Blast off!
By TMX Archives on 15th Mar 05
The 2005 Maxxis British MX championships are about to kick-off big-style! Canada Heights hosts round one on March 13 before the title chase moves westwards to Pontrilas, Herefordshire, on March 27 and then bolts back east to legendary Norfolk The 2005 Maxxis British MX championships are about to kick-off big-style! Canada Heights hosts round one on March 13 before the title chase moves westwards to Pontrilas, Herefordshire, on March 27 and then bolts back east to legendary Norfolk sand-circuit Lyng on April 10.Both defending champs will be in action at round one on the sandy, hillside Kentish circuit - although last year's MX2 supremo Stephen Sword will unfortunately not be seeing the British season out as he concentrates on world championship glory.With the flying Scotsman out of the hunt there are many riders who are more than ready to fill the MX2 #1 spot. It's likely to be a battle of two-strokes versus four-bangers with both Brad Anderson on the O'Neal Yamaha and Champ KTM's Carl Nunn leading the way for the smoker brigade while the top thumpers should be the RWJ Honda pairing of Mike Brown (125cc champion in Y2K) and Erik Eggens with Molson Kawasaki's Tom Church and Suzuki stars Lewis Gregory and Jason Dougan.After a little uncertainty Josh Coppins will be back defending the MX1 crown but with ex-champions Gordon Crockard and Paul Cooper fully fit after a season on the sidelines the championship could go down to the wire.All in all the Open title chase should be a barnstormer. As well as the three Cs - Coppins, Coops and the Crock Star - there'll be a whole host of riders capable of winning motos, if not the championship itself. You'd certainly be pretty daft to discount riders of the calibre of James Noble, Stuart Flockhart, Mark Hucklebridge, Jussi Vehvilainen or Yoshi Atsuta - wouldn't you?With practice and qualifying starting at 9.30am and the first race leaving the line three hours later it's best to get yourself to the races nice and early to secure your favoured vantage point. Entrance costs just 15 for grown-ups, 8 for OAPs and accompanied children under 14 years old get in for free. We'll see you there!