John Purse


John Eric Purse is a former American professional "Mid School" Bicycle Motocross racer. His prime competitive years were from 1990-2000.
Nicknamed "The Vigilante" early in his pro career for his alleged dirty riding and fouling competitors and later and most famously "The Jackal" in the mid-1990s because of his "mad dog" riding style and for his not backing off and his fighting back.

Racing career milestones

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.
Sanctioning body: American Bicycle Association
First race result: Second place.
First win :
Home sanctioning body district: ABA Texas 3 ;
United States Bicycle Motocross Association Texas District 4
First sponsor: U-Truck-It 1981.
First national win:
Turned Professional: January 1990 at age 17. He forged his mother's signature on the Pro License applications to the ABA and NBL. His mother got wind of it a couple of months later and complained to both sanctions. She ordered that John to be suspended and prevented from racing pro since he did so without her permission. He found out when he went to sign up to race the NBL Memphis Indoor Classic in Memphis, Tennessee in March 1990. He had to sit out both days of racing. He got his pro papers in order in time to race the ABA Supernationals in El Paso, Texas. He won this last "A" pro race on Sunday April 1, 1990 and was moved up to "AA" pro.
First Professional race result: First place in "A" pro at the ABA Lone Star Nationals San Antonio, Texas on January 27, 1990. He won US$525, the equivalent of US$826.26 in 2007
First Professional win: See above.
First Junior Pro* race result: See above.
First Junior Pro win: See above.
First Senior Pro** race result: Seventh place in "AA" pro at the ABA Mid-America Nationals in Blue Springs, Missouri on May 12, 1990.
First Senior Pro win:
Retired: He retired from active in Senior Pro competition in 2007. He currently races in Veteran Pro class.
Height & weight at height of his career : Ht:6'0" Wt:~185 lbs.
*In the NBL it is B"/Superclass/"A" pro /"AA" Pro/Elite Men; in the ABA it is "A" pro.
**In the NBL it was/is "B" pro/Superclass/"A" Pro/Junior Elite Men; in the ABA it is "AA" pro.

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 ever-changing co-sponsors. Primary sponsorships can be verified by BMX Press coverage and sponsor advertisements at the time in question. When possible exact dates are given.

Amateur

‡The latest known date he was known to be sponsored by that company

Career bicycle motocross titles

Note: Listed are District, State/Provincial/Department, Regional, National, and International titles in italics. "Defunct" refers to the fact of that sanctioning body in question no longer existing at the start of the racer's career or at that stage of his/her career. Depending on point totals of individual racers, winners of Grand Nationals do not necessarily win National titles. Series and one off Championships are also listed in block.

Amateur

National Bicycle Association
National Bicycle League
*The President's Cup was an amateur only non points invitational race held in conjunction with the Christmas Classic National during the last week of December after Christmas and before New Year's, usually on a Tuesday or Wednesday.
American Bicycle Association
*DAG District Age Group, NAG-National Age Group
In 1985 the ABA experimented with dividing the district points season from one year lasting from January 1 to December 31 to three four-month-long time periods at which a racer could earn a plate number for that time period for their district overall and/or their age group and could race the rest of the year with it. The experiment lasted only for a year before the ABA reverted to a single year-long points gathering season in 1986.
United States Bicycle Motocross Association
International Bicycle Motocross Federation *
Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme *
Union Cycliste Internationale *
*See note in Professional section.

Professional

National Bicycle League
American Bicycle Association
International Bicycle Motocross Federation *
Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme *
*None.
Union Cycliste Internationale *
USA Cycling:
*Note: Beginning in 1991 the IBMXF and FIAC had been holding joint World Championship events as a transitional phase in merging which began in earnest in 1993. Beginning with the 1996 season the IBMXF and FIAC completed the merger and both ceased to exist as independent entities being integrated into the UCI. Beginning with the 1996 World Championships held in Brighton, England the UCI would officially hold and sanction BMX World Championships and with it inherited all precedents, records, streaks, etc. from both the IBMXF and FIAC.
Independent Pro Series Championships and Invitationals

Notable accolades

*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 BMX Magazine revived the award in 1998, with Gary Ellis being its first winner and rewarded it to Racers, Dirt Jumpers and Freestylers until its demise as Transworld BMX with the January 2005 issue. The NORA Cup is now owned by Ride BMX Magazine.

BMX product lines

However, that placid reputation would change very quickly:

Dale Holmes: Over the years you have had some run ins with other riders, who would say were some of your best disagreements with?
John Purse: The one that comes to mind first is Charles Townsend. He gave me my 2nd and 6th broken collarbone from BMX racing. I had an after the race moment with Charles in San Antonio in the early 1990s and yelled at most of the AA’s that were there, I threw my bike at Greg Hill at the Fall Nationals in 1990, a last turn fight with Eric Carter at the 1990 ABA Grands, a conversation with Gary Ellis at the 1995 ABA World Cup after he ran me off the track, and many others along the way. Actually Dale, me and you went round and round when I broke my thumb at ABA Reno in 2001. ----DaleHolmes.com 2002 interview

Purse does indicate that he was the cause of most of the problems in this quote:
When I first turned, I would just defend myself against others and ride aggressively in return, but I learned that you'll just get disqualified, you'll look bad, and it's just going to cause problems. So I just played their game. If they messed with me on the track, I let it go and just get them next time. So I learned just to chill out.----Ride BMX December 1993

Miscellaneous

BMX press magazine interviews and articles

Note: Only magazines that were in publication at the time of the racer's career are listed unless specifically noted.
Minicycle/BMX Action & Super BMX:
Bicycle Motocross Action & Go:
BMX Plus!:
Total BMX:
Bicycles and Dirt:
BMX World
Snap BMX Magazine & Transworld BMX:
Twenty BMX:
Moto Mag:
BMX World
NBA World & NBmxA World :
Bicycles Today & BMX Today :
ABA Action, American BMXer, BMXer :
USBA Racer :