British MX - The Season Starts Off With A Bang

For decades Hawkstone has been one of the icons in British motocross and this year, the tenth anniversary of the Hawkstone International and the eighty-first of the Salop Motor Club, again has brought a lot of glamour to the iconic Shropshire location. And Mother Nature has smiled too; the weather is quite the reverse of the year previous: cold, crisp, but sunny. The MX2 class of the event is so oversubscribed that the club runs two MX2 timed qualifying sessions of thirty riders each instead of one for forty riders.

It is Team KTM UK's Shaun Simpson who takes pole with a blazing time of 2:09.957 on the challenging track, followed by Red Bull KTM's riders Tommy Searle and Tyla Rattray. In the MX1 class it is Martin Honda's Marc de Reuver who takes pole with a time of 2:11.104, followed by Monster CAS Honda's Billy MacKenzie and current world champion, Factory Suzuki's Steve Ramon.

At 12:30, the first MX2 race goes to the line without a hitch. It is Searle who takes the immediate lead, but he has to concede to the onslaught of fellow KTM pilot Simpson, who goes on to lead the remainder of the race. Although Searle continues to keep up, it is a crash halfway into the race that is his undoing. It sets him back to tenth, and a lap later he loses another five positions after going to ground a second time. Searle's team-mate Rattray has remained a close third, but he loses several positions, and with that a chance at the top three. Beursfoon Suzuki's Erik Eggens, ninth out of the start, uses the change in leadership at the front to make his own move to fourth. The star of the race besides Simpson is the healed, returning Scotsman at the helm of a Molson Kawasaki, Stephen Sword. The crippling ankle injuries sustained two years ago are evidently a thing of the past as Sword repeats his performance from Valence the weekend before. Starting outside the top ten he works his way into the top five, and for three laps into second; it is Eggens who passes him and pushes him back into third.

The MX1 race at ten past the hour looks to be all MacKenzie. The Monster CAS Honda rider is out of the gate like a shot and leads the race convincingly. Until it all goes wrong. A mechanical failure forces MacKenzie out of the race and it is Factory Suzuki's Ken de Dycker, hotly on MacKenzie's heels all the way, who takes the lead. Rinaldi Yamaha's Josh Coppins looks to be in the running for third, but Ramon, his nemesis of 2007, makes things exceedingly difficult for him. The other surprise is a very confident de Reuver, who comes from seventh to triumph over Coppins and takes third. Coppins' new team-mate, the Italian David Philippaerts, is fifth.

The non-qualifiers have all been bundled into the Experts Support race, which Delcevic Kawasaki's Phil Mercer wins after a heated battle with Willie Van Wessel Honda's Rob Kraayevanger. Suzuki's James Lassu is third.

Shortly before two thirty in the afternoon, the second MX2 race goes to the line. Again it is Shaun Simpson who takes the lead, followed by Searle and Rattray. This time though it is Simpson who makes a mistake and goes down hard. He restarts in thirty-third, and limps to the finish in twenty-second, while Searle takes over the lead. It is Rattray though who makes a move on Searle with just two laps to go to take the win and the class day overall. Eggens and Sword are also in the top five again, but Sword gets his own back this time as he pips Eggens to third place in the last few seconds of the race. Champ KTM's Joël Roelants, who battled his way through the faster half of the field, ends in fifth. Sword, third both races, is second overall, and Eggens is third, based on the second race position.

MacKenzie makes virtually no mistakes in the second MX1 race after he takes the lead over the field of roaring 450cc bikes again. The only mistake, in the last lap, costs him dearly, again. Under pressure from the trio of Coppins, de Reuver and Ramon, he lets his guard down on the treacherous downhill section of the famous Hawkstone Hill, and in a fraction of a second loses three positions to slip to fourth. However, he still keeps Philippaerts at bay to retain his position. A visibly relieved and happy Marc de Reuver is the class overall winner, followed by Ramon and Coppins.

Again it is Phil Mercer who takes the win in the Experts Support race, and it is the Belgian Andy Truyts who takes second over Kraayevanger. It is Kraayevanger though who takes second overall.

Of course, no Hawkstone International would be the Hawkstone International without the International Grand Final race, in which a selection of the top eighteen of the MX2, and the top twenty-two of the MX1 class, compete for the day's glory. The MX2 class gets a small head start on the basis of their engine capacity.

And it is this race that Tommy Searle knocks out of the park. He keeps a cool head under the combined pressure of both his peers, and those of the bigger class. He retains the lead throughout and impressively still has an eight-second lead on Ramon by the time the chequered flag waves. MacKenzie, mid-pack into the start corner, works his way to second halfway into the race, but again he is relegated to fourth by the end. Philippaerts is also enjoying this last race as he leapfrogs his way from fourteenth to seventh in one lap, then gains a position every two until he runs into resistance in MacKenzie. Ramon returns to the top three shortly after and forces Philippaerts back, but it is Brit, Belgian, Italian who grace the podium at the end of the day.

The Hawkstone International does not count towards any championship, but it is a vital indicator for riders to make some final tweaks to their fitness and their bikes. It is vital practice ahead of the gruelling seven-month season they are about to face, and anyone who is not ready now, will not be ready for the World Grand Prix season opener in just over four weeks' time, nevermind their domestic season openers. There is no doubt that the top World Grand Prix riders have done their homework and look to be ready, and it certainly bodes well for an interesting season ahead.

Results:

Moto One MX1	Moto Two MX1	MX1 Overall
1. Ken de Dycker	1. Marc de Reuver	1. Marc de Reuver 55
2. Steve Ramon	2. Josh Coppins	2. Steve Ramon 52
3. Marc de Reuver	3. Steve Ramon	3. Josh Coppins 50
4. Josh Coppins	4. Billy MacKenzie	4. Ken de Dycker 49
5. David Philipaerts	5. David Philipaerts	5. David Philipaerts 42
Moto One MX2	Moto Two MX2	MX2 Overall
1. Shaun Simpson	1. Tyla Rattray	1.Tyla Rattray 51
2. Erik Eggens	2. Tommy Searle	2. Stephen Sword 50
3. Stephen Sword	3. Stephen Sword	3. Erik Eggens 50
4. Jeremy van Horebeek	4. Erik Eggens	4. Jeremy van Horebeek 42
5. Tyla Rattray	5. Joel Roelants	5. Joel Roelants 34

MX1 / MX2 Grand Final:

1. Tommy Searle
2. Steve Ramon
3. David Philipaerts
4. Billy MacKenzie
5. Shaun Simpson