With the first round of the 2011 series just over two weeks away, the major teams and riders are now focusing on a Press Day where they will be able to get a feel of each others pace on track - the Milton Park circuit in fact - at the official Championship Press Launch next Wednesday, 23 February.
One of those teams is the Buildbase CCM Team with Team Principal David Thorpe and talented riders Stephen Sword and Tom Church - Josh Coppins brother-in-law. Both are riding MX1.
The day will start off with a ten minute familiarisation session, followed by three 25 minute sessions, the length of the actual Championship races. Ahead of this the teams will be available for photographs and interviews with the gathered Press. In addition, the Milton Park Club will be holding a open practice sessions in between the teams having their track time.
The big interest from New Zealand is that in the past we have had riders such as Michael Phillips and Scott Columb up there but in 2011 we have four Kiwis competing.Kayne Lamont is still in New Zealand and will be riding at Round 1 of the Senior Nationals this weekend at Timaru. He will then depart to join the Maxxis Apico Suzuki run by Rob Hooper. Kayne's team-mate in the same class is the highly regarded Steven Clarke. Clark returns from a four-year stint in the USA and late last year the Australasian SX Series – he won the last Lites round in Brisbane. Both are riding MX2, Kayne will be running #75.
As reported earlier a new team on the British scene is owned by expat Kiwi Rex Michau. Michau was down here over Christmas and rode the Vets Class at Summercross, at Whakatane. DBG Team is based in Sussex and will be supporting three Kiwi riders in 2011. Kieran Scheele and Bjarne Frederickson are already entered in the MX1 class, and their sole MX2 representative will be John Phillips, but I don't see his name on the confirmed list as yet. Kieran will be running # 10 and Bjarne #85.
The Championship dates are:-
Round 1 - 06 March - Little Silver, Exeter
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Round 2 - 27 March - Canada Heights, Swanley, Kent
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Round 3 - 17 April - Lyng, Norfolk
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Round 4 - 01 May - Milton Park, Northhampton
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Round 5 - 26 June - Desertmartin, Northern Ireland
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Round 6 - 24 July - Foxhill, Swindon
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Round 7 - 14 August - Duns, Scotland
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Round 8 - 02 October - Hawkestone Park - Shropshire