The red, white and blue was waving full force this past weekend. No, I’m not referring to our neighbours to the south but rather the pageantry of a MXGP being held in England. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend the MXGP of Great Britain last weekend and as you can imagine the old Union Jack was getting a workout. This is the track where they held the Motocross of Nations last year (Matterley Basin) near Winchester. Located just southwest of London and about a hour from the Heathrow Airport, it was a quick hop, skip and a jump to the race. As luck would have it, I just happened to be in the UK for a sales meeting with our FXR sales reps and we timed it so we could check out the GP at the same time. This was my first time taking in a GP at this location. I have been looking forward to checking out this track ever since I watched the MXON last year. I had read on a few media sites that this track was similar to US tracks and I have to agree with that. The layout is sculpted throughout a valley and the track layout is pretty close to what you would find at Unadilla in a way. We arrived on Saturday morning so we had a chance to check out the full-on factory bikes in the pit area. Yes, I said full factory! This means there are a few rules you need to follow. The bike needs to meet a minimum weight limit, the engine can’t be bigger than a 450cc and it has to meet a certain fuel requirement. That’s about it! As I walked around the pit area you see some really awesome equipment. The factory KTM of Herlings is absolutely priceless. I wonder what it would cost to buy one of these units?
Remember when I was talking about the flags waving, well the fans in the UK are full-on moto heads. They bring airhorns and chainsaws to cheer their favourite riders on, and they bring huge Union Jack flags. These guys are what I would classify as “super fans.” As I walked by the food concessions I noticed right away that they don’t really sell hotdogs and hamburgers, instead they offer fish and chips or beer! I like this place already. Once race action started, Herlings and Tony Cairoli put on a clinic. These two riders are on similar equipment and are on a completely different level than the rest of the field. I thought Tony might be able to hold the bullet from winning but the points leader in the championship is just riding on more of a superior pace. The MX2 class was pretty well the same story; the two factory KTM riders, Jonass and Prado, are on a different level as well. What I really enjoyed was watching the EMX300 class. This class is designed specifically for 250cc two-strokes. The buzz of 40 two-strokes blasting by the stands totally time travelled me right back to the ‘90s. They run a vet class and rounding out the classes is the EMX250 guys. Steven Clarke from Britain competes in the EMX250 class and is sponsored by FXR. Once again, lady luck was on my side and we saw Clarke put it on the top of the box! Timing is everything.
The Canadian Jetwerx series was at the new Popkum location in lower BC this past weekend. There was plenty of talk prior to the event that this was a bad choice for tracks. Grumbling about the parking/pits being way too small was one of the main gripes. Well, the reports I was getting following the race was that everything went very well. Yes, there was some dust during the last moto of the day but the racing was great. Native of Great Britain, Jack Nicolls thought he would line up at Popkum for some fun with GDR Honda and Fox setting him up for the weekend. Colton Facciotti again walked away with the overall in the 450 class and I bet Jake was surprised with the speed of our Canadian riders. In the 250 class, Jess Pettis is now 2 for 2 with the overall points lead. This weekend we will see the series move north to Prince George, BC for Round 3. All the best to those competing.