The travelling circus that is the FIM Motocross World Championship has descended onto the rolling hills of Matterley Basin, Winchester, for the GP of Great Britain. Multiple points of intrigue have caused fans worldwide to turn their attention to the popular British circuit, which is prepped and ready for a hectic weekend of racing.
There are no changes to the basic layout of the circuit, although some minor alterations have been made to a couple of sections. The jump that has followed the finish line the past three years is now a wall jump that should impact the racing a little more, as it will prompt mistakes. It will be intriguing to see how much that breaks down though; it could become more of a roller as the weekend progresses.
Turn four has been changed quite drastically, as it is now a banked berm and has been moved back ever so slightly. The jump that followed it used to be a little step up, but is now more of a single with no real landing. Landing on flat will be a test of momentum, as you could launch it from the outside or jump shorter from the inside. The roller entering the waves has been built up for this year also, although it again is not a drastic change.
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There has also been some movement in the paddock, as Karlis Sabulis has moved beneath the Kemea Yamaha awning to fill the berth left by the injured Brent van Doninck. Sabulis has contested EMX250 thus far this season and had a best moto result of fifth, so the impromptu move to MX2 may be a baptism of fire. I am sure that the team expect little to nothing though, which may be an environment that Sabulis can gradually build and eventually thrive in.
In more replacement rider news, 24MX Lucas Oil Honda still have Damon Graulus and Priit Ratsep beneath their tent. Ratsep was initially scheduled to do just two races with the team, but is also filling in this weekend as Matiss Karro is still on the sidelines.
Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki are also without one of their permanent riders, as Vsevolod Brylyakov was denied entry to the country. Brylyakov has not raced the Maxxis British Championship at all this year, because of the issues, and was desperately hoping that he would be able to line up at round eleven of eighteen on the world stage this weekend. Luckily he is pretty safe in tenth in the MX2 standings, so there is no chance that he’ll lose any spots there.
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The weather forecast is continuously changing, but it seems that we will escape the rain on Sunday at least. We will get some showers on Saturday, if not more, but I doubt they will cause the track to deteriorate too much as everything is rather dry at the moment.
That is all for this pre-race report, but, unlike most weeks, this is not the end of our pre-race coverage. An exclusive Chad Reed interview is coming right up, so stay tuned!
Words: Lewis Phillips | Image: ConwayMX
