Whistling up Mallory magic
By TMX Archives on 6th Feb 08
JD and Ben Johnson took a trip to Mallory Park to see what all the fuss was about and so that they could see first hand the work to be done by MXGP promoter Gareth Hockey... WELL, the announcement last week that the 2008 British MXGP was to take place at Mallory Park – and not Foxhill – certainly ignited the MX world, with plenty of reactionaries working themselves up into a real lather on the website chatrooms. Many of the comments are perfectly valid – and RHL principal, Gareth Hockey, is prepared to listen to those talking sense and those making constructive criticism.
What he naturally has no time for is those who just like to mouth-off for no reason other than they have big mouths.
In order to be objective, T+MX took the trouble to motor the three-hours down to Mallory Park last week, both to talk to Gareth and to have a look for ourselves at what we think is possible and maybe what isn't. Ben Johnson and myself thought it worth the effort rather than sound-off without even taking a look – and Ben reports his findings in ‘MX Diary' this week.
The first thing I personally asked Gareth was why Mallory and not Foxhill. It doesn't take a genius to work out that the answer is mainly to do with facilities. Mallory has virtually everything, in permanent form, on-site, that series promoters Youthstream demand. This includes acres of hard-standing, office space and facilities, toilets, good access, etc, etc.
Yes, we agree that all this is what we perceive as putting the cart before the horse and T+MX has argued forcefully many times about losing many long-standing, genuine motocross courses (Hawkstone, Farleigh, etc, etc) but guys, things are as they are and if we want an MXGP we have to play by the rules.
If we don't, we won't have one. We can stand around shouting Hawkstone and Farleigh to Youthstream until the cows come home – we still won't get a GP.
The first thing that I would say, putting the cart before the horse, is that Mallory ticks lots of boxes – from the spectators' point of view as well as an organisers'. There's lots of camping/ parking very close to the track with hardcore access roads. There's all the tarmac that Youthstream and the paddock needs and stuff like environmentally friendly power-washing facilities – something that a Joe Bloggs like me would never even think of.
Whether you like it or not, this is just the sort of thing that makes the difference these days between having a GP and not having one.
There's a superb medical suite on site and Mallory has its own dedicated medics, ambulances and even a doctor. Just to illustrate that point, an FIM accredited doctor had to be flown from Italy to the MXGP at Donington Park last year!
Now to the crux of the matter, the track. To us, the fans, it is all that matters. I'm not going to lie, all I have at the moment is what we all have, a statement from RHL that they are going to build a circuit to the best of their abilities on-site.
What I can say is that the area available is more than big enough, given the specifications and constraints placed on the design by Youthstream, and is in exactly the right place at the venue. The whole venture – and RHL has a three-year contract – depends on getting this right. Gareth has been visiting the site for a while now and he reckons that it has a genuine motocross feel about it. It's in a small, natural bowl and has a very integrated feel.
I can say, to those chat-room funsters who have been knocking the venue and its practice track, the GP track won't actually need to go anywhere near the practice track – which will itself be tidied-up before the big day.
It's a huge undertaking but there's a lot of positive vibes coming from the team – and it's worth mentioning that the Mallory Park management is really enthusiastic about expanding into GP motocross.
It's easy – and cheap – standing shouting abuse from the sidelines before a stake has been knocked in. But remember, Gareth Hockey – like several brave men before him – hasn't time to spend shouting the odds as he is in it to the tune of several hundreds of thousands of pounds in his quest to make a British GP happen.
I can't even imagine working-up the enthusiasm, never mind having the balls, to risk that kind of money.
I reckon that we at least owe it to him to give him a fair chance.
Personally, I have every faith that he'll pull it off!