The going will be tough, fast and spectacular as the World’s best riders get down and dirty in the Red Bull Motocross of Nations at Donington Park this weekend – 35 teams, each of three riders, will be scrapping for the sport’s World Cup and the Americans expect to retain the silverware.
They power into the action on the mile long, specially constructed course at the Leicestershire grand prix circuit with team leader James Stewart confident that together with Ryan Villopoto and Tim Ferry they can see off all challengers.
The opposition is strong, including two recently crowned World Champions. David Philippaerts, riding Yamaha, will be using the speed and style that took him to the MX1 title as he heads up the Italian team with the experienced duo of Manuel Monni and Alex Salvini.
Tyla Ratray, meanwhile, the winner of the MX2 crown, rides for South Africa, alongside Neville Bradshaw and Kerim Fitzgerald, and that means he will riding against his Red Bull KTM team-mate Tommy Searle.
Searle, who lives in nearby Derby, enjoyed strong results in last year’s British Grand Prix at Donington, and after an exciting a productive year in World series action believes that he and his team-mates Billy Mackenzie and Shaun Simpson are ready to take on the best.
Simpson is excited and delighted to have the opportunity to ride for his country:
“It is the first MX of Nations I am racing in myself. It is going to be an exciting race, but different to other World races, due to the countries emotion involved in this. It is going to be the best race of the year.
“When I was a small boy, I dreamt of competing in this race and now it has become a reality. Winning the race is going to be hard, as the US has a really good team, but with Tommy Searle in the team, we are also very competitive and should certainly be able to get on the podium.”
Six decades on from the British team’s success in the inaugural Motocross of Nations held in the Netherlands, back in 1947, Searle is determined to be holding what is effectively the sport’s world cup: “I believe that I can take podium finishes in the Nations and with the strong team we have, we can be right up these chasing the title.”
First, however, the focus is on performance in the Saturday qualifying heats to ensure making the cut into the Motocross of Nations races on Sunday in which each rider has two races.
The action takes in all three motocross classes, MX1, MX2 and Open.
The event takes place on Saturday & Sunday 27/28 September – Donington Park.
Tickets are available at donington-park.co.uk or by ringing the Donington hotline 0871 230 7134.
