REVO Husqvarna UK will make its race debut at the Be Wiser Hawkstone International on February 5 with Mel Pocock representing the new team in the MX2 class.
The team, Husqvarna UK's official MX2 representative, has been working hard over the off-season with 24-year-old Mel and 17-year-old Jamie Carpenter logging hundreds of laps in the UK, France and Spain in the run-up to the 2017 campaign.
With Jamie having prior testing commitments, Mel will be REVO Husqvarna UK's sole rider at Europe's biggest pre-season race.
Although no stranger to the iconic Shropshire venue, it will be only Mel's second appearance at the HIMX - his first coming in 2014 when he scored a hard-fought 11th place in the mixed-capacity SuperFinal which pits the top MX1 and MX2 pilots together for the last race of the day.
Mark Yates (Team Principal) "Hawkstone will be our first official race under the guise of REVO Husqvarna UK having decided to skip the Redsand International in Spain this month to give us more time to prepare.
"It's great that Mel's been invited to race the event and we're looking forward to it. Unfortunately, Jamie has some pre-arranged testing in Spain during that weekend so we'll only have Mel in action.
"It will give us some quality bike and rider time under full race conditions and Mel has excelled there in the past so it will be good to see how he goes. The guys have spent a lot of time overseas testing in the sand and will be hard at it again this weekend and over the coming weeks so hopefully we'll be well-prepared.
"Testing has gone well and we've got the bike to Mel's liking and hope to have a solid finish and result. There's always a field of quality riders at this event but I feel Mel has as good a chance as anyone."
Mel Pocock commented "I'm excited to race the Hawkstone International. It's our debut as a new team and it's also a good run out for us and will blow the cobwebs away - it's certainly a hard, brutal venue and we'll know straight away who's put the effort in over the winter.
"There's a lot of work to do between now and then with a lot of training days and days on the bike but we've been working hard and I'm confident we'll be ready.
"Everything's been going smoothly. We've been training down in Spain and did Justin Morris' boot camp just before Christmas along with a few days here and there in England battling the winter and also going across to Dunkirk.
"We've got a pretty busy month booked up leading into the start of the season. We're on it."
MX1, MX2 and MXY2 entries are now open by contacting Gary Ford
ford542@btinternet.com.
Press enquiries -
carly.rathmell@btinternet.com
Trade stand enquiries can be made with
johnhimx@yahoo.com trade stands are £350 plus vat for a 7.5 x 7.5 metre pitch.
The HIMX team are currently looking for sponsors, there are various options to sponsor the event and a sponsorship package has been put together. Please contact
carly.rathmell@btinternet.com for further information. Sponsors will be given full publicity in pre event PR and social media and also at the event.
Tickets are £30 on the gate. Free parking. Free access to the riders paddock.
Picture © Nuno Laranjeira
Words - Sean Lawless