British born but Greece based rider Phil Atwill is one of the most talented people on two wheels. We sat down with him to talk about living in Greece, racing motorbikes and electric vehicles.

For this issue’s interview we managed to track down Phil Atwill. The British born Greek residing wildman that loves riding, drifting and hucking anything in sight. We sat down with him for a chat on bikes, cars, moto adventures and future plans. Enjoy! 

Phil! Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions for us! How’s life treating you these days? 

Good thanks, busy as always but can't complain.

You’ve been based in Greece for quite some time now, still liking it? 

Love it, yeah. So much freedom. You can ride the moto for the door and no one cares, the weather's great and they're beaches and mountains everywhere. I don't think I could move back.

How are you dealing with the language barrier, or have you gotten fluid yet in Greek? 

Not easy, that's for-sure but my Greek is definitely getting better.

Is there anything in particular that you miss from the UK? 

Yeah, it's always good to go back and catch up with friends and family.

How's the beamer doing? I see you have a nice big dent in the back of it these days! 

Haha good question. You can blame a cheap set of parts and my Mrs Kat for that but it's an absolute work horse!

How many miles has it done? 

She's still a baby. 160 thousand k's only.

If Musk would drop you a message for a Tesla sponsorship, would you be up for it? 

100 percent, I think the Electric Vehicle market is missing someone like myself. I'd love to strap some bikes to the back of a Tesla and go roast it round some gravel car parks!

You think a Model X would withstand the Atwill driving style?

I'd very much like to find out, haha.

So you’ve kicked off with a new team this year, care to tell a little bit about that project?

Yeah man, year number 3 and things are starting to look pretty legit thanks to the help from Mal Finnie, my Mrs Kat and Paul from Network. Stoked to give these young greek lads an opportunity like this and excited to see how everyone gets on. Doing cool stuff for yourself is one thing but doing things for other deserving people is so rewarding you can't beat it!

I bet you’re pretty stoked to be back with Propain?

I've been back with Propain for 3 years now but it's cool yeah. Top bunch of humans making and selling bikes that actually want to ride! 

You’ve already been on a sick trip to Valpo Chile, and managed a sweet top 10 result. Are you happy to kick off the season this way? 

Oh mate Valpo was a sick race. I didn't know what to expect but it was proper cool. Took me back to when I used to hack round the streets of Berkhamsted on my old GaryFisher. Crowd was mental too. I'd definitely like to go back.

Do you have any set goals for the upcoming season?

Plan is to keep hitting my marks with riding, training and self well being and if I'm a happy Phil then I'm sure I'll be a fast Phil haha. So far so good.

I’ve seen you’ve been back at racing moto again too. Do you have any high aims for that or is it just for fun and good training? 

Yeah good question. I'd love to go to Italy to do some race's at some point but at the moment  I'm happy following the Greek championship and generally just riding for fun and training.

How was the Sea to Sky race? It looked like one of the toughest things you can sign up for on a moto! 

Brutal! I could just about blagged my way through most bits technically, but no way was I ready fitness wise. I've never had so much cramp in my life. Utter most respect to them hard enduro boys, that is no easy feat! I've got a little documentary style vlog from Sea to Sky uploading on Youtube some time soon.

Talking about tough races, will we see you again at the Red Bull Hardline?It was a bummer not being able to see you race there…

I know, I've been plagued with mechanical's and crashes both times I've been. It's a hell of an event but I'm not too fussed about massive jumps on a windy welsh hillside but you never know I might head back at some point.

With Propain being a big sponsor of the Freeride Fiesta, I thought you might make a guest appearance… 

I Know I was meant to go but I had a broken wrist at the start of the year. 

What about other race formats like Enduro for example. Will we see you at the startline for one of those anytime soon?

Hmm not on the calendar but I wouldn't say no.

If you could pick three riders to join you on a day of uplifts. Who would you choose and where would you ride? 

Hard to say too many people out there I'd love to do some laps with! But if you push me for an answer, I’d pick Hype man Soc aka Soc Zotos, Marco Lamaris and George Panagopoulos because the energy and love they have for riding gets me fired up and reminds me why I started riding in the first place! As for where we’d ride, I guess some Bulgarian loamers would be ace. 

If you could force all our readers to buy one product, watch one movie and listen to one song, which would you pick? 

A Honda CRF 100

Sprung 4 still goes hard. 

Love me some Black Eyed Peas - Monkey Business

Last but not least, anyone in particular you want to say thanks to?

Thanks to mums and dad for supporting me and taking me to all the races back when I was a kid I wouldn't be her without them <3

By IMB

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