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The final round of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship proved to be a fantastic day for the the local Hebburn based, HM Plant sponsored, KTM UK race team as Kevin Strijbos secured the MX1 British Championship title while team-mate Elliott Banks-Browne turned a 16 point deficit into a five point advantage to take the MX2 title too making it a double celebration for Roger Magee’s hard working squad.
Despite weather conditions being chilly the race action at the Little Silver circuit was red hot all day. Strijbos knew a fourth place in race one would secure the MX1 title and when he crossed the line in second the team were ready and waiting to shower him with champagne. Despite having already wrapped up the title Kevin rocketed to a race win in moto two before ending the day with a third as he rode shotgun for his MX2 team-mate in the season-closing mixed-capacity moto.
For Banks-Browne a first race win saw him take over the series lead as Mel Pocock had some mechanical issues which stopped him from scoring. However, a slip off in race two for EBB gave Pocock a one point advantage heading into the season finale. After a gate malfunction caused a half hour delay the final race of the championship finally kicked off with Elliott grabbing the holeshot , ahead of the field of MX1 and MX2 machinery. Despite losing some time to the chasing pack and also slipping off on the last lap Elliott was able to slot home in second to take the overall win on the day as well as first in the final series standings which makes it two championship titles for the HM Plant KTM team.
Kevin Strijbos MX1 #22
“The whole year was pretty good for me. It was good that I could wrap up the title in the first race and not just for me but for the whole team too. This is my first national title in the MX1 class so I’m very happy. I want to thank everyone – the whole team, my mechanic, my girlfriend and also Harry Everts who has helped a lot throughout the year. I’m happy for everyone and it’s good we could pull it off.”
Elliott Banks-Browne MX2 #44
“Coming into the weekend I knew there was the possibility that I could win the championship but I never thought it would happen so I’m so happy! In the first race I crashed but came through again pretty easy and won. Then in the second race I was riding well and leading quite comfortable when I crashed twice and the second time the electric-start button got stuck so I lost a lot of time because I had to bump start the bike. In the last race I crashed on the start but luckily they red flagged it because some of the gates didn’t drop properly then on the restart I got the holeshot and was leading until I got a bit tight halfway through and Simpson came past. On the last lap I crashed and I was panicking but I didn’t lose any places and when I crossed the line I knew I was champion. I’m so happy but it hasn’t really sunk in yet.”
Roger Magee: HM Plant KTM UK Team Manager
“What more can I say? We’ve won two British championships, finished sixth in the MX1 world championship with Kevin Strijbos, second in the Women’s series with Natalie Kane and Elliott Banks-Browne also showed at Teutschenthal that he can mix it with the best and will be a force to be reckoned with in next year’s world championship.
“We came here looking to claim one championship today with Kevin in a very strong position and we knew Elliott had an outside chance too. After the first race it was game on and then he made a mistake in the second race before bouncing back to show some true grit in the last one despite having a hole in his arm from his race two crash and he brought it home to make it two British championship titles for the team.
“I’d just like to thank KTM, HM Plant and all the sponsors who’ve stuck with us through the years and will hopefully continue to support us into next year where we hope to at least match what we’ve achieved this year in the UK and on the world stage.”
MX1 Series standings
1 Kevin Strijbos 530 (HM Plant KTM UK), 2 Simpson 477, 3 Krestinov 363, 4 Matiss Karro 308, 5 Law 272, 6 Barr 261, 7 Whatley 240, 8 Snow 229, 9 Coutts 212, 10 Stephen Sword 198
MX2 Series Standings
1.Elliott Banks-Browne (HM Plant KTM UK), 2 Pocock 442, 3 MacKenzie 343, 4 Irwin 335, 5 Bradshaw 334, 6 Lenoir 318, 7 Nico Aubin 269, 8 Edmonds 238, 9 Tombs 183, 10 James Cottrell 168…
Congratulations & thanks to HM Plant for their continued support of motorcycle racing / events from all the BikeWise ‘team’