From the Sunny Side of the Solent British MX GP Matterley Basin The British MXGP was held at Matterley Basin over the weekend 29 February -1 March. Sat 29th was definitely Winter, with a strong cold wind and heavy showers. Overnight the wind had caused damage to structures erected for the event, leading to a two hour delay to the start of practice, which eventually commenced at 12 Noon, to a revised programme. The weather reached a dramatic climax towards the end of the afternoon, blowing a gale and a combination of sleet and hailstones marked the passing of a Cold Front culminating in a complete Rainbow, both ends being seen to reach the ground, neither though so far as I could see indicated the location of a pot of gold. Sunday weather was much better with sunshine and a trace of warmth. Conditions underfoot were muddy, but the track rode very well indeed on Sunday, and even on Saturday it was not too bad at all, although conditions changed from race to race as the weather changed also. Attendance was surprisingly good on the bleak Saturday, but was very good indeed in the pleasant conditions of Sunday, almost possible to imagine that Spring was just around the corner. Racing commenced with the opening round of the Women's MX World Championship on Saturday afternoon. Race 1 was won by the present World Champion, New Zealander Courtenay Duncan, on a DRT 16
Kawasaki. She looked strong all weekend, more so after Nancy Van de Ven (Netherlands) crashed out after leading the early laps. With the positions now being Duncan, Kiara Fontanesi, and JK Raing's Yamaha's Lynn Valk third, there was no change until the end of the race. In Race 2, the first event on Sunday morning, Courtenay Duncan was again the Winner, followed by Larissa Papenmaeir on a Yamanha, and Nancy Van der ven was third. This leaves the Overall Classification after Round 1 Duncan 1st: Papenmaier 2nd: and Fontanesi 3rd. Also joining the World Championship riders was the supporting EMX 125 Class. In Leg 1 Liam Everts secured his first race win of the season, following a good start that saw him lead the race from beginning to end, eventually by some distance. Kevin Brumann and Rasmus Pedersen also had strong rides as they finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. It was good news for British Supporters as Joel Rizzi and Eddie Jay Wade both finished within the top 10. As with the Ladies, the other class split over the two days was the EMF 125s. Leg 2 was another flag to flag win for Liam Everts, Kevin Braumann again was second, and Florian Miot 3rd. British interest lay in a good 7th place for Eddie Jay Wade. Joel Rizzi also finished with the top ten. So the Overall Classification after Round 1 is
1st Everts 2nd Bruman 3rd Miot. MX2 and MX 1 both had two legs over the Sunday. There were too many twists and turns in the racing order to give a blow by blow account of each leg of each race, but the outcomes of each Leg, and Overall, is given as follows: MX 2 Race 1 Result: 1st Jago Geerts (Belgium) Yamaha: 2nd Jed Beaton (AUS) Husqvarna: 3rd Mikkel Haarup (Denmark) Kawasaki. British Riders placings: Conrad Mewse was 4th on a KTM, and Ben Watson was 7th on a Yamaha. MX2 Race 2: 1st Tom Vialle (France) KTM: 2nd Rene Hofer (Austria KTM): 3rd Mikkel Haarup (Denmark) Kawasaki. Overall Classification. 1st Jago Geerts: 2nd Tom Vialle: 3rd Mikkel Haarup Only British Finishers in the top 20 was Conrad Mewse, who was 9th Overall MX 1 Race 1 Result: 1st Jeffrey Herlings NED KTM: 2nd Jeremy Seewar SUI Yamaha: 3rd Mitchell Evans AUS Yamaha MX2 Race 2 Result: 1st Tim Gajser SLO Honda: 3rd. Antonio Cairoli ITA KTM Overall Classification 1st Jeffrey Herlings: 2nd Tim Gajser 3rd Antonio Cairoli No British Riders in the top 20. And so another very fine weekend of top level racing came to a conclusion. At times the weather did its best to make things difficult, but the quality of the organisation and all
