VMXdN Foxhill 2022 preview
By Team TMX on 25th Aug 22
Starting from today Foxhill Moto Parc hosts whats promising to be the greatest retro motocross event of all time the VMXdN Foxhill.
This weekend (August 25-28) sees Dave King, Rob Walters and the Langrish Motorcycle Racing Club join forces to run the inaugural VMXdN Foxhill event at the iconic nineties race track thats perched in the hills above Swindon in Wiltshire.
VMXdN Foxhill is an evolution/spin-off of the popular nostalgia event that Farleigh Castle has hosted since 2009 and is an all-new take on things that leaves twinshocks behind and concentrates on Evo and newer two-strokes (and the odd four-stroke such as Nicola Stampaerts Husaberg) with the creation of new classes Evo Plus and Evo Ultra which encompasses two-stroke machines up to 2008 but none of those short-stroke four-bangers that have dominated the sport for most of this century.
Each of the key partners brings something special to the event and as such, it promises to be the ultimate retro motocross weekend with some of the sports biggest names, greatest bike builds and a revamped Foxhill circuit thats in better shape now than its ever been.
The Foxhill makeover has been achieved with plenty of graft by the Langrish team whove even had robot lawnmowers in to cut back the grass on the bankings so spectators can sit on the slopes in glorious sunshine. Fingers crossed on that one.
The overall goal was to recreate Foxhills glory days and short of shaving 25 years off each one of us, have done everything possible to achieve it.
As well as returning the circuit that flows through and up and down the crazy-steep banks of the L-shaped valley back to its best, the promotional team have signed up some truly legendary racers to battle it out in the team and seven supporting classes.
Mike Brown has been the star of the VMXdN for several years and returns in 2022 bringing AMA champions Ryan Villopoto and Zach Osborne with him. Villopoto has to be considered one of this centurys greatest motocross racers and to have him back in the UK is a real honour. British fans will no doubt also be glad to see Osborne back at the track where he relaunched his fledgling professional career back in 2008.
An added treat for British fans will be the chance to see the 1994 MXdN-winning British team reunited minus Paul Malin who still wont commit to coming despite being a bit of a Foxhill legend. Team boss Dave Thorpe along with team members Kurt Nicoll and Rob Herring will be at Foxhill this weekend so be sure to track them down and grab their autographs! Nicoll will actually be competing while DT and Herring who won Foxhills first ever GP moto will be in ambassadorial roles.
Following that trend will be the original bad boy of motocross Ricky Johnson who will be present to sign autographs and chat tirelessly with fans. The eighties icon had such a great time at Farleigh he vowed to return and this time hell be bringing even more Sharpies with him!
The festivities start at noon on Thursday with a Show and Shine off-road bike exhibition where racers and other enthusiasts are invited to display their race bikes. Honda will have a huge presence in this as they celebrate 50 years of motocross models from the 1973 CR250M Elsinore through to their mighty 2023 CRF450R. Its sure to be an absolute delight as enthusiasts gather to pore over and discuss the merits of some of the greatest retro dirt bikes on this planet.
Things get official on Friday as the beer tent hosts Technical Inspection. As well as machines being checked, Andy from Click 466 will be on hand to take pictures of the bikes and riders as they pass through in front of the famous VMXdN backdrop. He will also be selling prints on site. Its a small touch but one that adds to the magic of the event.
Friday evening sees the first night of Roger Warren rider interviews in the beer tent followed by a Bon Jovi tribute band Bon Giovi. Beverages will be sold in reusable VMXdN-edition plastic cups in pint and half-pint sizes Mike Brown on the larger version and Tommy Searle on the smaller cup.
Saturday sees bikes fired into life for the first time with practice sessions for all classes followed by a pair of motos for each. Well get to who to watch out for in each class in a moment. When the days final moto has left the iconic Foxhill circuit, the next official action happens in the beer tent as MC Rog grabs more stars to interview ahead of more live music this time from The Audio Allstars. The fun times continue late into the night but dont forget theres still another day of race action.
Sunday will witness the final two motos for each class, the overalls will be settled and prizes will be dished out! And then after that celebration comes the VMXdN After Party with four DJs lined-up to spin some tunes. We believe alcoholic beverages may also be consumed as everyone lets loose at the end of an action-packed weekend.
Monday is a Bank Holiday so a slow start is recommended especially if youve got a hangover. And provided that everyone is gone by noon then its all good! Have a safe journey home yall!
Ones to Watch
The VMXdNs star riders
Jake Nicholls leads the way at Foxhill in 2009 ahead of #119 Mel Pocock and #6 Elliott Banks-Browne. All three will compete in the team race
This years VMXdN line-up is super impressive, including stars past and present battling it out on some of the greatest two-strokes of all time certainly in the case of the Doc Wob builds that are off the chart.
The majority of stars are participating in the team race so lets run through them in numerical order.
Rocking the #1 plate will be three-time British Champion and current Honda Off-Road Racing Manager Gordon Crockard. Crockard won the Y2K and 01 series back-to-back riding 250cc two-strokes and hell be mounted on a similar machine if not one of the CAS machines that he keeps in his collection, this weekend. The gregarious Ulsterman is still ridiculously fast and remains in great shape and will be a key member of the Northern Ireland squad.
