British MXGP can’t be beaten
By Anthony Sutton on 1st Jun 18
I am so excited for this weekend. Not only will its arrival mean Ill have survived one of the wildest weeks of the year in terms of workload but itll also be time for the British Motocross Grand Prix at Matterley Basin bring it on!
The British Grand Prix is always a fairly stunning affair and in the three decades (and a bit) Ive been hitting them up I cant say that Ive ever been disappointed by one the outcome of the racing perhaps but not the event itself.
The queuing, putting bodily functions on hold (cos theres no way Im going in there after someones done that to it), paying Michelin Star Restaurant prices for a lukewarm beef and onion flavour slice in a bun with chips and queuing to get out after, are all well worth putting up with for the racing action thats delivered.
And in terms of action you cant deny that were getting our moneys worth as theres on-track action from eight until seven on Saturday and then quarter-to-nine until six on Sunday thats a whole lot of laps being ridden over the course of the weekend.
The modern way of having two world championship classes, two European championship classes plus in the case of Matterley Basin a World Cup for the Vets is very different to how they did it back in the day.
Looking back 30 years to 1988 and the GPs then were single capacity affairs with the 250GP at Frome enjoying a pair of back-up classes and the 500s at Hawkstone having a single supporting act. And the Hawky support lot got a rough old deal nall as they pretty much ran back-to-back motos between the first and second GP races.
It almost makes you wonder what everyone spent all day doing back then as the pits were kept fenced off until after the racing ended, so I expect that the trade stands were kept ridiculously busy and made a real killing as people kicked back in between races while the anticipation grew and grew and grew and we all listened to some of the weirdest instrumental tracks known to man.
Five bonus points for anyone who remembers the name of that twangy guitar track they played at Farleigh...
This weekends action will comprise of MXGP, MX2, EMX250, EMX300 and Vets World Cup action meaning that over the course of the weekend you get 10 championship races (plus qualifiers) for your 65 weekend ticket or seven if you splash 50 notes on Sunday.
Thats actually pretty good value for money when you break it down although youd best get there early if youre gonna get everything youre paying for
One gripe for me as a family guy is that Sundays gonna be a long old day for the nippers whove unfortunately for them got school on Monday morning.
By my reckoning and I was wrong once before so it may happen at some point again we probably wont clear the Winchester area before 8pm and then chuck in a five-hour drive, plus numerous stops along the way Daddy, I need to wee! etc and we aint getting home before 1am the next day.
Still, the yawns will be well worth the memories. I just hope that in 30-odd years itll be them taking their kids and me and my mobility scooter of course to the British Motocross Grand Prix and I cant wait to get my own back.
How boring will son, I need to wee! be to them during a five hour journey
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