TMX Says: Is a later start better for all?
By Anthony Sutton on 14th Mar 18
It might sound a wee bit selfish but I wasnt overly disappointed to find out that the opening round of the 2018 Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship (supported by Pro Clean) was postponed at the weekend.
After battling through multiple print deadlines the prospect of waking up at around 5am to drive 250 miles into the rising sun on a Sunday morning just wasnt all that appealing a case of work getting in the way of work, I guess.
As well as not being overly disappointed I wasnt all that surprised when the announcement came in either as Lyng had been under a good foot of snow the weekend prior and as that slowly melted away the ground underneath just became more and more sodden.
While the race itself could have happened, the misery of getting towed in, slogging around in mud all day before getting towed out would have just made it a miserable experience for everyone involved and in the end common sense prevailed.
Its a shame that the same amount of common sense cant be applied when it comes to sorting out the schedule in the first place because if theres one thing that the start of this years domestic motocross season has taught us its that we need to forget about whats happening elsewhere in the world and stick to a schedule that works for us.
With the opening round of the Bridgestone British Masters falling foul to the Beast from the East, and then the first round of the Maxxis getting double-teamed by that aforementioned monster and also the Pest from the West (meaning that ultimately it didnt run either), then I cant help but feel that maybe an April start to the British outdoor season which is ultimately what were getting would be way more appropriate.
As well as allowing the weather to settle and the ground to dry out a little bit more after lashings of winter rain, it would also give the riders a little longer to prepare without forcing them to ride partially frozen sand tracks in sub-zero temperatures over what should be the Christmas break just so theyre ready for round one.
Its not just the national championships that have been suffering either as high-profile regionals like the Premier MX series have hit trouble too with the first two rounds of that getting called off and needing to be rescheduled later in the year also.
Funnily enough the Maxxis and Premier MX series now are both due to start at Culham over the Easter weekend lets hope the weather is eggstra kind.
Bad yolks aside, I realise that the ever expanding MXGP schedule makes it difficult to find enough gaps for a national championship like the Maxxis to run through the summer months. But why do they need to avoid the GPs?
If you look at this years Maxxis line-up the only GP runners who are signed up to do both series are Graeme Irwin and Conrad Mewse.
In fact, most of the Brits who raced in Patagonia entered the Dutch Masters of Motocross round at Markelo rather than racing at Lyng thats guys like Max Anstie and former champions Shaun Simpson, Ben Watson and Adam Sterry.
So it seems pretty clear that the Maxxis doesnt need to service the needs of the GP guys which in my mind means that ACU Events should just do what works for them and ignore Youthstreams somewhat flaky schedule and clash with whatever the hell they like except the British GP of course.
Whether a later start in warmer weather and a schedule thats friendly to the locale would help increase spectator numbers is questionable but unless the promoting club coughs up for a wildcard or two then the Maxxis fan aint seeing much in the way of GP riders throughout 2018 and that always has been considered one of the major draws of this championship that sets it apart from the others.
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