Hawk International – 10th Feb

All roads lead to Shropshire this weekend, Sunday 10^th Feb, when HIMX promote the Hawk International Motocross at Hawkstone Park and they have attracted a stunning line up of top Grand Prix and British riders.

Heading the field are current MX2 World Champion Jeffrey Herlings (Red Bull KTM) and Britain’s No 1 rider Tommy Searle who finished second to Herlings after a season long battle. For 2013, 18 year old Herlings stays in the MX2 class to defend his crown and his main opposition may come from his French team mate Jordi Tixier who also lines up on Sunday.

For Searle it is different as the age restriction in MX2 means he moves up to the MX1 class and will make his 2013 racing debut on the 450cc CLS Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki at Hawskstone Park. Rockstar Suzuki MX1 and MX2 bring a strong trio of Belgian riders with Clement Desalle and Kevin Strijbos on the 450cc machines and Julien Lieber aboard the 250cc bike.

World number two Desalle won the MX1 class last year so will be looking for a similar result this time while British MX1 Champion Strijbos cleaned up at Mantova two weeks ago and will be a real threat. Super stylish Frenchman Gautier Paulin heads the Kawasaki factory team and will be looking for a good start to his season as he tries to improve on his third place finish in last year’s World Championship.

Newcomer to the Kawasaki team is Belgian Jeremy Van Horebeek who also like Searle moves into the MX1 class having finished the 2012 MX2 season in third place. Formula 1 racing driver Kimi Raikkonnen`s Ice1 Racing also make the trip and will be represented by Frenchman Xavier Boog and Portuguese rider Rui Goncalves both of whom finished top ten in MX1 last year.

Maxxis Kawasaki by LPE head the British charge with former British Champion Brad Anderson on the green machine this year and after a spell in Australia he is back and raring to go, Dorren Coutts and Connor Walkley team up with Brad this year.

Spaniard Jonathan Barragan and Latvian Matiss Karro spearhead Steve Turners STR KTM squad while Adam Sterry carries the flag in MX2, and another British team Route 77 Energy Honda field super strong Estonian Tanel Leok and Jason Dougan in MX1 and Arminas Jasikonis in MX2.

Britain’s best bet for honours in MX2 lies with the HM Plant KTM UK team led by British Champion Elliott Banks Browne, Swindon`s James Dunn and the Watson brothers from Nottingham, Ben and Nathan.

Other names who are entered include Alessandro Lupino, Marc De Reuver, Jens Getteman, Maxime Desprey, Mike Kras, Alex Snow, Petar Petrov, Pascal Rauchenecker, Glenn Coldenhoff, Nev Bradshaw etc etc, far too many good names to mention them all.

HIMX would like to thank all of the sponsors who have helped out this year namely Hawk, RJS Builders, Cradley Kawasaki, Doodson, Salop Leisure, IS02 Nutrition, CMP Racewear, TMX, DBR, MX Vice and Moto. The first race time has been brought forward to 11.45am as daylight is at a premium at the moment and we want to make sure the Superfinal is run over the full distance and spectators can see the podium before making their way back to their vehicles.

Hawkstone is situated 10 miles north of Shrewsbury and will be signposted off the A49 Shrewsbury to Whitchurch and the A53 Shrewsbury to Market Drayton roads, postcode SY4 4NA.

For more information see the new website www.hawkstoneinternationalmx.com

The 2013 Hawkstone International Motocross is supported by

Hawk Plant Hire – www.hawk-group.co.uk

Salop Leisure – www.salopleisure.co.uk

RJS Builders – www.rjsbuildersltd.co.uk

Doodson Motorsport – www.doodsonbg.com

ISO2 – www.iso2nutrition.co.uk

CMP Racewear – www.cmpracewear.com 

Pemberton Tyres – www.pembertontyres.co.uk