Now's a time for optimism

Happy New Year! Here's hoping we all have a prosperous, successful and above all happy 2012!

 

This time of year should be the time for optimism and excitement as we contemplate what's to come over the next 12-months. I say ‘should' because I'm well aware that for most of us the reality is completely different.

 

The fact is that for the majority of the population the first day back at work after the festive holiday is one of deep misery as New Year's resolutions kick in, lungs and livers begin to detoxify themselves and we're brought back to earth with a bang.

 

Oh yes, the party is well and truly over!

 

Knowing full well I was going to be back in the office on January 2 and pitching headlong into a DBR deadline week, plus assorted T+MX duties, I decided to learn from previous years of excess and kicked off my New Year's resolutions on the morning of December 29.

 

I've got to admit, last Friday was a bit of a toughie and on the morning of New Year's Eve I was craving all sorts of things that while good for the soul – well, my soul at least – are very bad for the body.

 

But I dug in, gritted my teeth, presented a stiff upper lip, rose to the challenge, grew a pair etc., etc., etc., and come January 1, while what seemed like the world around me was suffering from the excesses of the previous week, I was fresh as a daisy.

 

In fact, I reckon I was in the sort of shape to ride a New Year's Day Trial, which is kind of appropriate given the last time I had a New Year's Eve off the sauce must have been at the start of my ill-fated 1986 campaign which, inevitably, kicked off on January 1 at Back Cowm Quarry in deepest Lancashire!

 

Back then we, as an off-road nation, started the year with a World 500cc champion in the shape of Dave Thorpe.

 

‘DT' had won his first title in 1985 and after an epic 1986 season he was crowned a two-time world champion.

 

This time around we haven't got a World Motocross champion to boast of but who's to say 12-months down the line the situation won't have changed. No pressure there then, Tommy...

 

Away from the GPs which, sadly, are no longer populated with a raft of battling Brits with just the chosen few having the coin to compete, on the domestic front the 2012 season is shaping up to be an absolute cracker.

 

The downside is no Brad Anderson or Jake Nicholls, who will be racing elsewhere this year.

 

However that is pretty easily outweighed by an upside that includes an MX1 field that numbers new imports Belgian star Kevin Strijbos and crazy Dutchman Marc De Reuver plus the UK return of Shaun ‘Woody' Simpson. Chuck in the likes of the super-fast and seasoned Stephen Sword, the unpredictable Kristian Whatley and Martin Barr.

 

Right there you've got six potential race winners and at least four solid championship contenders.

 

These days we haven't just got the Maxxis series to watch them all in as well.

 

Sure, GP duties will drag a few abroad when dates clash but UK motocross fans will also get the chance to see most if not all of the aforementioned riders in action in the Red Bull Pro Nationals and the Wulfsport Masters series.

 

Like it or loathe it, the way modern GPs run may mean that we've got a much smaller representation at world championship level but Youthstream's policies have opened the doors for other promoters to run professional and – most importantly – prize money-paying domestic series. 

 

All of which means we, the fans, get top-class racing action without having to pack our passports and the riders get a chance to make some sort of living or, at the very least, earn enough of the folding stuff to fill up with diesel on the way home.

 

Long before the motocross season gets up and running we've got this weekend's Sheffield Indoor Trial to look forward to with Dougie Lampkin staging his Steel City swan song.  

 

Following swiftly on from that the real masochists of motorcycling – the extreme enduro brigade – will be in action.

 

First off there's the second round of the new British Extreme Enduro Championship, run by Paul Edmondson, which will be staged at Parkwood Off-road Centre, Tong, near Bradford, this Sunday.

 

Just one weekend later Steve Ireland and WOR Events will be in action with the legendary portion of pain, better known as The Tough One.

 

Steve Ireland and his team are back at Nantmawr Quarry for the eighth running of WOR's flagship event and with an all-star entry including defending champ, Graham Jarvis, and up-and-comer Johnny Walker it looks to be the closest ‘T1' yet.

 

So if the New Year blues have got a grip on you it's time to shake them off, turn that frown upside-down and get ready to embrace a cracking 2012 in the dirt!Now's a time for optimism

 

Guest columnist Sean Lawless steps up to the plate again to look what's in prospect during the forthcoming season...

