For Richard Pratt One-O-Five Precision is more than a CNC machining business - it is a lasting tribute to a motocross idol.

A keen motocross rider himself before setting up the business in January 2021, Richard named the business in memory of Lee Tolson, 26, who passed away after he was injured at a race at Low Gelt Motocross Track, near Brampton, in 2015.

“I grew up watching Lee and his brother Shane at motocross and they were the main lads when you raced against them. I really idolised them and looked up to them,” says Richard, who named the business after Lee’s race number of 105.

Making components for motocross bikes was part of the work that Richard, who is now 33, did in his spare time to first get the business started.

After leaving Annan Academy at the age of 15, he went to work as an apprentice machinist.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I was younger,” he says.

“But I used to race motocross for a hobby, and I thought that if I had money then I could buy new racing gear.”

He worked for a local engineering company for more than 12 years, becoming a supervisor, before moving onto work at other engineering companies in Kingstown and then Dumfries.

Richard bought his own CNC machine to work on in his spare time, as he missed spending time on his tools during his role as a workshop supervisor.

“I’d make things for motocross and little bits for friends, and it grew from there,” he says.

He had a final stint working at Bendall’s Engineering for six months before deciding to focus entirely on his own business.

“As soon as I started there my own business kicked off and I worked 90-hour weeks for the five months,” he says.

“I would do my shift at Bendall’s and then come home and do my own work.

“I always wanted to be high up and manage a business and I always had a dream of having my own shop, but I didn’t believe it would turn into what it is now.”

In Cumbria:

He began by renting a small workshop space in Dalston and now uses a 260 square metre space at the same location with eight CNC machines and plans to buy a new milling machine this year.

It currently has six employees, soon to be seven, including Adam Warwick as workshop supervisor, apprentices Louie Burns and James Baxter and experienced machinist Scott Davidson, who came on board last year. Office manager Holly Moss also joined in 2023 and has been instrumental in helping the company achieve ISO9001, which has helped gain some subcontracting work in the nuclear sector.

The company still does some work for motocross, although the majority of its work focuses on projects for the nuclear, oil and gas and other sectors, machining parts of all types.

Richard’s focus is on expanding the markets it works across, by collaborating with local companies and other organisations as well as investing in new technology and training.

One-O-Five Precision joined the Cumbria Manufacturing Alliance in June 2023 with the hope it will help the company gain access to larger contracts that would not be possible as a small company alone.

“There are big companies where we’d never be able to make it onto their approved supplier list, but we might be able to work with them as part of the CMA,” says Richard.

“The more you put in the more you reap the rewards.”

Richard says he would like to grow the business but remain hands-on himself.

“I want to treat it like a small family business where everybody who is here is getting looked after,” he says.

“We want to keep that family feel.

“A lot of people say I should be proud of myself but it’s not just me. Everybody that has come in and helped has made a massive difference. Even though it’s my business I still don’t look at it as my business.”