Kiwi Michael Phillips has entered the 2008 British Motocross Championships and scored a credible 8th in the first round. Mike dropped us an email to let us know how it went down.
"Saturday Morning we headed off to the famous Donington park raceway. Last year they built a Motocross track on the inside of the road race track for the British Motocross Grandprix and at the end of this year they‰Ûªre holding the MX of Nations.
"I was looking forward to riding on my first GP track and after walking it I thought I was riding an over sized supercross track. The track wasn‰Ûªt long but it had lots of jumps. Big roller section, rhyme sections and a few big table tops. Really good fun.
"After losing our brand new 6 thousand pound awning over the top of the bus in the freak gust of wind the team was looking to find some positives for the weekend.
"Sunday Morning came around and it was a fine sunny day. The tacky clay track had a nice dump of rain over night and was looking good.
Qualifying went well and I came away with a 10th place qualifying position.
Race one:
After qualifying 10th, I got a good jump off the line in race one and I pushed my KTM into the first and second turn. I came around the first lap in 4th position but on the 4th lap I stalled it. Even with the electric start it took a little while to get it going. I got back into 8th and I was hunting down 7th, but at the same time I was getting hunted down. I caught up to Glen Phillips in 7th but Wayne Smith had caught up to me as well. I got passed by Smith but I managed to pass both Smith and Phillips in the same corner a lap later. I battled the rest of the race with Smith but on the last lap Smith got me and I finished the race in 8th.
"In race 2 I got a 7th place start but took a few laps to get my lines sorted and got passed by a few riders.
I settled into 9th for most of the race but started to ride a little messy and should have changed a few lines. I wasn‰Ûªt able to hold out Mark Hucklebridge and I finished the race in 10th place.
"Overall i was classed as 8th for the day. I was happy with my start to my British championship campaign and the goal for the weekend was two top 10 results. Every time I ride the KTM 450 I‰Ûªm leaning something and getting stronger on the bike. Having only been on the 450 for a few months now I think I‰Ûªm getting the hang of it. Team manager Nigel Arnold was happy with my start to the series and can‰Ûªt wait for the next round. Also big thanks to my mechanic Tommy for all his help. He kept it all under control.
Next weekend we have the first round of the British Masters at Culham.
