British Motocross Championship team Buildbase Honda will contest this year’s HydroGarden Weston Beach Race Powered by KTM, which takes place this weekend – October 19-21.
For the 2018 Weston Beach Race, Josh Gilbert will be flying the flag for Buildbase Honda. Promoted from the satellite team following some excellent rides in the British Motocross Championship, Gilbert has impressed throughout the 2018 season taking his maiden MX2 class race win at round six at the Duns Motocross Track in Scotland and a 1-1 result at the final round of the Bridgestone British Masters series at Cusses Gorse.
No stranger to the Weston-Super-Mare sand, Gilbert was running near the head of the field during the 2017 event and challenging for the podium. Unfortunately, a technical issue forced him to retire from the race with only a handful of laps to go. Keen to make up for that disappointment, the 20-year-old former MXY2 champion will once again line up on the beach to fight for his first Weston win.
“I’m really looking forward to getting back to Weston this year,” said Gilbert. “It’s such a tough race and anything can happen, but I love the challenge. 2018 has gone really well for me and I have been feeling stronger and stronger as the season goes on. For this year’s Weston, I’m going to be riding the 450 Honda again. The guys from the Buildbase team have been amazing and I’m hoping for a good result.”
Team manager Dave Thorpe is, of course, no stranger to Weston Beach Race himself. The former winner is always keen to support the event and continues to ride each year, albeit without so much of the pressure as in his professional riding career.
“It’s always a pleasure to be involved in the HydroGarden Weston Beach Race,” said Thorpe. “Once again, we’re fielding two teams, Josh on the Buildbase bike and Alex Snow and Luke Hawkins on the HydroGarden supported machines. The race is extremely important to us at Honda – where else in the UK can you perform in front of such a huge number of motocross fans and spectators? The atmosphere is always amazing. I’m looking forward to riding myself, but I won’t be pushing on quite as hard as the likes of Josh.”
Gareth Hockey, Director of RHL Activities, commented: “It’s fantastic to have the continued support of Dave Thorpe and the Buildbase Honda team back at Weston. To have a young up-and-coming rider like Josh take on the 100s of other competitors in the solo race is really special.
“It’s always encouraging to see a new crop of riders coming up through the sport and we are honoured to have Josh racing at Weston. It’s also great that Dave will ride here again – as a four-time Motocross World Champion and past winner here, I’m sure he’ll have a great weekend.”
