Sword's set to strike
By TMX Archives on 27th Aug 10
It could be all change at Silverstone this Sunday when the seventh round of the ACU Maxxis British Championship sawings into action.
In what has been an exciting series so far, round seven could see a few changes in the MX1 leader-board.
The Silverstone motocross circuit is new this year and it has already been overhauled on the recommendation of the ACU Events committee to make for better racing.
The track is also a practice facility for the public, so now Silverstone has something for everyone.
This is the first complete man-made circuit the championship has visited this season and it will be interesting to see who will master it, as it is completely different to the likes of Farleigh and Foxhill.
In the MX1 class, it is all about the Buildbase CCM and Stephen Sword, who could leap-frog the injured CAS Honda rider and current points-leader Evgeny Bobreshev.
You can be sure that if there is a way to ride with his rib injury, then he will tough it out in an attempt at damage limitation.
Can Swordy claw back enough points to take the title to the Bolton Based British CCM factory, or will the CAS team get the title back after a few years without it?
As usual there will be a flurry of riders trying hard to take the win themselves and those riders include Swordy's team-mate Tom Church, who is getting back to race fitness after his hand injury.
Current British MX1 champ, Brad Anderson on his PAR Honda, will be eager to get back to winning ways, while Gareth Swanapoel, will be out to show what he can do on his CAS Honda and also show various team managements that he still has the speed to justify a GP ride in 2011.
One rider who will be missing is Samsung's American Ben Lamay.
This circuit is one of his favourites but unfortunately Ben is having problems with his British visa and will resume with his team as soon as the matter has been sorted.
In the MX2 class the title chase was hotting up after current leader Zach Osborne on his Bike It Cosworth Yamaha lost a lot of points at Foxhill after a nasty fall.
Jake Nicholls on the HM Plant Red Bull KTM took full advantage and pulled the gap back to just seven-points with three rounds to go.
As ever, motocross is never straight forward as Farleigh Castle saw the young American in devastating form and Zach won every race from start to finish with no-one getting close.
Jake had a disaster though and left the meeting trailing Zach by 44 points. But as we know from the last two exciting rounds, anything can happen – and it usually does, so we are looking forward to some cracking races on Sunday's between these two.
Jake has had a disastrous run in the most recent GPs and British rounds due to a slight ankle injury and some bike issues, but he will come out with all guns blazing to try to close the gap again.
As in MX1 there are a few guys still wanting to put a win under their belt before the championship is concluded for 2010 and they are more than capable of doing just that.
Martin Barr has the speed but must keep the PAR Honda on two-wheels to take the win.
Martin was the superpole winner at Farleigh so look out for the likeable Irishman at Silverstone.
Samsung Yamaha's Neville Bradshaw and DB Honda's Elliot Banks-Brown joined Zach on the podium at Farleigh. Can they take it to the top step on Sunday or could it be Bike It Cosworth's Mel Pocock, PAR Honda's Scott Elderfield or Maxxis Henderson Kawasaki's Kristian Whatley?
Kristian is super confident at the moment and is looking to become a solid podium contender.
The MXY2 series resumes again and it will be all eyes on the youth riders such as Connor Wakeley.
Don't miss the action on Sunday, August 29, at Silverstone race circuit, which will be signposted from the M40 and M1 on the A43.
There is no camping on the circuit itself, but you can camp locally. Practice starts at 9am with racing at noon.
For more info log onto – www.mxgb.co.uk