British stars will be out in force at Namur
By TMX Archives on 1st Aug 07
BRITISH riders, young and old, will be out in force at the Belgian GP at legendary Namur this weekend, August 4/ 5, as a slew of entrants for the opening round of the Veteran Motocross World Cup will be joined by a number of young British championship runners who got the nod early this week as wildcard entries for the GP itself.
The most famous track in motocross has alwaysdrawn a big British contingent to line its treacherous tree-linedslopes, and fans making the trip to Belgium to this year's event tocheer our boys on will have the added interest of five extra Brits onthe entry list, including two GP debutants, as well as a raft ofentries in the Vet's classes, headed up by Namur legends, Worldchampions Dave Thorpe and Graham Noyce.
After impressing earlier in the year with hisperformances in the German and French GP's, Pioneer Yaamaha's BradAnderson gets the call up again for MX1 duty and should really give thecrowd something to cheer about, as his all action style and utterlydetermined attitude is sure to light-up the action on his first visitto Namur.
Joining Anderson as a Namur virgin in MX1 will beGordon Crockard's PAR honda teammate Wayne Smith, making his first GPstart of the year after early season injury. Smith impressed at Whitbyafter moving up to the bigger bike and his smooth style will surelyhelp at Namur. Hopefully both will adapt to the unique, brutal Namurcircuit and join the rest of the Brit pack on the gate on Sunday.
Three young British riders have got the nod in MX2class, with two really being thrown in at the deep-end and making theirGP debuts at the citadel.
After spending much of the season as the topplaced non-GP rider in the British championship, Molson Kawasaki's RayRowson rightfully gets another shot at qualification, his third, andafter missing out in Italy earlier in the year after being landed onwhilst in a qualifying spot, the Under-21 championship leader will behoping for some better luck this time out.
Rowson is a relative GP veteran, though comparedto PAR Honda's Ashley Greedy and Pioneer Yamaha teamster Luke Remmer,who will attempt to qualify at a GP for the first time in Belgium inwhat is only their first year in the adult ranks.
Namur will be nothing like any of them will haveexperienced before, but all three have the talent to succeed andhopefully all three will line-up on the gate for the MX2 moto's onSunday.
The Veterans championship class is littered withfamous names from yesteryear, with one of the more interestingmatch-ups coming in the Over 50 category where Harry Everts, father ofStefan, lines-up against Alain Pichon, father of Mickael. Whether thepair can match any of their son's famous battles remains to be seen,but British fans will have plenty to keep them interested in thecategory too as Jimmy Aird, Peter Lightfoot, Malcolm Doble and AlanEaves will also be on the gate.
The 40-50 age category is a British motocrossfan's dream as both Thorpey and Noycey are confirmed entrants. Expectto see some misty eyed middle-age men with Union Jacks lining the fencewhen these two are on track. They will not be the only world championsin the class either, as Michele Fanton also starts, and again a hordeof Brit's eager to test themselves against Namur will ably playsupporting roles with Perry Leask, Alan Eaves, Alan Magee and GrahamWard all down on the entry list.
It could be another great weekend for British motocross.