Supermoto Team GB take on the world
By TMX Archives on 30th Sep 11
This coming weekend marks the sixth staging of the annual Supermoto des Nations at the fantastic Motorland Race Complex in Alcaniz, Aragon, Spain, where a round of Moto GP series was recently staged.
The competition has attracted 25 teams representing 21 countries to compete for the Francesco Zerbi Trophy, a record for the event. Teams from France, Italy, Germany, Finland, Great Britain, Estonia, Sweden, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Latvia, Norway, Lithuania, Portugal, Austria, Russia, Bulgaria and Turkey compete for the honour of being the number one country in this exciting facet of motorcycle sport where riders compete at speeds of up to 120mph on modified dirt bike machines fitted with slick tyres on a mixture of tarmac and off-road sections including jumps.
Team GB have competed at every event bar one since the inaugural meeting in Northern Ireland in 2006. Having recorded two third-places, a fourth and last year a disappointing but battling sixth place, the trio are looking to get back on the podium in 2011.
Again Team GB will be fielding two teams as a Junior (Under 21) team will compete against all the senior teams. Only France and Finland are running Junior teams this year, but the ACU is passionate about developing younger riders and the experience is invaluable for them.
Both Ssenior and Junior teams have reason to be confident as all the riders are in great form and injury free, none more so than Matt Winstanley. The Wigan rider scored his maiden Grand Prix victory in Portugal on his SHR Honda recently and so will be full of confidence for the battle in Spain. Matt will be joined by newly crowned double British Champion Chris Hodgson (Skyzone KTM) from Maryport, Cumbria.
Both Chris and Matt have ridden in every British team so far. The third rider in the senior team is James Addy from Barnsley. James rides for the MWR KTM team and although this is his first Nations event, he is one of the most consistent riders in the UK and is currently second in both British Championship classes.
The Junior team also have three riders on top form, Ben Robb from Swanley (Drilltech KTM) is third in the British Elite Championship and Lee Williams (DCR KTM) from Bootle, Merseyside, is lying third in the British Open series.
Both Ben and Lee have competed previously for Britain and they are joined by newcomer Malachi Mitchell-Thomas from Bolton who rides in the same SHR Honda squad as Matt Winstanley. Malachi currently competes in the European Open championship where he lies eighth.
Team manager David Dearden said: "It's a great honour to again manage the British squads for this year's Supermoto des Nations – the event is now truly a global competition which can only be good for the sport of supermoto.
"We have two fantastic teams this year with all the riders in great form. It would be brilliant if the senior team can emulate previous years and climb onto the podium and we want the junior team to qualify for the finals. They will be facing world class opposition but we are quietly confident.”
Team GB would like to thank the following companies and organisations for generous financial support without which it would be impossible to compete.
