first round of [AMA] supercross and just seen all the injuries. It's such a brutal sport but that's just the way she goes and that's part of it, but I like what I got going on right now and we'll see what happens in 2026. We'll just play that by ear.”