Mettet madness!

A quiet town of some 11,000 souls nestling in the gentle Belgium countryside about 15-miles from Charleroi where once a year the population triples as the ‘Superbiker' show hits town.

Now in its 29th year, the organisers made a major change to the event this time round. After five-years on the purpose built ‘new' Circuit Jules Tacheny; the organisers reverted to the ‘old' street circuit first used in 1987.

Nothing quite grabs the imagination of the motorcycling public than racing on the roads and under bright October sunshine the public flocked in their droves to witness the action.

On Sunday alone the organisers had over 25,000 spectators through the gates. As well as the racing, rock bands, stunt shows and free-style displays coupled with Belgium's national sport of brewing and drinking copious amounts of strange beers meant that the action never stopped.

Mettet has seen some famous winners over the years, Georges Jobe, Broc Glover, Stephane Chambon, Eddy Seel, Cassidy Anderson, Michael Pichon and latterly Romain Febvre have all graced the top spot of the ‘Superbiker' podium, in 2001 the ‘Starbiker' trophy was introduced for riders whose main sport is not Supermoto, names on this podium include Fred Bolley, Yves Demaria, Jeff Ward, Ben Bostrom and the great Stefan Everts. 

UK riders have taken the event to heart and in the past it has almost been a British paddock with up to 70 riders making the journey.

The change to the new circuit and the economic downturn reduced numbers as the extreme off-road and intensity of the modern circuit discouraged the ‘hobby' racer from entering. This was the general trend across Europe and race director Freddy Tacheny commented that the change to street circuit had increased rider numbers by over 100: "Everyone likes to do something a little naughty and this circuit is a little bit naughty.” 

For 2015, 32 Brits crossed the channel to do battle with the other 270 entrants, amongst them was Chris Hodgson, the multiple British Champion, was the sole British rider in the ‘Prestige' class. Hodgson and his Husqvarna faced some stiff opposition though, he was lining up against Thomas Chareyre, the current World S1 champion on his factory TM is probably the quickest rider in the world at the moment with Mauno Hermunen absent with a broken leg.

The rider that most of the crowd wanted to see though was last year's winner and the newly crowned FIM World Motocross Champion, Romain Febvre. The 23-year-old factory Yamaha rider from Epinal in France is one of the most talented riders on the world scene and he is no stranger to Supermoto, having switched to the tarmac based sport in his teens after suffering a number of injuries in motocross. He didn't disappoint either by constantly topping qualifying.

The race format takes a little getting used to, Friday is given over to timed practice which governs which group riders are allocated to. This year six groups of up to 48 riders negotiated 15-minutes plus two laps of the twisty 1.52km circuit with its technical but flowing off-road section and a flat-out blast down the main straight, so there is something for every rider to enjoy.

The pressure is on though as only the first ten progress through to the semi-finals on Sunday. A last chance race is also run, but now only the first two from that move forward.

British qualifiers were Davey Todd first, Richard Sharp third, Ashley Barber third Oliver Pope sixth and Graeme Norris eighth in their respective heats.

Benefiting from the ‘Repechage' last chance was York's Ollie Kemp who won his race. Unlucky were John Earnshaw third, Ben Handley fourth and particularly Tim Johnson who held second for 12 of the 15 minute race before being relegated to third.

Chris Hodgson along with the other ‘Starbikers' got an automatic by through to the semi finals.

Sunday is the main day and all the non-qualifiers get a consolation race to ensure they leave the meeting on a high.

Chris Hodgson also got his first taste of action representing the EU in the ‘Course a l'Americaine' in this fun race the ‘Starbikers race off in a devil take the hindmost' one-lap dash between the Belgians and the rest of the EU with the last rider from each team being eliminated.

Hodgson went well winning the first three laps, and hung on in to the last six before going out, Belgium emerged the winners with Marc Fraikin beating German Marc-Reiner Schmidt by 1/1,000 of a second. 

