Steel Hawk Motorcycle Clubs “Rock it ‘til Sundown” Midweek Summer MX Classic is back this Wednesday, August 5th and with its biggest line up ever.
For the third staging of the event, the club is Wiltshire bound as it will be staged for the first time at the fantastic Cusses Gorse MX venue near Salisbury after two years at Tincleton, Dorset.
There has been a format tweak too with the Youth and Adult running in two separate events with the Youth programme, presented by Stolen BMX, being run in the daytime and the Adult racing running in the evening culminating in the Relax to Race Arm Pump Oil Super Final.
For 2020 an Auto class has been added to the programme which has kindly been sponsored by Alpinestars, and it will be interesting to see some new ‘Rock it’ Little Heroes emerging.
The Troy Lee Designs Junior 65cc group is crammed full of young talent and a new champion will be crowned. Ones to watch out for will be recent winner at the South West MXC open meeting Blake Ward-Clarke, British Minibike Champs round 1 winner Robbie Daly and GEST Hastings top gun Archie Edwards.
Many former stars of the 65cc class will be lining up in the Fly Small Wheel 85cc group and will certainly be challengers to the throne such as Isaac Ash, Riley Ingram and Fabian-Junior Morrison. These guys will be up against riders who have been showing hot form up in Cumbria; Josh Vail and Ryan Waggott as well as the superfast World Junior Champs Team GB member Charlie Richmond and recent South West winner Joey Benifield. Picking a winner out of that lot is not easy. Gus Mustoe and Archie Hobbs were third and fourth in this class at last years “Rock it” so they have form too.
Like the Small Wheels the Oakley Big Wheel class is a veritable feast of MX talent with 2019 MX Nationals and British Youth Champ Tyla Hooley certainly one of the favourites. The top two from last years ‘Rock it’ Small Wheel 85’s Warren Clarke and Tyler Kirby are stepping up to the Big Wheel plate and these kids are fast, as is 2018 ‘Rock it’ Small wheel winner Ben Mustoe. Billy Askew has been winning in Cumbria this year and has National pedigree and Henry Life took the victory down at Landrake with South West, and the list goes on…
The FXR Rookie class could have been filled two times over and expect the action to be hot in this group. Two 125cc Rookie contenders are former ‘Rock it’ champions with 2018 125 winner Bobby Bruce and 2018 Big Wheel 85 winner Jude Morris set to go head to head. Harvey James was fourth in 2019 and will be keen to take a trip to the podium in 2020.Louise Kessell has been in stunning form down in the West Country so far this season and will take some stopping in the FXR Rookies 250 category but he will have the likes of Cullen Scott who was third last year and Ty Westcott, who has been riding well down south, out to challenge him.
The top four riders from the Matrix/ODI Vets 40 + class from last year are back, although this year the group is being split between MX1 and MX2. 2019 champ Chris Brown, and runner up Steve Elford will be racing in MX1 as will Lee Tolan who was fourth last year, but Kevin Sanders who was third will be racing in the MX2 class so will certainly be a hot favourite in that group.
Another new element to the format is that the Adult classes are being split between MX1 and MX2 with the top 20 riders from each class after two motos meeting in the Relax to Race Arm Pump Oil Superfinal with the winner becoming the 2020 “Rock it ‘til Sundown” Champion and getting their hands on an all new perpetual trophy.
Some of the sports top racers have been involved in the first two stagings of the event and this year there are even more. Harri Kullas is back to defend his title and will race in the ASA United Husqvarna MX1 class as will Jake Shipton who has finished on the podium in both of the previous ‘Rock it’ events. ACU MX2 British Champ, New Zealander Dylan Walsh will have his eyes on the prize but competition will be hot with the likes of Lewis Tombs, Brad Todd, Josh Spinks, Dylan Woodcock, Stuart Edmonds, Liam Knight, Ashton Dickinson and Dan Thornhill all in the line-up.
In the MGS Offroad Training Events MX2 class, there are heaps of up and coming young talent with ‘Rock it’ regular and local racer Taylor Hammal expected to be among the front runners alongside Tom Grimshaw, Charlie Cole, Ike Carter and Lewis Trickett as well as the two previous Adult A ‘Rock it’ Champions Adam Harris and Josh Coleman.
Unfortunately, spectators won’t be allowed to attend but make sure you follow Steel Hawk MC on Facebook and Instagram for updates throughout the day, or go to www.steelhawkmc.cc for more info.
Photo Credit – Nuno Laranjeira
