CHASING THE CHAMPIONSHIP

Chasing the Championship tells the story of Chrissy Rouse, part time maths teacher, part time racer, and infectiously popular podcast host. It focusses on his efforts in 2020 to become the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 champion before quitting his job and stepping up to BSB in 2022. It was filmed during the Covid-19 Pandemic, in what was a unique season with particular challenges for Chrissy and his team, for me filming, and for the sport and associated sponsors.

We premiered it at Everyman Cinema in Barnet in the July of 2021 and it went on to be screened at a handful of festivals around the world, before now being available on Amazon Prime. It won the “People’s Choice” award at the Toronto Motorcycle Film Festival, chosen voluntarily by viewers. Chrissy and I travelled to France in 2022 to see it at a festival in Nice, where we met French MotoGP rider (and double Moto2 World Champion) Johann Zarco.

He stepped up to the Superbike class in 2022, which had always been his aim and his dream. He made it happen through his dedication and unwavering belief in himself and those around him, and in many ways it was similar to his 2020 season. He was there as an independent rider and scored points throughout the year, beating much bigger and better funded teams.

In the penultimate round of this 2022 season, while racing at Donington Park, Chrissy was involved in an incident on track and he tragically passed away a few days later. In addition to the huge loss felt by his family, team and friends, he has left a hole in the sport and in thousands of peoples’ lives ever since. The podcast he started with Dom Herbertson continues to this day and can be found here.