Crockard will be joined by Nev Bradshaw and Graeme Irwin in the team contest. Bradshaw is world famous (almost 21 million views on YouTube so far) for riding an Evo 500 against modern two-strokes at Foxhill in a round of the now defunct British Two-Stroke Championship series. Hes had an upgrade since then and will be looking to put in another memorable appearance.
The third member of Team Northern Ireland is former British MX1 champion Graeme Irwin who will also be mounted on a CR500. The 30-year-old returns to the dirt after dabbling in road racing after his MX career was cut short by a wrist injury. Fun Foxhill fact regarding Graeme is that way back in the day, our editor helped the then Red Bull KTM UK team member pop his shoulder back into the joint after he crashed in front of him. Well be having none of that this weekend, please.
Team Wales runs numbers 4, 5 and 6 with Shane Carless, Andrew Gillett and Gary Davies taking care of business out on the track. AMCA champs riders Carless and Davies shouldve been returning to Foxhill after competing there in last weeks round but a change of venue saw them sent to Brookthorpe instead.
Mike Brown leads the 2000 125 GP ahead of Kenneth Gundersen and Jamie Dobb
Team USA is made up of two riders who have Foxhill experience and a rider who is seeing the chalky slopes for the very first time. VMXdN fan favourite Mike Brown is old enough to have raced GPs here in his prime and is almost as fast now hes certainly as intense as he ever was and armed with a Doc Wob YZ250 could be the man to beat.
Zach Osborne relaunched his career at Foxhill in 2008 he's back in 2022
Joining Brownie on Team USA is 2010 British MX2 champion Zach Osborne who is perhaps more famous for winning two 250 SX regional titles and the 2020 AMA Motocross title. Osborne will be armed with a recently rebuilt factory 250 Husqvarna originally ridden by Carl Nunn.
Ryan Villopoto
The third member of the squad is Ryan Villopoto the nine-time AMA champ (or 10 if you count 250SX which we dont). After racing exclusively on Kawasaki machinery through his pro career, RV2 is now a Yamaha brand ambassador and will be similarly mounted to teammate Mike Brown on a Doc Wob YZ250.
Team USA will run numbers 7, 8 and 9 with Brownie running Barry Sheenes digit, Osborne eight and RV2 nine.
B&I Vintage Belgium is made up of 2012 British MX1 champ Kevin Strijbos wholl be joined by Mike Vanderstraeten and Danny Wauters both very quick riders but without the illustrious history of their teammate.
Team Great Britain has two former British Champs representing Queen and Country in the form of Kurt Nicoll and Brad Anderson wholl be joined by Mel Pocock.
At 57, Nicoll is one of the older riders in the line-up but still possesses a whole lot of pace. Kurt is one of the few here who raced Foxhill GPs in the glory days and this weekend is sure to evoke a whole lot of memories can he make it back onto the podium?
Brad Anderson fills the second berth for Team GB and theres nobody better for the job as hes as passionate as ever to get the job done no matter what it takes. Having flirted with retirement, Andos not quite ready to hang up his boots just yet and the VMXdN Foxhill is a golden opportunity for one last hurrah - got get em, Brad.
Mel Pocock fills in for Searle after sliding across from the East Anglia team that has two bonafide GP riders in its squad in the form of movie stuntman Gary Hoptrough and Elliott Banks-Browne who is a two-time British Champion. Its not clear wholl replace Pocock just yet but it wont be too long before all is revealed.
Fairhurst Wessex, meanwhile, could surely challenge for a podium with Jake Nicholls, Mark Eastwood and Phil Mercer taking care of business out on the track. All three are really fast and with no weak members could figure high up in the final classification.
Team Scotlands Bryan MacKenzie is another rider who has the pace to run near the front end of the pack but doesnt really have the backing to hope for a good score in the team contest.
The great nations of Germany, the North of England, Munster Ireland, Denmark, Holland and Ulster complete the line-up. Each team has three riders meaning all being well, 42 will leave the line for each moto. 42 two-strokes being ridden hard around Foxhill spine-tingling isnt it?
Supporting the big team race are seven support classes. Evo Ultra (machines from 2003 to 08 with riders of any age) will get things underway and there are several stand-outs amongst the entry list but current form doesnt always mean much when you chuck aged machinery into the equation. Steven Clarke will surely be one to watch but he could have his hands full with young guns Tom Grimshaw and Sam Nunn who are about as old as some of the bikes being used.
Next up will be the Evo Plus class for machines from 1997 to 2002 and again riders of any age. Big names in this one include Doug Dubach, Jake Shipton, Alex Snow and Jordan Booker but save a cheer for #34 Jack Drogan who is the fireman that raised over 20,000 for the Air Ambulance charity last year. MXA test pilot Dennis Stapleton makes the long journey from California to grace us with his presence.
The Evo Open Over 50 division will see Dubach back on the line where hell be joined by former GP runners Gary Hoptrough, Brian Wheeler and Kurt Nicoll, Crescent Yamaha boss Paul Denning, F2 stockcar driver Trevor Buckley, AX-promoter Matt Bates and a whole list of enthusiasts who have been around forever. Pick a winner from that lot? Good luck!
