It's gold and it's great The Motocross des Nations
By Alex Hodgkinson on 11th Jan 07
AT THE end of the 60th edition of the Motocross des Nations Giuseppe Luongo said: After Erne, the event in Matterley Basin confirmed that the Moto-cross des Nations has now reached the level of the greatest sports in the world. A race showing such important numbers can enter the record books together with the best sport events ever.
Were you there?
Of course you were, and if not, why not?
OK, we had to leave editor Dicko home to endure Jack Burnicle's blabberings on the box, but everybody else was there. That's why it took so long to get out in the evening!
But, "...enter the record books”?
Sure, there were plenty of you on site at Matterley, a tad more than your average British championship and the spectator slopes were more tightly packed than at the GP in June.
Steve Dixon certainly won't want to be paying the VAT man his cut on the 80,000 claimed by Youthstream but, before anyone gets hot under the collar, every sport in the world inflates figures to supposedly impress potential sponsors, as though people who are cut-throat enough to have built up a successful business are going to fall for that one.
Fact is that if you don't inflate, you're on your own, and then you look really stupid compared with the world tiddlywinks GP which was watched on TV by 1.3 billion people in China alone.
There WERE more people at Matterley than in France the year before, but I know for a fact that the spectator bank at Ernée only holds about 20 thousand, not the claimed 35.
Back in the 1990s, the organisers used to sell advance tickets and had to stop sales at 15,000 under health and security regulations.
The bank is slightly larger now, but hardly anyone watches from anywhere else, so there we have a genuine estimate for Ernée. Add about 50 per cent and you have a pretty good educated guess for Matterley.
On the day it felt more, but study the photos carefully and you note that no-one was shoulder to shoulder.
For full story see T+MX NEWS, Friday, January 12, 2007