 

Happy New Year! Here's hoping we all have a prosperous, successful and above all happy 2012!

 

This time of year should be the time for optimism and excitement as we contemplate what's to come over the next 12-months. I say ‘should' because I'm well aware that for most of us the reality is completely different.

 

The fact is that for the majority of the population the first day back at work after the festive holiday is one of deep misery as New Year's resolutions kick in, lungs and livers begin to detoxify themselves and we're brought back to earth with a bang.

 

Oh yes, the party is well and truly over!

 

Knowing full well I was going to be back in the office on January 2 and pitching headlong into a DBR deadline week, plus assorted T+MX duties, I decided to learn from previous years of excess and kicked off my New Year's resolutions on the morning of December 29.

 

I've got to admit, last Friday was a bit of a toughie and on the morning of New Year's Eve I was craving all sorts of things that while good for the soul – well, my soul at least – are very bad for the body.

 

But I dug in, gritted my teeth, presented a stiff upper lip, rose to the challenge, grew a pair etc., etc., etc., and come January 1, while what seemed like the world around me was suffering from the excesses of the previous week, I was fresh as a daisy.

 

In fact, I reckon I was in the sort of shape to ride a New Year's Day Trial, which is kind of appropriate given the last time I had a New Year's Eve off the sauce must have been at the start of my ill-fated 1986 campaign which, inevitably, kicked off on January 1 at Back Cowm Quarry in deepest Lancashire!

 

Back then we, as an off-road nation, started the year with a World 500cc champion in the shape of Dave Thorpe.

 

‘DT' had won his first title in 1985 and after an epic 1986 season he was crowned a two-time world champion.

 

This time around we haven't got a World Motocross champion to boast of but who's to say 12-months down the line the situation won't have changed. No pressure there then, Tommy...

 

Away from the GPs which, sadly, are no longer populated with a raft of battling Brits with just the chosen few having the coin to compete, on the domestic front the 2012 season is shaping up to be an absolute cracker.

 

The downside is no Brad Anderson or Jake Nicholls, who will be racing elsewhere this year.

 

However that is pretty easily outweighed by an upside that includes an MX1 field that numbers new imports Belgian star Kevin Strijbos and crazy Dutchman Marc De Reuver plus the UK return of Shaun ‘Woody' Simpson. Chuck in the likes of the super-fast and seasoned Stephen Sword, the unpredictable Kristian Whatley and Martin Barr.

 

Right there you've got six potential race winners and at least four solid championship contenders.

 

These days we haven't just got the Maxxis series to watch them all in as well.

 

Sure, GP duties will drag a few abroad when dates clash but UK motocross fans will also get the chance to see most if not all of the aforementioned riders in action in the Red Bull Pro Nationals and the Wulfsport Masters series.

 

Like it or loathe it, the way modern GPs run may mean that we've got a much smaller representation at world championship level but Youthstream's policies have opened the doors for other promoters to run professional and – most importantly – prize money-paying domestic series. 

 

All of which means we, the fans, get top-class racing action without having to pack our passports and the riders get a chance to make some sort of living or, at the very least, earn enough of the folding stuff to fill up with diesel on the way home.

 

Long before the motocross season gets up and running we've got this weekend's Sheffield Indoor Trial to look forward to with Dougie Lampkin staging his Steel City swan song.  

 

Following swiftly on from that the real masochists of motorcycling – the extreme enduro brigade – will be in action.

 

First off there's the second round of the new British Extreme Enduro Championship, run by Paul Edmondson, which will be staged at Parkwood Off-road Centre, Tong, near Bradford, this Sunday.

 

Just one weekend later Steve Ireland and WOR Events will be in action with the legendary portion of pain, better known as The Tough One.

 

Steve Ireland and his team are back at Nantmawr Quarry for the eighth running of WOR's flagship event and with an all-star entry including defending champ, Graham Jarvis, and up-and-comer Johnny Walker it looks to be the closest ‘T1' yet.

 

So if the New Year blues have got a grip on you it's time to shake them off, turn that frown upside-down and get ready to embrace a cracking 2012 in the dirt!