Just 50 kilometres from the Matterley Basin circuit, back some 90 years ago the sport of Motocross was born. In the outskirts of the Camberley village a bunch of men on big 4-stroke machines went about riding around a roughly made circuit, which was then known as the sport of Scrambles and so our sport began its long journey to 2014.
Motocross in the United Kingdom has always been something special and while the last few years has seen the British riders miss out on borld honours the British Grand Prix has seen some of the best racing of the season.
Matterley Basin is known for the beautiful tacky dirt, and the amazing viewing for the spectators. Situated in the middle of the nature and with the area lined by forests it is just a pleasure to attend this event.
We take a look at some of the magic moments of Matterley Basin.
Who can forget this very first season of this circuit in 2006. Of course the 2006 Motocross of Nations with around 70,000 spectators, plus the brilliance of Stefan Everts as he went 1-1 to take victory in his two motos, totally dominating American champion James Stewart. Team USA won on that day, but Everts and a little guy called Antonio Cairoli dominated the motos, giving Europe something to celebrate.
Just a few months earlier this circuit was debuted on Grand Prix level, with David Philippaerts in the MX2 class and Stefan Everts in the MXGP (then known as MX1) class dominating.
2007 and the British GP ventured to Donnington Park, and that circuit would also run the 2008 Motocross of Nations, while Mallory Park ran the GP in 2008 and 2009.
In 2011 the GP returned to Matterley Basin and it was KTM factory riders Antonio Cairoli and Ken Roczen who dominated their respective classes.
Matterley Basin also enjoyed a classic GP in 2012 as Jeffrey Herlings and Tommy Searle went head to head. Herlings the more talented, but Searle wasn’t to be beaten on this day as he scored the GP victory going 1-1 and sending the crowd into total pandemonium as the British wonder produced one of the best performances of his career. The racing was so close that it could have gone either way, although Herlings, while in combat with Searle, went down and to the delight of the crowd was out of the running for the overall.
In 2013 it was Antonio Cairoli who didn’t win the Grand Prix, but did win the FIM Motocross World Championship title and the huge crowd celebrated with the King of MXGP Motocross. In the MX2 class last year we saw one of the best races of the decade as Herlings was out injured and a bunch of youngsters went to war. Glenn Coldenhoff took the victory, but it wasn’t before Jake Nicholls, Jose Butron, and Romain Febvre fought tooth and nail for the victory.
Now we arrive in 2014. Herlings in super form after winning every single GP he has ridden, and Antonio Cairoli getting some serious hurry-up from the Belgian rider Clement Desalle (who won Matterley Basin in 2013). Whatever happens expect a large crowd and great weather to give this even the base it need to be something special.