Famous Faces - Part 6

Saturday 17 December: Well, maybe not famous! but it was a Kiwi face I recognised in the crowd of 68,000 ... and a long way from home.

Jeremy Long: Jeremy was mechanic with Katherine Prumm back in 2006/2008 when she was riding out of the Yamaha Van Beers Racing Team in Holland.

This year Jeremy was working for Roger Magee’s Red Bull HM Plant KTM UK team as mechanic for British rider Tom Church – Tom’s sister Lisa is married to Josh Coppins. 29 year old Church has 'elected' to retire and Jeremy is moving to LS Honda team - Jonathan Barragan and Ken de Dycker.

26-year old Barragan, is Spain’s greatest ever motocross hero with six MX1 GP wins under his belt and three Spanish MX1 titles, he collected two podium finishes and finished the GP season eighth overall. Belgian star De Dycker (27) is a former German and British MX1 champ who previously racked up 5 MX1 GP victories.

LS Honda Racing owner Steven Lettani believes it's his strongest rider line-up ever! Having finished third in the World Championship two years ago and after winning GP’s in 2009 and 2010, the 2011 season failed to live up to the high standards of the team. Both team riders, Ken De Dycker and Shaun Simpson, endured a tough year. Still Simpson managed to claim the Belgian MX1 title, the third consecutive accolade for LS Honda Racing after Clément Desalle’s 2009 Belgian crown and Davide Guarneri’s 2010 Italian title.

Photo courtesy of Jeremy’s Facebook page.