TMX Says: Get right behind Macclesfield's #1
By TMX Archives on 18th May 16
Get yo' banjos at the ready and sing this little ditty to the theme tune from the Beverley Hillbillies...
Come and listen to my story ‘bout a man named Stu
Riding a sidecar is what he chose to do
He went travellin' around the world and throttled for the gold...
Yet his story is one that remains untold...
Confusing that is, seems a little weird, can't quite figure it out...
It's kinda disappointing to me that a British team is currently running second in the world championship – and considerably closed the gap on the leaders at the last GP – yet the exploits of the athletes involved goes widely unreported in anything but the most specific of sporting media.
With 13 British championship titles to his name and a string of international success Stuart Brown should be a bit of a hero in the town where he was born, bred and still lives to this day.
Yet, his local paper – the Macclesfield Express – has pretty much ignored his exploits from day one.
In fact, if you asked the local community who the Macclesfield area's #1 off-road star is they'd tell you in a heartbeat that it's local trials ace Toby Eyre – aka Captain Crash.
I actually only know he's called Captain Crash after reading the Macclesfield Express as he used to get featured every year for running the London Marathon in aid of charity.
While I understand that motocross has limited appeal to the masses – and sidecarcross is even more niche – it'd be nice for Stuart to get some proper recognition for the effort and sacrifice that he and the Brown family have put in over the years.
I guess the world title would be a worthy reward for all the hours, miles and pounds that have been invested over the years. Keep 'er lit, Stu...
It's been some years since I last went to a sidecar GP (I think it was Rijkervorsel in Belgium back in 1997 if my memory serves me right) and I really want to get to another overseas one either this season or next – preferably before Brownie retires.
Aside form the rousing performances of the battling Brits there's something about the old-school nature of the series that really appeals and the chance to soak up some of that atmosphere – along with a Jupiler or two and some frites et mayo – would really hit the spot this summer.
For a while now I feel that the MXGP series has become too sanitised and once the Youthstream circus has set up in whatever country is hosting the GP that weekend, it feels exactly the same as it did the weekend before, the weekend before that and the many weekends previous.
Meanwhile, each round of the sidecar series still retains the character of the host nation and on occasion that means the home favourites even get a real home advantage.
For example the French pairing of Valentin Giraud and Nicolas Musset went 1-1 in France at the weekend.
There is no British GP for the sidecar boys of course and any home advantage the solo guys might have had is negated by the fact that Matterley Basin is only rolled out for the world championship round each year.
So I'd say it's our duty as British motocross fans to yell, scream, shout, wave and generally get behind each and every one of our home riders at Winchester and make a genuine effort to get overseas to do the same for Stuart, Josh, Brett, Steve, Dan, Nick, Ryan at one of their GPs n'all!
