just knocked this up.
FOXHILL MAYBUG MOTOCROSS EVOLVES
The “Cockchafer”, colloquially called May Bug, is a European beetle of the genus Melolontha, from the family Scarabaeidae. It was almost eradicated in the past few decades by use of pesticides!—Funnily enough ,a motocross event of the same name befell the same fate toward the mid –nineties –The MayBug brings back evocative memories to many , many motocross fans in the South and West of this green and pleasant land! Once such a famous event on the calendar, a group of like minded people got together to form an organisation to resurrect the name, pick a historic venue and run an event! Have Sarah Read,Jon Truman administrating and James Millard brushing up behind the scenes & the Maybug was born again.
Foxhill in Wiltshire was the venue chosen and an Evo motocross event was on the cards.
Involve a round of the Dave Thorpe Series, introduce the super Evo class, a modern class and a twin shock class, negotiate with the South Somerset Club to provide state of the art timing equipment, run it under an ACU Events permit, and you have all the ingredients to create a multitude of talking points for months to come .
This 2013 version of the MayBug did not disappoint. Two days of truly close racing, a spectacular track and sunshine, it all came together on the weekend.
The track had been downgraded a touch from its usual National Championship condition to make it more Evo friendly – unfortunately no-one seemed to tell certain riders !!! The furious pace from all the front runners certainly threw up some surprises as it seemed like nearly every top points scorer had a mechanical mishap at one time in the weekend!!
Saturday dawned with a bright, dry day, perfect conditions, and first class out of the gate was the DT Evo and combined clubmen, with Andover’s Rob Whiting flying the clubman flag and holeshotting on the Kawasaki, closely followed by Jason Aylett who was destined to take the lead before completing the first lap, with the over 50’s leader, Keith Hanson not getting the best of gates fighting through. Jon Rutherford in the clubman class once again showing a strong second half of the race to finish in second place. After the dust had settled, Alan Eaves had followed Hanson through to nab fourth spot and second in the O/50 class. Rob Whiting rounding out the top 5. Moto 2 followed a similar pattern although Keith Hanson showed his intention by trailing Aylett by a matter of metres at the flag with Alan eaves relegating Rutherford to fourth. Overnight, Aylett led from Whiting, Hanson from Eaves respectively, with the Maiseys, Richard and Martin third in their classes.
Next to the line was the quarter litre class- and what a class , two starts , two wins , some serious whips over the valley jumps, John Mays day had begun. Neil Carroll had proved at previous rounds he was one of the quickest out of the gate and Saturday was no exception. Perhaps showing the closest of all racing throughout the two days May took maximum points with Bradley Wheeler runner up on each occasion, Neil Carroll, Warren Berthiaume and Ben Haggerty squabbling over the remaining places to round out the top six.
A quick change of bike and John May was at the gate again for the premier 500 class. This was the race everyone was waiting for, debuting in this years DTEvo series was the popular figure of Mark Hucklebridge. I had given the mantle of holeshot king to Fred Heath after the first two rounds –Huck has proved us wrong, he came out of the gate and into turn one clearly in front of both motos –a pattern to follow on day two –four starts, four holeshots. Mark finished fifth in moto one , behind current champion , Glen Phillips in second, Aaron Poolman in third and the birthday boy , Phil Mercer in fourth. Moto two was, as we alluded to earlier, Huck in front , trailed by May , Phillips , Henry Western and Phil Mercer , although the race was to finish without Phil scoring points as an excursion over the bars of the Chambers KX put paid to day one . Another victim of the track was Fred Heath. May had missed all this and after a terrific scrap with Glen Phillips put daylight between them after Phillips suffered a broken footrest, a pass by Aaron Poolman and the hard charging Wayne Butt. The current champion nursing his Kawasaki home in fifth. Third overall to go into day two. John May leading both classes now.
The 250’s quickly followed the finish of the 500 race, being superbly marshalled in the parc ferme by the ACU, s Chris Sprawson, adding his professionalism to an already slickly run meeting.
Jack Gribble carded a first and third on day one , a race long battle ensuing between him Olly Jones , Harry Selwood and the battling Ben Milward. Moto one having Gribble, Selwood ,Jones, Milward and Brian Wheeler all involved I disputing the top five places, Moto two had another champion sharing Glen Phillips bad luck with a main bearing seal causing Ben to have a no-score , although some nifty evening mechanical repairs ensured he would be ok for day two. Nicholas Stampaert and George Holveot had made the journey from Belgium, to ride a “track we had dreamed about”; the Belgian guys got their wish and finished the day with six points apiece.
