Lightning can strike twice
By John Dickinson on 26th Jul 07
The postponement of the British Masters MX that was to herald the return to Foxhill is proof indeed that lightning really can strike twice - again!
AND the weather continues to dominate the news andthe sport with the latest high-profile off-road casualty being thefourth round of the British Masters of Motocross, an event which oughtto have heralded the spectacular return of Foxhill as a major MX venue.
How ironic and how sad that this cancellationshould come about because of the monsoon-like rainfall as it was onlytwo weeks ago that I was reminiscing in this column about how thevenue, which hosted some of the best British Championship and GP racingthis country has ever seen, should be hit by the very extreme weatherthat unfortunately caused its earlier untimely demise.
We all thought that after the dreadful Motocrossdes Nations, that went ahead but in atrocious conditions and causeduntiold damage, that lightning would surely never strike twice, so tospeak. How wrong we were and the eagerly awaited following MX GrandPrix had to be cancelled because of an even worse never-ending deluge.
Now, after years of hard work by various bodies,the track was once more ready to host a major meeting only to againfall foul of freak weather conditions in the middle of summer.
In the circumstances, obviously the decision tocancel was the only one to make and at least the organisers were ableto pull the plug before too much damage was done either to the track orto the infrastructure.
It is no-one's fault of course but the good peopleof Foxhill must wonder what on earth they have done to warrant suchappalling luck. As the man once said, if it wasn't for bad luck Iwouldn't have any luck at all!
INTERESTING to see that the German giant BMWMotorrad is to buy Husqvarna motorcycles from the MV Agusta Group - seepage 3. Husky has not had the most brilliant of times since it wasfirst snatched from its Swedish birthplace and transported to Italy bythe Cagiva group. Since then it has appeared to be in an almostpermanent state of limbo, yet through it all Husky has managed to keepits chin up and kept pace with off-road development, particularly inenduro where it has never been afraid to plough a distinctive furrowand forge a strong following of fans with a distinctive range ofmachines.
The purchase by BMW is intriguing and adds furtherweight to the feeling that the German outfit has more than had its noseput out of joint by the upstart KTM concern in neighbouring Austria.KTMs surge of popularity has seen the sales gap close between thebrands. After achieveing brand-leader status in off-road, somethingthat wouldn't worry BMW much, KTM has now set its sights on othermarkets and its new and ever expanding range of big twin-cylindermachines is definitely beginning to encroach on traditional BMWterritory.
Acquiring Husqvarna is one very quick way for BMWto ‘hit back' at KTM as it will look to capitalise on the ready-maderange of Husky off-roaders and also its accompanying specialist dealernetwork. Short term, BMWs stated plan to keep the two very differentbrands totally separate looks good.
It will be still be interesting to see whatdevelops long-term. And also to see what happens with BMWs ownfour-stroke Enduro prototypes which it has been developing this year.There's no reason why it shouldn't continue. It is all vairrryinteresting...
nLast call folks for the Hawkstone WorldChampionship Trial which I am sure you all know takes place thisweekend. This will be the last World Championship event to take placeon the British mainland for at least two years and for trials fans thatis surely reason enough to make the effort.
You get to see this year's revelation Toni Bou andalso possibly watch Britain's seven times World Champion Dougie Lampkinfor the last time in a World Round.
If we are really lucky we might even get to seeDoug pick up that incredible 100th GP win. It may look a remotepossibility but would you ever write-off Doug's chances of a win -especially on home soil with a partisan crowd rooting for him!
Doug has simply been a phenomenon and althoughthose dominant World Championship years are clearly behind him now,Doug, on top of his personal triumphs, has done more than any otherrider to bring trials to the awareness of the British public.
And anyway, I think 99 GP wins has quite a ring to it. It impresses the hell out of me...