Jamie Hacking biography

Jamie “The Hacker” Hacking was born June 30, 1971, in Oswaldtwistle, a small town in England. He grew up spending his younger years at his grandparents’ chippy, which is what they call a fish & chip shop in England. Unlike many other road racers, Jamie did not come from a family with a background in motorcycle racing. His interest in motorcycles came all on his own.



First Bike Italijet 50
At the age of 5, Jamie had begged his father, Brian and granddad, Harold, to buy him a motorbike. While they weren’t sure he was old enough to start riding, they pooled their resources, purchased an Italjet 50, and gave it to him on a cold, icy Christmas morning. Just like any 5 year old on Christmas, he wanted to play with his new toy right away. So they took him to the local football field (or soccer for those of us in the States), a nice wide open place where he could ride without fear of running into anything. As with any first time rider, he didn’t quite have the feel of the clutch-accelerator combination and kept stalling the engine. This happened so many times his grandpop told him that if he couldn’t keep the bike running, they would take it back, and he had one more chance. Jamie revved the engine up, dumped the clutch and took off around the field. He rode around for a little bit and then lost control on the slick, icy grass, ran into one of the goal posts, denting his brand new fuel tank. He left the field in tears and while this was not exactly a stellar start to a motorcycle racing career, it sparked the desire to try again and keep riding.

In 1980 at the age of 9, Jamie’s life changed when his father was offered a job in the United States and the family moved to Spartanburg, South Carolina. Jamie’s competitive spirit didn’t go away with the move across the ocean and by the age of 12 he found himself racing BMX and motocross, in the red Carolina clay. Success followed. After only 8 months of competing, he won the tri-state BMX Championship.

His ambitions then turned to motocross. His parents drove him all over the Southeastern US to motocross races every weekend and, with their full support, he won almost every race he entered.