Day one was rounded out with Jason Turner, Nathan Jacobs and John McCarthy all scoring the maximum 60 points in their respective classes of Twin shock, Super Evo and Modern.
A couple of serious injuries had the medical personnel very busy , but their sheer professionalism ensured the riders involved got the best of medical care , although the organisers made the decision to run the two blocks of racing and carry on with three on Sunday.
Bee Sting cider flowed well at the bar & disco on the Saturday night where all the on track rivalry was forgotten. Ex World 250 Champion Neil Hudson thought the track was in great condition & was pleased to have attended. Greg Hanson decided from the off along with Factory Phil Mercer that the tabletops & doubles just had to be done. Jon May was going to give the tripple a miss until Aarron Poolman jumped past him to show him the line. Even the Belgian duo of Stampaert (who will be representing Team Belgium at the Farleigh VMXdN) & Holvoet decided that they in turn had to do the big jumps on the 250 evo's........more cider & even the twinn shocks did the tripples (dream on).
Heavy heads woke as Sunday dawned dry and bright again, with a bit of overnight watering on the track to ensure it was in prime condition for the full programme.
Once again the Clubmen and Over 50 class started the proceedings, with the Hanson, Aylett, Eaves and Whiting combination giving the spectators a taste of what was to come throughout the day. Keith Hanson scoring a grand total of 85 points in the over 50’s to give him the overall, watched by his brother Greg , who carded three runner up spots on his KTM debut, in the modern class. Hanson was harried throughout by Alan Eaves who eventually capitalised on a slight mistake to lead home Hanson in moto 3. The clubman class proved an eventual Jason Aylett benefit, although his maximum day was ruined by mechanical gremlins in moto three, the first of the day by carding 1 point. 121 points gave him overall with Rob Whiting and Richard Maisey rounding out the top three. Early series leader Jon Rutherford was the victor in moto 3, the first of the day, ending up fourth overall. Over 50’s was Hanson, Eaves and Martin Maisey with Pat Winter in fourth.
The John May 125 show was to continue with Jon looking toward maximum points on the day , three wins were to ensure this although Neil Carroll once again proving his speed from the gate and some terrific dicing between him , May and Bradley Wheeler in all but moto three kept the excitement up from day one . Carroll looked to have the better of John May in moto three but an extreme juddering from the Honda had Carroll deciding to forgo the dice for the lead and finish in the points. Sixth place helped him into third overall for the weekend, with Dean Warren, Warren Berthiaume and Ben Haggerty rounding out the top 6.
A quick change of machine once again to the 500 and May was lining up alongside, Phillips, Poolman, Mercer, Hucklebridge et al! Huck proved Saturday’s holeshots were no flukes with another two flawless starts, although the mechanical gremlins from day one followed him to curtail his points score. Glen Phillips battled gamely throughout the day to finish third overall, although a slight racing incident with Aaron Poolman in moto 3 had Poolman scooping the 30 points and Phillips picking himself up, extricating the Kawasaki from the chestnut fence and battling through the pack from twentieth to fourth. May had his own problems with a flat front and settled down the pack for 6 points , overall was his though , Aaron Poolman on the ex Dave Thorpe CR500 runner up , Glen Phillips the current leader heading home Henry Western , Phil Mercer in fifth , after a second and two fourths, Wayne Butt steadily improving through the weekend to round out top six placings.
The 250 class was the only one all weekend to have as many changes of leader and maximum points from each leg, Jack Gribble though had two wins and a third to claim overall, Jordan Owen was scoring consistently amongst the top runners and claimed second overall, Olly Jones third with Harry Selwood and Ben Milward heading Richard Chinn for P 4 to 6
John McCarthy was to prove maximum man for the full meeting , and what a haul of thirty points , taking three of his wins in front of none other than Greg Hanson , Luke Williams was runner up in the points table with Rob Mead third. Josh McGill and David Livesy rounding out top five. Mr Livesy will surely be the busiest man of all this week with people phoning looking for spares, after the mechanical mishaps of the weekend.
Super Evo was won by Nathan Jacobs carding four wins and a second, Richard Penfold runner up, Richard Southcott finishing third.
The twin shock class was won by another maximum man, Jason Turner, Jon Wood and Chris Elderfield filling the other placings.
A hard act to follow maybe, but we’re sure the next round will do its best to live up to expectations, it takes place at Torrington in Devon on Sunday 23rd of June.
