Beach race specialist and off-road all-rounder Todd Kellett is fighting to recover from a broken ankle and regain full fitness in time for the 2021 Enduropale du Touquet – that’s if or when it’s held.
The 23-year-old is committed to racing the Championnat de France des Sables – the French beach race championship or CFS for short – for Yamaha France but the ongoing COVID-19 threat, having ruined his plans for a summer of racing motocross, is now impacting on his winter schedule.
“I was planning to do the British championship this year in the MX2 class on a YZ250 with backing from St Blazey and a bit of help from Yamaha UK,” said Todd. “It was going to be for fun really – I just wanted to ride the two-stroke – and I was also going to do the EMX2t class.
“That was what we were aiming for and then the virus hit and all the dates were getting postponed and I realised quite quickly that it wasn’t going to happen for me because I was committed to the beach races and all the dates were running into each other.”
With no British championship this season and the Euro rounds shuffled to the end of the year, Todd knew where his priorities lay.
“I couldn’t be riding a two-stroke then when the goal was to be racing a 450 in the beach race championship. Obviously, that hasn’t gone well either – all the races have been postponed and France is now in a one-month lockdown – but I wasn’t to know that at the time.
“They’re still preparing to run at Le Touquet so that’s what we’re trying to work for but it’s quite complicated as nobody knows what’s going to happen but as a rider I’ve got to be prepared. It’s scheduled for the last week in January but it seems somewhat doubtful but I think there’s the potential to postpone it to the end of February. For the moment we just don’t know.”
Todd’s carved a career out of his ability to mix n’ match races – he’s won an ACU MX2 British championship round, has his name engraved on the famous Patchquick Trophy and has a hat-trick of Weston Beach Race wins on his CV – and he’s been welcomed in France where he finished this year’s CFS in second behind fellow Brit and, at the time, factory KTM rider Nathan Watson.
“I actually went to France quite early [this year] and contested two rounds of the French motocross championship for Yamaha France which was really good. I had some steady results against some very good riders – Mitch Evans, Jeremy Van Horebeek, Tixier, Zachery Pichon, loads of good guys. It was all quite new for me because I’d never raced motocross on a 450 but it was a good experience.
“Then, unfortunately, I decided to do an ONK at Oss and broke my ankle. That was seven weeks ago and I’m just about now getting moving and starting to get back to it. Obviously, France is in lockdown and we’re in lockdown so the plan is to try and get back on the bike as soon as we’re able to and try to prepare for Le Touquet at the end of January.
“My injury was a big disappointment but at the same time I haven’t missed a race. If I had to pick a time to break my ankle this wouldn’t have been a bad one – if you’re looking for positives then under normal circumstances I’d have missed a lot of races.”