Downtown Mike Brown heads the Evo 125 class and will be joined on track by some class specialists like John May and Andrew Lawton. Other quick lads on the entry list include Neville Bradshaw, Shane Holmes, Glen Bixby, Alex Butler, Elliot Barrs and Jim Davies. We cant wait to hear the 125s screaming their way around the circuit its gonna be immense.
The Super Evo Open class is packed with talent including Elliott Banks-Browne, Ryan Voase, Joakim Karlsson and Ben Milward who as well as being one of Europes leading Evo racers is part of Foxhill folklore he famously crashed on a sighting lap due to a bike malfunction and found himself on the opening credits of Skys British Championship coverage for many years.
The Evo Open class contains another TV star pie entrepreneur Paul Bowen who once appeared on First Dates. Bowen probably wont be as successful here as he was there because the Evo Open division is even more stacked than his TV date. In the order they appear on the start list, were talking about guys like Barry Turnbull, Jason Morland, Jon Barfoot, Brad Anderson, Charlie Hollis, Steven Bixby, Michael Ogden, Lewis Tombs and Jamie Skuse. No doubt itll be one of the others that we havent mentioned who takes the win but we will see.
After the team race, the final of the support classes hits the track and thats the Super Evo 125s. This is bound to be one of the closest run as there are no standouts just lots of guys we know are fast as fudge. These boys will have to contend with the track at its gnarliest and whoever stands on the podium at the end of the weekend will have definitely deserved it.
Its worth noting that the VMXdN scoring system (1 for a win, 2 for second etc) rewards consistency and so riders will need four strong motos to secure a decent overall ranking. A 1-1-1-40 works out the same as three 10ths and a 13th whereas the same results using an MXGP scoring system would vary massively 75 points versus 41. So as we say, consistency is key. This is also true in the VMXdN team race where teams can only drop their single worst score from 12 theres no room for error.
Don't miss it!
The official event programme for the VMXdN
Priced at just 5, the official event programme is an absolute bargain and as well as containing all the entry lists and a loose schedule includes enthralling features about Foxhills glory days from the mid-eighties to Y2K along with a close look at Doc Wobs YZ250 builds that Ryan Villopoto and Mike Brown will be using in anger. Both are backed up by some stunning photography. As an added bonus, theres also a bespoke VMXdN Foxhill MotoXword inside to test your brain cells. Cash and card payments (powered by PayPal) will be possible.
VMXdN Book Club
The VMXdN is an off-road readers paradise
Dave Thorpe has finally done a book!
Three-time world champion Dave Thorpe will be launching his 254-page autobiography No Regrets at the VMXdN and as an added incentive for race fans to pick up a copy while theyre fresh, hell happily sign it for you and probably pose for a selfie or two. The place to be is the Honda inflatable between 10am and 4pm on Saturday and Sunday with copies on sale at 39.99. But be quick because limited stocks are available and when theyre gone theyre gone!
Rob Andrews will also be at the VMXdN with copies of his book The Inside Line which is already a real favourite at TMX Towers. Robs book has an RRP of 40 and is a 400-page affair that details just what it was like to be a GP rider in the eighties. Its an entertaining read and if you havent already got it Id suggest you hunt him down and pick up a copy.
Finding Foxhill
Where it is and how to get there
The Foxhill circuit is situated just to the southeast of Swindon and minutes from Junction 15 of the M4 motorway. The nearest postcode is SN4 0DR.
From the motorway junction, you can either head north up the A419 or south on the A346.
If youre on the A419 youll be looking to leave it at the first roundabout which is just north of the M4 by the Great Western Hospital and signposted A4259 Swindon and B4192 Aldbourne. Head towards Aldbourne, passing carefully through and then up and out of Liddington, before taking the first left after crossing over the M4. Youll pass back over the motorway and after about 500 metres will approach a crossroads with a row of new build houses on the right and The Burj Indian restaurant in front of you on the left. Turn left before the restaurant onto Callas Hill and the venue is on the right.
From the A346 its equally as direct. From the motorway head south, turning left onto The Ridgeway at Three Trees Farm Shop and Caf. Once on The Ridgeway continue until the end. Turn right onto the B4192 heading towards Aldbourne then turn immediately left (signposted Baydon, Bishopstone, Hinton Parva) passing over the M4 and then after about 500 metres you will approach a crossroads with a row of new build houses on the right and The Burj Indian restaurant in front of you on the left. Turn left before the restaurant onto Callas Hill and the venue is on the right.
VMXdN Foxhill Race Order & Entertainment
Thursday:
Show & Shine bike show including 50 years of Honda motocross machinery
Friday:
Tech Inspection, backdrop photo opportunity, 2pro1 slow show, Roger Warren rider interviews and live music from Bon Giovi in the beer tent
Saturday:
Practice and racing for all classes, more Roger Warren rider interviews and live music from The Audio Allstars in the beer tent
Sunday:
The culmination of on-track action, prize-giving ceremony and After Party in the beer tent with four DJs
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