Motocross Challenge Project features in Dirt Bike Rider

Motocross Challenge Project(MXCP) in Dover recently featured in the Dirt Bike Rider Magazine covering the hard work that is had been done to promote the sport of Motocross to disadvantaged children in the Dover area. MXCP is the brain child of Richard and Charlotte Newton who set up the project as a non-profitable independent charity that gives young people of all ages and from all social backgrounds a chance to ride a Motocross bike and so much more. The project gives the children a real opportunity to have some direction in life and bringing a positive and public interest to our sport.

The article from the June 2011 issue of Dirt Bike Rider reads as follows:

“Richard started life as a racer himself, but got into coaching when an injury put him out for a year. He met Vic Allan who was working as an ACU coach and getting kids involved with motocross on a project in Camden, London. “I got my first taste of working with underprivileged kids, young offenders, kids not in mainstream school and literally using off-road motorcycles as the vehicle to put them back on the right track. I thought that was amazing and although I was a little scared at first that’s what I knew I wanted to do.”
The Motocross Challenge Project finally got up and running in 2000 and has been very successful in changing the attitudes in the community. “We found that motocross is often misinterpreted among authorities like councils and the police,” explains Charlotte. “They think it’s all about bad kids riding bikes through housing estates and on bits of wasteland they don’t realise or understand the family values and professionalism of it all. It’s one of the most demanding sports in the world too so it gets kids out and keeps them healthy and active, but it’s hard to make the local powers-that-be appreciate that fact. We had to really work hard and show them what it can offer a youngster”.
“Many of them were getting into trouble on a regular basis. They weren’t going to school and just heading off the rails and for them it was something fun and interesting and different from school. We want to encourage them back to school or on to college and hopefully we’re the stepping stone to let them do that. Here they learn team building and life skills that maybe they don’t at school because they find it more interesting.”
Most of their permanent staff have come through their specialist school and are proof of its success to put kids on track and give them something to aim for. They now have a job at MXCP, are qualified ACU coaches and are the ideal role models for the kids that come to MXCP because they were in the same boat at one stage.
The circuit which is split into sections that all link in to make one bigger track if required is small but ideal for what they need to achieve. There’s a little cafe and they’ve converted the old outhouses and stables of the adjoining farmyard into a workshop, classroom and laundry room where all the students learn maths, English, how to strip and rebuild an engine and even do their own laundry.
Richard and Charlotte have now taken it a step forward by forming the country’s first charity-backed motocross team racing regional. It’s a brilliant advert for the MXCP as the riders on the team – Jack Scott, Jake Ross-Buss and Ryan Matthews have all come through the project so not only have Richard and Charlotte got these riders into the sport they are now supporting them to go racing. Suzuki, Silkolene and Fox not only support the school but have also got behind the race team, as have local companies like Ovendens Plant Hire, Commercial Motoring World and Robinsons Studios proving it’s making an impact in the community.”

If anyone would like to find out any more details about the project and helping out in anyway please log onto the projects website WWW.MXCP.CO.UK.