Josh Elliott
Race name "Jossi"
Date of birth 9th of May 1994.
Josh is the son of the well known retired short circuit racer, Julian Elliott esq. As a consequence Josh has been attending race meetings since the earliest days.
The youngster got his first Quad when he was just 2 years and 7 months. Amazingly he was able to ride it on its side, on two wheels, within 3 weeks.
The first bike came shortly afterwards when he was just 3 and a half. Julian bought him a Yamaha PW50 and he quickly learned how to hang off it and scrape his BMX knee pads in the driveway.
Dad then bought him a Kawasaki KX60 but Josh decided instead, to have a go at Mini Motos via Mark Elwood's "MiniMotoMania".
The poor Kawasaki was sold off within a week and his passion for Mini Moto racing commenced.
Shortly afterwards in May 2003, Josh got his own Polini Mini Moto and his race debut was on his 8th birthday at the NW200 fun week races. Josh finished in 4th place.
Josh did a few rounds of the summer series and took 1st place and his first win at the East Strand track at Portrush, as part of the IMF Championship in September 2003.
Buoyed by this win Josh took on the 2003/2004 "Irish Mini Moto Federation", Winter Series Championship and won all 6 rounds. Josh was crowned Champion at his home track at St. Angelo in February 2004.
Despite having slower machinery he took a number of wins in the 2004 summer series in two differant Championships and finished 3rd in each.
Regrouping over the winter, Josh decided to go flat out for success in 2005. They started the season with a trip to Spain in March 2005 for a practice week with a few races. Josh won one Class and was 2nd in another.
Returning home to Ireland, Josh took part in 78 race starts, winning 68 of them within two classes. Josh won both championships in 2005.
Josh competed in the same Championships in 2006 and despite missing two key rounds due to injury, still won both Championships.
At that point Josh was recognised as Ireland's no 1 junior Mini Moto racer.
In February 2007 Josh attended the MCUI Training day at Kirkistown where he managed to put in some fast times on his first outing on a big bike, an Aprilia 125.
Josh unfortunately had to wait until he reached 13 years of age in May 2007 to attain his short circuit racing licence. Because of this Josh has had to miss the first 3 rounds of the NDM Aprilia 125 Championship. He will make every effort to finish as high as possible in the Championship in 2007, so fingers crossed.
Josh's first race on the Aprilia 125 was at Mondello Park on Sunday the 20th of May 2007, where he took Pole position, set the fastest lap in each race and acquired two podiums taking the win in the second race.
An inspiring start to his short circuit career, Josh was to compete in two other NDM Aprilia rounds. These yielded one pole, three wins, a second and fastest laps in three of the four races, so on he moved to the GP 125 newcomer’s class.
Dublin based Ian Marshall of 'iNtentracing' stepped in and offered Josh the use of his 1996 Honda 125 machine for the rest of the season, and he put the aging but nice running machine to good use.
Before his debut GP 125 ride Josh took part in a selection event for the 2008 Red Bull Rookies Moto GP up at Sachsenring in Germany. He was delighted to get through to the final selection event at Paul Ricard in France in November.
In the meantime his three outings on the 125 were very promising with podiums in his first two race meetings. The final race of 2007 was at the 'Sunflower' races at Bishopscourt where Josh took two wins in the Clubman 125 class and broke the lap record!
His short first season ended at Paul Ricard where the true 'Rookie' having only competed in six big bike races was successful in being selected for the 2008 Red Bull Rookies Moto GP Cup.
And that's where we leave Jossi's story for now. Hopefully we can use this site to keep everyone updated about his endeavours in the 'Rookies' and at home going into a new season with big challenges.