It really was a great night in
By TMX Archives on 30th Oct 08
Unlike certain runners, we stayed dry and had a grand time, including the Scottish gentleman(?)... JUST as the previous weekend was dominated by the Scott Trial, so last Saturday was all about the British Supercross at Sheffield Arena, so to keep honours even on page 5 – it's showtime!
First off, the best news about SX is that it takes place in a big shed with a roof on which, as far as last Saturday goes was a good job. With the rain having
fallen in biblical proportions over the majority of the north of England on Saturday – although strangely not on Sheffield – had this been an outdoor event anywhere else, the chances are that it would not have happened. And given that there were riders present from America and Canada, a cancellation could not be contemplated. So, as we splashed east over the Pennines at least it was in good spirits because, however solid the wall of water we were ploughing into, at least it was in the knowledge that it would be dry inside and the event would happen!
And when we got there it was, of course all happening, with a full non-stop session of frantic qualifying although not everything in heaven was rosy. If you knew what was going-on in the afternoon you were doing very well indeed, although riders and officials alike somehow kept it together to get everyone to the line at the right time. During the afternoon sessions at least two of the billboard names weren't happy with their bikes, Jeff Alessi and French ace Ben Coisi. Coisi was further hampered by the fact that he speaks no English and his mechanic for the day spoke no French! The special bits he had brought himself did not appear to work with his loaned machine. Who said it was going to be easy!
But by the evening session, the qualifiers were finally sorted, the public were forming an impressive queue to get in and there was a good feeling of anticipation. And then it was go. It was an action-packed evening with a good mix of races, stirring in the Youths finals in between the Pro races. You have to hand it to the kids, especially the smaller Auto and 65 guys. And I was impressed with the poke of the little Cobra Auto – it really rocketed out of the tight turns. There was plenty else to be impressed with as well – like the speed and skill of Max Anstie. I reckon that he was as fast down through the awesome washboard section as anyone.
Then there was Tommy Searle, easily the darling of the crowd, the fast but crash-prone Steven Clarke, the never-say-die Gordon Crockard, the tenacity of Carl Nunn and the incredible Mike Brown. Not to mention the smooth, deceptive speed of Heath Voss and Colton Facciotti. Then there was the head to head races – probably the high point of the night for many – with Ashley Greedy bringing the crowd alive with his block-pass fixation.
Being an honest sort of chap I'll also tell you what I didn't like. The constant brain-mashing overloud four-stroke din is my main complaint. What is OK out in a field certainly isn't indoors. The smaller Youth classes were actually a welcome break. My suggestion? An Open four-stroke class where you can run a 250 or a 450 – and a two-stroke class where you can run likewise. I would think that the DEP series could supply a pretty decent line-up.
And I guess John Hellam would like to have seen more bums on Sheffield seats. The show and the racing certainly justified it. There were plenty of knowledgeable hard-core MX fans and the crowd is certainly as big if not bigger than your average British Championship meet – but I don't think it attracted the local event crowd – like Liverpool did earlier this year to such good effect – and hopefully will again in January.
The track was as safe as an Indoor SX in Britain is ever going to be and it held-up well to the racing, proving quick, easy and effective to maintain during the night – a few laps with the rollers and it was ready to rock.
Personal high-points were watching photographer Graham Milne acting as a crash magnet and getting nailed, firstly by Tommy Searle who exited the washboard about 20mph too fast and hurtled into the T+MX banner, under which lurked McMilne and then our McBrave snapper was attacked by Lewis King's little 125 TM when Lewis bailed-out spectacularly when coming-up short of the triple and the bike carried-on, straight as a die, with Milne stepping smoothly to one side like a matador. Well, that's what he'd like to think, what actually happened was he froze, eyes wide open, as the bike obligingly came to a halt...