The first semi-final included four British riders – Richard Sharp (KTM), Ollie Pope (Kawasaki), Graham Norris (KTM) and Ollie Kemp (TM).

Sharp had a great race, holding 14th for most of the 20-minute plus-2-lap race before arm pump took its toll and he let former GP Swiss rider Marcel Gotz through to finish 15th.

Ollie Pope rode a storming race coming through from 24th to take the last automatic qualifying spot in 18th.

After holding a comfortable 18th place Southport's Graeme Norris had bike trouble and failed to finish. York's Ollie Kemp came in 38th. Marc-Reiner Schmidt was an easy winner on his TM, at the flag he had a ten-second margin over Romain Febvre. 

Semi-Final two had three UK riders – Chris Hodgson (Husqvarna), Davey Todd (KTM) and Ashley Barber (Kawasaki). Hodgson finished an untroubled fourth, Ashley Barber who regularly rides in the Belgium and German championships was an excellent eighth. However the story of the race was Davey Todd, the Middlesboro youngster who now contests in the BSB Superstock series used a borrowed bike and was in sixth until front brake problems caused him to drop back and finish agonisingly one place outside the top 18, he did record the sixth fastest lap, which bode well for the ‘Super Last Chance' race where the top four from 29 non-qualifiers go through.

World Champion Thomas Chareyre was a comfortable winner ahead of Austrian Lucas Hollbacher (Husqvarna).

Another great tradition at Mettet is the Quad bikes and two of Ireland's top Quad racers made the trip – Mark Donnelly and Cathal McCartan – and both were well rewarded.

In race one, Donnelly won an exciting battle from Frenchman Xavier Veron, with Cathal a fine fourth.

Race two was almost a carbon copy with the same results although Cathal was third for much of that race. Mark took the overall and the fastest lap in both races making the long journey very worthwhile.

The organisers gave all the non-qualifiers an entry into the last chance saloon with the two ‘Super Last Chance' races.

Graeme Norris started on the back row but the mechanical gremlins that had bedevilled him all weekend struck again and he pulled out with a puncture while making good progress in 12th. Davey Todd had the full support of the watching British contingent as he made his way to the grid in pole position, courtesy of being the fastest non-qualifier.

However hopes were quickly dashed as he pulled off on the third lap with a recurrence of the brake problem. The normally affable Yorkshire lad was clearly upset by his bad luck. 

The final started as the sun was slowly dropping in the West casting its autumnal rays over the pageant of colour created by the 44 riders that had made it to the final, an achievement in itself.

Four Brits where there on the grid – Oliver Pope, Ashley Barber, Richard Sharp and Chris Hodgson. This race was a marathon not a sprint – 30-minutes plus-2-laps – so fitness and bike reliability would be key. 

Hodgson started really well and held eighth for the first 17-minutes, an excellent effort in this company. However a slight mistake in the off-road section let two riders through.

Meanwhile at the front the superfast Marc-Reiner Schmidt caught and passed the two favourites, Chareyre and Febvre, and with three minutes to go had pulled a comfortable gap of four-seconds.

Hodgson re-passed David Baffeleuf and then he and Marc Fraikin were involved in a titanic battle for tenth only hundredths of a second between them. 

With two laps to go Schmidt had it won, but Chareyre had reeled in Febvre with a succession of fastest laps. However he couldn't pass his countryman and at the flag he was third.

Hodgson tried everything to pass the Belgian, Fraikin, but had to settle for tenth less than 2/10ths of a second behind. Ashley Barber rode really well for 23rd and Oliver Pope was excellent in 28th on his debut ride on a 2016 model Kawasaki. Richard Sharp had mechanical trouble and retired on lap 19.

As the sun finally set the huge crowd gathered in the dusk to cheer the gladiators as they mounted the rostrum, champagne spraying in the flashlights to receive their laurels.

Mettet was back and everyone who was there loved it...