It was called scrambling and it grabbed the imagination then, but today it is called Motocross and attracts massive crowds and enormous television viewing audiences worldwide with an explosion of speed, excitement and adrenalin.
The modern, highly professional, sport with manufacturer backed teams and elite riders is a far cry from those televised romps in the mud that filled in between the wrestling and the football results on both BBC and ITV during cold winter Saturday afternoons forty years ago.
Now it is a 15 round World Championship contested by super-fit athletes on lightweight technically innovative machinery around circuits built to provide maximum excitement and it’s coming to Britain over the Bank Holiday weekend of 25/26 August.
The British Motocross Grand Prix is the penultimate round of the World Championship and will be staged at Donington Park on a specially designed purpose built circuit which will be both demanding and exciting for the competitors and a thriller for the enthusiasts to savour.
Over 50,000 tons of soil has been trucked into the Leicestershire circuit complex that six weeks ago attracted 85,000 fans to the Nickel and Dime British MotoGP event. The circuit is taking shape and will provide the ultimate test for both the best riders and machinery in the World.
The action packed grand prix will provide two legs (four races) of both the MX1 and MX2 World Championships plus veterans events that that will bring back memories of those winter afternoons all those years ago. Engine capacity and the differential between two-stroke and four-stroke engines decides the MX1 and MX2 classes.
British riders taking on the World Champions in MX1 include Billy Mackenzie, James Noble and Gordon Crockard while the likes of Tommy Searle, Karl Nunn and Tom Church uphold British honour in the MX2 class.
Each race in the Championship classes are 30 minutes plus two laps duration and riders have to push themselves to the very limit in a training programme that is one of the toughest regimes in World Championship sport.
It’s the first time the British Moto-Cross Grand Prix has been held in the central midlands confirming Donington Park as the top Motorsport venue in Great Britain. Practice will be held on Saturday August 25 with a full day of Championship racing on Sunday August 26.
Tickets are on sale – to book check the website
www.donington-park.co.uk or call the hotline on 08700 429 669.
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