Monster Army is excited to announce it's first-ever FMX athlete, all the way from down under in Wagga Wagga, Asutralia...we're excited to announce Benny Richards has joined the team!
Get to know this brand new athlete in the below interview with him!
Where are you from and what do you do?
I’m from Wagga Wagga NSW Australia and I ride Freestyle Motocross
How did you get into freestyle riding?
I have 3 other siblings in my family so when we were young our house in Wagga became too small. As a result, Mum and Dad decided to buy a house on a few acres close to town. The new place happened to be right across the road from an FMX compound. I had never seen or heard of Freestyle Motocross before, but it didn’t take long from watching the guys riding across the road and I was obsessed! When I turned 4 my Dad was on his way to work and spotted an old JR50 for sale on the side of the road and that purchase started my dirt bike journey. I learnt to ride it around the paddock with training wheels for a few days. After a while I decided to copy the big boys across the road. So I put a little trailer behind the ride on mower and started making piles of dirt around the back yard. I then started jumping the peewee which was fun. Eventually, I progressed to a KX65 and when I was 8 years old Truman Carroll the owner of the compound across the road invited me over to jump a small ramp he had set up. I did that for a day and before I new it I was lined up in front of an Aussie Comp ramp at about 30ft. I guess after that day Truman seen something in me and took me under his wing and taught me how to progress myself as a rider in the correct way which I’m extremely greatly for. I also got to meet riders such as Rob Adelberg and Jackson Strong through Truman and they have also given me lots of hints and tips for my riding.
Where do you ride? Who do you ride with?
I now ride at Jackson Strong’s place which is only a 30 minute drive from my house although I’m in the process of building my own set up at my place. Being able to ride at Jacko’s has helped me so much as he has all the equipment you need these days to learn all the gnarly tricks you need to have under your belt to be a successful FMX rider. There a few guys around our area that come and ride but on the daily it’s usually Jacko, my brother and myself.
What’s your favorite trick?
My favourite trick is the Cordova Flip, it’s one of my harder/scarier tricks so once I stomp out a good it gives me a great feeling!
Anything new you’re working on?
I’ve been in the foam pit learning a varial I want to start doing to dirt in the next few months, so keep an eye out for that!
Favorite flavor of Monster Energy?
Hard choice, but have to go with Zero Ultra
