BRITISH GP THIS WEEKEND

The shock news this week is that New Zealand’s Darryll King will not be able to defend his World Veterans’ Cup at Matterley Basin this weekend.

He is in the entry list for the VMX class but will be a non starter at this weekend’s British GP – “I had an accident about 10 days ago,” Hamilton rider King told BikesportNZ.com – and that perhaps leaves King’s great rival, Sweden’s Mats Nilsson, as the favourite to dominate.

“I was hoping to be ready to race, however the injury has not allowed me to be strong enough to handle the jumps here in England,” said King.

“I’m disappointed to miss out on defending my world title from 2012, however there is always the world vet champs in USA in November, MX1 in New Zealand this summer and the 2014 championship in England to look forward to.”

But, despite this gloomy news, New Zealand will have special reason to tune in to the racing at Matterley Basin this weekend with Rotorua’s John Phillips lining up in the MX2 class.

It will be a massive weekend with the British GP set to host the World Veterans’ Cup, the Women’s Motocross World Championships, the MX3 class, the European MX65 class, the European MX125 class, European MX150 class and European MX250 class as well.

The regular MX1 and MX2 world championships classes are, naturally, also being raced at Matterley Basin, and it could be the scene for the MX1 title-deciding moment for Italian defending MX1 world champion Antonio Cairoli.

Cairoli leads the MX1 title chase by a massive 90 points over Belgian Clement Desalle and, with just two GPs left to run, the title is virtually in the bag.

But anything can happen in motocross and after young Dutchman Jeffery Herlings injuring himself last weekend – thankfully a week after he’d already wrapped up the MX2 world title for a second consecutive season – we are reminded that it’s not all over until it’s over.

Kiwi race fans will well remember the 2007 season when New Zealand’s Josh Coppins, with one hand already on the MX1 world title with a massive points lead – 107 points in front, two GPs up his sleeve, with just five GPs left – he crashed and injured himself at the GP of the Czech Republic and, sadly, had to watch as his championship lead disappeared altogether during the weeks that followed.

But a safe and sensible approach from Cairoli should be enough to get the job done this season.

And, the track at Matterley Basin will hold fond memories for Kiwi motocross fans because this venue was one of the sites that New Zealand finished on the podium at the Motocross of Nations.

The crew from BikesportNZ.com was there to see the Kiwi trio of Josh Coppins, Ben Townley and Cody Cooper finish third outright at the MXoN in 2006 (photos on this page).

Here’s a video clip from race three at the 2006 MXoN … watch out for Coppins (pictured above, bike No.10) and Cooper and also look for the amazing pass by Team Belgium’s Stefan Everts (main photo above, bike No.7) on Team USA’s James Stewart (13 mins 46 sec into the video).