issue33

I’ve not long been back home from visiting the French GP at St.Jean d’Angely. Once again our old foes across the English channel laid on a fantastic race. World championship motocross is well drilled these days under Youthstream management it has to be said, they run a pretty tight ship. That of course is not to say that it’s perfect because it’s not, there’s still room for plenty of improvement. Notably it’s the tracks that usually come under most scrutiny from the riders and fans alike. St.Jean is a typical old school style track that isn’t everyone’s favourite it has to be said. It’s hard pack with some pretty hefty stones and technical off cambers, basically it isn’t the modern day rider’s cup of tea it seems. Personally I’d love another shot around there on my 250cc two stroke but I’m not sure if I’d necessarily like to race it.

Personal opinions aside the one thing that caught my eye while I was there that I never registered before was the infrastructure. St.Jean has always been well turned out, there’s several permanent toilets, shower blocks, commentary towers, a bar and concrete roads that run through the venue. Like it or lump it, it’s what’s required for modern day motocross but all too often the track itself is open to debate.

Over the weekend the French Motorcycling Federation (FFM) signed an agreement with Youthstream to host world championship events from 2009 through to 2015 thus guaranteeing a GP in their country for the next seven years as well as the 2011 and 2015 Motocross of Nations. A big deal in it’s own right but on top of that the FFM will also manage and invest into venues and support the organising clubs as they work with Youthstream. “The FFM is extremely satisfied that such an agreement will allow them to be able to create both a stable and most importantly a financial environment for the organising clubs involved” said FFM President Mr. Jean Pierre Mougin.

That got me thinking about the past few years and our constant merry-go-round with the British GP. Imagine this, if you haven’t already. All the constant chopping and changing of venues here at home for our GP brings inconsistency when the future of the sport needs a continuity and more permanent venues, particularly with the great noise debate. What if then, had all that money and level of investment, both financial and personal, been put it into one venue rather than constantly starting over at a new one? The forums are alight all the time about tracks like Foxhills, Matterley and the Isle of Wight. If the money spent over the past few years on bringing these new venues up to speed had of been spent on Foxhills alone can you imagine how good that could be now? I’m sure there’s plenty of reasons why it’s not a mirror image of St.Jean d’Angely but I can’t see any real reason why it shouldn’t be.

The growing worldwide trend is that more and more motocross tracks are becoming extinct and the U.K is no exception to that rule. With that in mind I know for a fact that the ACU are pushing for more permanent places to go and ride. They’ll need to invest though and I hope they do. They may be late in considering it but at least now they are, it’s a start. Surly if there was a permanent venue like Foxhills that was up to GP spec on which any club rider could race and practice on throughout the year it would virtually pay for itself in no time at all? Especially when we are getting less and less places to pursue our so called anti social recreational habits. I for one wouldn’t mind paying £20-30 to ride a well maintained track that had a restaurant, a decent shower block and powerwash bays. It’s easy isn’t it? Load your bike up, throw in a few tools, some shower gel and a towel and away you go. In this day and age is that really too much to ask? I guess so. Oh well, I’ll continue to live in hope. In the meantime, ride what you can when you can. – Jeff.

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