For the first time ever British championship Motocross will celebrate racing in Scotland on two consecutive weekends at a revamped Leuchars circuit near Dundee.
First up the Maxxis British motocross championship will take place on Sunday July 3, then one week later the finest youth talent in the UK will compete for their own British championship at the Thor British Youth Nationals on July 9/10.
“We are so pleased to bring British championship motocross back to Scotland,” said RHL Activities supremo, Gareth Hockey. “It’s been a long time coming especially with the amount of talent which Scotland produce, its incredible.”
Scotland has a rich history of British motocross champions with the likes of Billy Mackenzie from Edinburgh, Stephen Sword from Lockerbie and the latest being Shaun Simpson the current MX1 British champion who lives within a few short miles from the Leuchars track.
The last time the Maxxis British Championship visited Scotland was way back in 2011 – the winners that day were Brad Anderson in MX1 and Swiss rider Arnaud Tonus in MX2, who is now based in the USA.
Things have changed somewhat since then with Simpson now contesting the MXGP World championship in the 450 class and is one of a handful of British riders who has won overall events at World championship level and finishing fourth in the world in 2015.
In 2016 Scotland is well represented in both classes of the British championship. In MX1 Tony Craig and Ross Rutherford have both won Scottish championships and will be looking to fly the flag with pride come July 3. MX2 front runner MacKenzie (cousin of Billy Mackenzie) will be hoping to fulfil a lifetime ambition and win the British championship in 2016, if you add Scottish wildcard entries to the start gate, round five of the championship is set to be the biggest and best round of the year.
One week later it’s the turn of the best youth riders in the country to take centre stage at round three of the Thor British Youth Nationals – the British championship for the young guns of motocross.
“Leuchars will have a complete re-design over the coming weeks by world renowned track builder Justin Barclay, Hockey said. “We as a company at RHL Activities will make Scotland proud with what we have planned for the event, we really can’t wait to get started.”
