Change alert. You know how our brains tend to auto-complete familiar ideas of phrases. Laurel and ....... . Bacon and ..... . Salt and .... . In motocross racing terms, MVRD has been associated with Suzuki for the longest time. Yet now it has changed. It is now MVRD Honda. Repeat after me. HOOONNNNDAA. The red one. Mark Chamberlain had made the decision to colour the real estate next to his truck fire-engine red and he and his crew have been craftily spannering away at their new machines over the holiday period to bring them to a top state of tune.
IMAGE / BenjiMX
Meanwhile, a few degrees (in temperature as well as latitude) to the East, Matiss Karro was considering his options for the 2011 season. His 2010 season was solid, yet did not provide the sizzle and fireworks that looked everyone knows is there and ready for the unlocking. Maybe a change of colour was just what was needed. A few late night internet ramblings later, the decision was made and the Latvian boarded the plane en route to the USA for some testing - and shake down sessions.
Almost immediately, positive reports began filtering through. Matiss had rediscovered his muse, it seemed. He was comfortable and in full control on his new mount, and the speed was right up there. Training is training though, and racing is racing, so it would be wait and see for the first few races of the season to see if the early season from translated into good results.
Matiss' first race outing on the Honda was scheduled for Valence in the South of France, a traditional venue for season-opener events. The track in the heart of an industrial estate plays host to many of the world's top riders year after year as the protagonists, hungry for some action after a long lay-off, crawl out of the woodwork to come test their mettle and that of their opponents.
The Latvian guided his MVRD Honda to seventh in the qualifying session against some of the top protagonists he is likely to meet in this year's MX2 world championship series. In the first race, he had to wade his way thought the field after a bad start. His new found love affair with the red machine kept blossoming, and it was as if he had been on the bike for yonks. In fact, he had made his MX2 class debut on a Honda when he crawled of the 85cc bike a few years ago, so in a sense, things had come full circle.
Ironically, a better start in the second race yielded a worse result for matiss, He was involved in a few pitched battles, and claimed sixth spot. It was in the Superfinal that His Curliness came to his full rhythm, though. The top 15 finishers of each of the MX1 - and MX2 classes get to contest the Superfinal crown, and this time he would have to cross swords with the bluebeards of the MX1 class too. This time the metaphorical gears clicked in place , and the young man mixed it with the heavyweights. He finished 5th overall, the second MX2-class bike home, and along the way he posted lap times that put him in the company of the big names of world championship motocross, such as Ken de Dycker, Jonatan Barragan, Steve Ramon and Evgeny Bobryshev. He also headed all of these riders home, and his sterling performance in the Superfinal race was good enough to hoist him onto the overall podium with third place.
Matiss knows as well as anyone that it is early days yet and that many riders are still shaking out the cobwebs from their bikes and brains. He has served early notice though that he is ready for battle, and he is sure to approach his next races with some extra bounce in his step .
