Steve Parrish

Steve Parrish is a Motorcycle Racing Legend.

Born in Cambridge, he started driving motorcycles and cars around his father’s farm at the age of nine.

In 1976, aged 22, Steve became a professional motorcycle racer joining Barry Sheene in the Suzuki GP team.

He took 5th place in the 500cc World Championship in 1977.

Parrish won the Shell 500 title in both 1979 and 1980, and a Superbike title in 1981.

In 1980 he joined Yamaha winning many European and British races.

1984 saw the introduction of truck racing to the European circuits. Not to miss an opportunity, Steve joined Sheene, Brundle, Alan Jones, Stig Blomqvist and many more to try the big monsters for size.

He won the 1987 British Open Truck Racing Championship, took both the European and British Truck Racing championship titles in 1990, and then held the British title for four years and retained the European title for three years driving for the BP-Mercedes Benz team. Steve Parrish is the most successful truck racer ever.

Parrish was appointed team manager for the UK Yamaha factory race team form 1987 to 1991. During this time he led the team to three British Superbike championship titles in 1987, 1989 and 1990.

In 1985, Parrish started commentating for BBC radio, before joining Sky television to commentate on Superbike alongside Barry Nutley.

He moved to the BBC in 1990 to commentate on the British 125 championship, before transferring to the BBC’s Moto GP coverage with Charlie Cox.

The pair have commentated on a number of series for the BBC including British Touring Cars, British and World Superbikes and now MotoGP.

A qualified pilot, Parrish is also a commentator for the Red Bull Air Race series for Channel 4.

Away from television, Steve regularly tests vehicles and writes for racing magazines. He is also an expert witness for motor racing incidents helping establish the facts for those involved.

A renowned practical joker, Steve’s stories are legendary. He is still banned from Macau after blowing up a brothel and once posed as a medical doctor to allow John Hopkins to fly from Japan to the Australian GP…