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Published: 08th May 2008

Author: Sean Lawless

I banged on about how we couldn’t tell an awful lot from Billy Mac’s early-season form and that we had to wait until the world championship kicked off to see if he really was as fast as his Maxxis results would have us believe. Well, I’m happy to say he’s every bit as fast – if not faster – and after three GPs Billiam’s holding down fourth in the world, just four points behind MX1 championship favourite Josh Coppins. The high point was a race two second at Valkenswaard (in the sand!) and you can be certain that if his confidence keeps building the results will keep coming.

If you’re not lucky enough to be heading out to Bulgaria or Italy then your next chance to see Billy in action will be at the British GP at Mallory Park and I can’t stress enough how important it is that we turn out in force to cheer him on. And it’s not just Billy we need to get behind. This year we’ve got genuine contenders in all three (yep, three – the Vets are racing as well) classes and our support could be worth half-a-second a lap and that could be the difference between winning and losing. Billy knows what it’s like to win a GP and so for that matter does Swordy and Tommy Searle who, along with Shaun Simpson, are heading a three-pronged British assault on the MX2 division. Last year’s Vet champ Dave Thorpe didn’t have the best of days at round one of the old-timers championship in Spain so we need to get behind him n’all – and while we’re at it cheer on Bellpuig race winner Greg Hanson and current second-place man Scott Eastwood.

Since the heady days of Foxhill we’ve struggled to find a regular GP venue – Gore Basin, Matterley Basin, Matchams and Donington have all tried and failed to replace the legendary Swindon circuit - and we need some stability or we risk slipping off the FIM radar again. So it’s vital that we turn out in force, give our home heroes a helping hand and – just as importantly - show promoters RHL that it’s worth their while sticking their necks out again in 2009. For ticket details and a full preview turn to pages 44-47.

For the second time in as many months something Steve Matthes said in his Radio America column has set my mind whirring. This month Steve talks us through a typical week in the life of a factory US mechanic during the annual changeover period from indoors to outdoors and one thing’s clear – no matter how glamorous it looks from the outside, it ain’t all fun and games for Uncle Sam’s hard-working wrenches.

I’ve lost count of the number of letters we’ve received from eager young readers looking for a way into the hallowed ‘industry’ who’ve seen people wandering around the paddock in team shirts with passes swinging around their necks and decided they fancy a slice of the action. Truth is it is a great industry to be involved in – whether you’re a truck driver, mechanic, rider or even a horribly hungover hack – but it also involves a lot of hard work and can easily take over your life. Endless motorway miles, countless hours in cold workshops, lap-after-lap of a rain-lashed practice track – the reality looking out is very different from the fantasy looking in.

That’s not to say I blame anyone for wanting to get a job in the wonderful world of off-road – it’s a great place to be - and I wouldn’t blame anyone for failing to see through the good bits to the graft that goes on behind the scenes. Even people who should know better can be blinded to that. A few weeks ago I spent a mega day in the Brecon Beacons as a guest of Simon Pavey’s Beemer-backed Off-Road Skills outfit and after a morning of blatting about the Welsh forests on an assortment of German metal we stopped for lunch.

“You lot have got a great job,” I said to one of the instructors, spraying him with half-chewed ham, “tanking round the fireroads all day – beats working for a living!” “You think so?” he replied. “You wouldn’t say that if you’d just had to pick the same bike up off the same rider for the 20th time in the pouring rain - and when you’re on your way home I’ll just be starting to wash the bikes.” He then stopped, thought for a second about the impending afternoon of tanking round the fireroads and his face split into a big sh*t-eating grin. “Yeah, it’s a great job!”