Hawkstone’s no handicap!

First things first and I have to say what a cracking day was to be had last Sunday at the Hawkstone International.

 

The short version goes that there was a big, enthusiastic  crowd treated to some excellent racing that built throughout the afternoon to a super finale. The MX2/MX1 showdown between Arnaud Tonus and Clement Desalle was - almost - a classic. Anyone who sneaked-off early to get a flier from the car park (I know who you are!) genuinely missed-out on the icing on the cake. 

 

Hawkstone really is a special venue and while it has a unique history it really isn't just about distant memories of mighty men on even mightier machines doing battle in the dark ages in order to sow the seeds of myth and legend that have been passed down from scrambling fathers to motocrossing sons. Sons who in the main couldn't actually care less about Jeff Smith's exploits on an iron-wheeled  BSA Gold Star or even Heikki Mikkola being denied an epic victory on a two-stroke Husky suffering with a totally choked air-filter. Actually, the crowds were also choked with dust that day - I know ‘cos I was there! I had excitedly ventured to Hawkstone with four mates in a Morris 1000 and we were so covered (and choked) with dust on a burning hot, dry day - remember them? - that we stopped by a river on our way home - and jumped-in fully clothed. What a way to end a day. Well, it must have been, as I still remember it as a red letter day.

 

I'm digressing already - but while I didn't feel the urge to jump in any rivers on the way home from Hawkstone last Sunday it had still been an excellent day's racing and I'm 100% glad that I went. If you had even thought about going - you should have!

 

Hawkstone is Hawkstone. A unique venue in British motocross history. Should it still be a GP venue? Of course it should. That view was aired countless times during the day by officials, spectators and, this will shock you, riders alike. I was pleasantly surprised by the latter. You would not always have heard modern day riders suggesting that Hawkstone would make a good GP venue. Dare I suggest that they have become bored with the samey old man-made tracks which are served-up week upon week to a set formula? You have to have X number of corners all in a given area so the whole show can be televised by X number of cameras! Just like AMA Supercross but without the crowds. If you are going to create such man-made venues I really don't know why you don't just go the whole distance and do it in an arena. At the moment you have what is effectively an arena sport but without the arena!

 

Why not run the British GP in the Millennium Stadium?

 

If it's wet you can shut the roof. There's all the parking and tarmac you need for the artics etc, there's all the permanent facilities required, everyone gets a seat and your wife/ girlfriend or whatever doesn't get her five inch heels bogged down in bottomless mud and at the end of the day you can clear a stadium of 40,000 people in 10 minutes flat. And the track would be exactly the same as all the other man-made courses. So what's not to like? Forget camping, tacky lap-dancing and fighting in the beer tent. Buy a ticket, drive-up on the day, walk into the arena, sit down, enjoy the show, go home. You do it for everything else!

 

All well and good but if you want genuine motocross we come back to Hawkstone. Personally, I'm happy with the Hawkstone International. Not necessarily at the start of the year but with the modern calendar there's not a lot of leeway. Back in the day there were countless Internationals in the MX calendar. But that was before the GPs became the be-all and end-all. Riders used to earn more riding Internationals than riding Grand Prix. These days the GP season is long and packed and leaves little room either end for other events. Depending on your outlook this is either a good or a bad thing.

 

Whatever, it is good that events like the Hawkstone International still manage to squeeze themselves into the calendar - and it is a squeeze. And Sunday's crowd shows that there is very much a market for such events.

 

What made the Hawkstone finale a bit special then? Well, basically what amounts to a good old-fashioned handicap race! MX2 v MX 1 with the former riders getting a five second start over the latter. It is the classic David v Goliath and when Tonus fired the Cosworth Yam out of the gate and set about opening-up as big a gap as possible before the top MX1 riders could race through the pack the spectators were of course on the side of the underdog, the 250.

 

Desalle, on the mighty 450 Suzuki, entered into the spirit of the race and duly gave chase - the 450 really eating into the time gap storming up the famous Hawkstone Hill - and from a deficit of around 10 seconds maximum he managed to slice the margin to around three - but eventually eased the pace and Tonus was not to be denied a well-earned and popular victory. 

 

Simple stuff really - but it works!