Young blood going for Maxxis glory
By Team TMX on 23rd Feb 17
British Motocross Championship
When the gate drops on the opening MX2 race of the Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship at Culham Moto Park on March 12 look out for three young hotshots battling for podium positions.
Liam Knight, Brad Todd and Jake Millward finished fifth, sixth and seventh in 2016 with just 17 points separating them and although they fell just short of top-three finishes last year the trio are all capable of running podium pace this time around.
Millward (Verde Sports Racing KTM), who's led a championship race after taking a holeshot at Foxhill last year, knows there's nothing between them.
"It was really close going into the last couple of rounds with me, Liam and Brad,” he said. "At one of the rounds I had a bad start or crashed or something and they both had a good race while I only just managed to score points. When you're so close together one bad race can give them that edge they need and take the pressure off them.”
Todd (Planet Advanced Racing Suspension/Braithwaites Husqvarna), who moved up seven places in the rankings last season, is expecting to renew this rivalry in 2017.
"Me and Liam have had some good battles so he'll be tough to beat,” he said. "He didn't start off blinding but he's just so consistent it's unbelievable. Jake's also been very fast so I'll have to watch for him.”
After moving up six places to fifth in 2016, Knight (Dyer & Butler KTM) starts his third season in MX2 and is looking forward to banging bars with his two young rivals.
"Jake and Brad will be strong,” he said. "Brad's really fast – he's got the speed – and so has Jake. I think I've been battling with Jake for the whole of the last two years. We've been pretty close in a lot of races.
"I think we're all good in the sand and with the British championship there's only one hardpack round so we're going to be fast all year and hopefully we'll have some good battles.”
So who's going to come out on top between the three? Until the championship kicks off it's just too close to call...
