Round 13 of the 2011 FIM Motocross World Championship sponsored by Monster Energy took place at Matterley Basin in Winchester on the 20th and 21st August. The event was blessed with great weather and fantastic racing in all four classes. The natural layout of the circuit allowed for great viewing for the 26,500 spectators during the weekend.
With strong podium hopes in all classes, the weekend’s action started with the Veteran’s championship races. In the opening race of the day Phil Mercer continued his fine form on the World Championship scene taking race wins in both races and closing to within 18 points of the title. Fellow Brit Greg also had a good ride in the opening race for third place, but a problem in the second race saw Hanson retire.
In the EMX125 class several British riders were hoping for strong results in the highly competitive European Class. The first race of the day saw the British riders heading for top 10 results. At the end of the race James Dunn finished in 7th place ahead of the new British MXY2 Champion Ryan Houghton in 8th. Just outside the top 10 was Connor Walkley in 12th and Dan Thornhill took the final point in the opening race. The second race of EMX125 class, saw James Dunn battle for the race win and finished a close runner up in second, Dunn’s second race result gave him 4th overall. Ryan Houghton again rode well for 6th place and 7th overall on the day.
In the first main MX2 race of the day, German sensation Ken Roczen run away with the race win, but the main excitement was watching Tommy Searle battle his way towards the front and keep the home crowd on their feet to finish in second place. Next Brit home was Jake Nicholls in 8th ahead of Max Anstie in 10th place. Wild card rider Elliott Banks-Browne also rode well for 15th place. The second MX2 was saw a better start for British riders and Searle produced another solid second place finish for second overall at his home Grand Prix. Jake Nicholls finished a superb 6th place for a career best and 6th overall. Max Anstie again battled back from a poor gate pick to 8th place and 8th overall. Lewis Tombs grabbed the final point in the second race with 20th place.
The first MX1 class race saw Billy Mackenzie move into third place early on the opening lap and produced a strong ride to stay in third for most of the race until finally finishing 7th. Brad Anderson produced a strong ride to finish in 9th place. Fellow Brit Shaun Simpson finished in 16th place after a mistake saw him go off track. Tom Church finished 17th ahead of Martin Barr in 18th. The second MX1 race saw Shaun Simpson make the holeshot and run in second until the race was stopped due to a serious crash. The crash saw Billy Mackenzie tangle with Tanel Leok on the landing of the quad jump and both needed medical attention. The race was restarted and Brad Anderson produced a storming ride for 7th place and a superb 5th overall on the day to confirm his position on the British MXON team. Simpson couldn’t repeat the same start and finished in 10th place, while Alex Snow secured the final point of day with 20th place.