Inside
Part road, part motocross. Utterly thrilling. Bike goes behind the scenes of the bizarre but brilliant British Supermoto Championship
Words and photography Greg Moss
Oliver’s, but not as you know it
Legendary track Oliver’s Mount in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. For the British Supermoto Championship the track is modified, with jumps, off-road sections and seriously tight twisting chicanes. On paper it’s a strange combination of bikes, riding styles and track conditions – but it makes for some engrossing racing.
Slipping ‘n’ sliding
■ Alex Mullaney, 17, slides into the main straight on his Italian-built TM 450 SMK – the 449cc, 115kg bike model that’s won multiple World Supermoto titles. Despite his age Mullaney is one of the quickest riders. ‘I won the academy championship in my second year, then I won it in 2019. Now I’m under-21 British Supermoto champion.’ Mullaney sees it as a stepping stone into the world of road racing. ‘It’s a good introduction,’ he says. ‘There are a few lads who I know like Davey Todd and Christian Iddon who started here. I’m starting to get into the road bikes as well, see where that takes me – hopefully I’ll get into BSB or something like that.’
Doesn’t break the bank
Affordable and low maintenance – that’s a big part of Supermoto’s appeal. ‘You can buy a bike off the shelf and come racing. It’s an easy sport to get into,’ says competitor Oliver Holmes. ‘You don’t need the fancy wheels, fancy tyres, fancy bike; you can just buy a stock bike and race. You can start on a motocross bike. KTM and Husqvarna, TM and GasGas are the ones that will do a Supermoto-type bike [from new] – at least that way you save on having to buy wheels, getting the suspension shortened, so on. Out of the box they’re quick bikes.’
Won a fair few
‘I’ve got 18 British championships’ says Chris Hodgson. ‘I’ve travelled the world doing it – I’ve raced in Australia, Asia, done a season in America and then the world championships in Europe. It’s given me a good life,’ says the 36yearold. ‘It is really good for bike control. Just imagine: we’re on slick tyres, then you’re coming onto tarmac with shit all over the tyres – it’s gonna move about. You just let it happen – once you’ve got that control, you’ve cracked it. Imagine going into a corner with your bike at 90° – you’ve made part of the corner already. You’re not riding round it, your bike’s made part of the corner.’
Serving their purpose
Crash bobbins, footpeg sliders and handguards are essential bits of kit. ‘The beauty of these bikes is when you fall off them, 90 per cent of the time you’re just smacking the handguards,’ says TM rider Chris Hodgson. ‘It’s not like you’ve sent a £30,000 Fireblade into the gravel trap and you’re sat on your knees crying.’
Following father’s footsteps
‘It’s so unique as a sport,’ says Jess Mitchell, who competes with her 350cc KTM. ‘It’s completely different to motocross and road racing – you get the road and the dirt. The paddock is so friendly, it’s a lovely atmosphere. I’ve been doing Supermoto from 11 years old. It’s a family thing – my dad does it, my uncle races and then me.’
Loving the high life
Tripz.UK team rider Jay Smith leaps off the biggest jump at Oliver’s Mount. Rider Alex Mullaney admits it’s a highlight of the track. ‘I like doing that jump,’ he says. ‘Second gear, hit it full throttle, I love it. In qualifying I dented my rim [from landing the jump] so I had to fit a new one.’ While the top speeds in Supermoto are relatively low compared to road racing, it’s still fraught with risks. ‘I’ve broken my left wrist three times and I’ve done the right one once, from hitting the deck,’ adds Mullaney. ‘Knocked myself out a few times. I’ve had big crashes but I’ve always managed to get back up.’ Oliver Holmes is also a fan of the jumps in Supermoto. ‘You just hit it as hard as you can, and send it. You tend to land rear first and try to ride it out, keep it going. I’ve had a few where you panic mid-air. You can move the bike in the air, rev to put the back end down, and rear brake to put the back end up – that’s from motocross’.
Passion leads to glory
Jay Smith leads Chris Hodgson into the chicane. Smith is a veteran of the sport, having raced for 20 years. ‘I love Supermoto,’ he says. ‘I always have done since the first day I tried it. I use motocross to keep my bike fitness up but Supermoto is my one true passion. I’ve never won the British championship, I’ve always come second. So this year I’m trying to adopt a different mindset – not “win it or bin it” – I need to get good solid points’. Smith’s tactic clearly worked – since being photographed he claimed the British championship, beating Hodgson by eight points. ‘I am 42 now so it’s taking its toll on the body. It is quite a physical track – lots of stop, start, off-road. It’s quite mental because there’s so many tricky bits, you don’t want to tuck the front or lose the rear. I’ll be glad when today’s over – Monday and Tuesday I’ll be a bit sore.’
Great place to start
‘Supermoto is a good grounding sport for people coming through to road racing,’ says mechanic Ian Collins. ‘They learn how to set a bike up properly because you can’t set up a Supermoto bike properly. There’s too much variation in terrain – there’s tarmac, dirt, gravel. You’ll always be suffering in a certain area, so we try to set it as best we can to do most of the track without giving the rider any drama.’
Slick tyres… on dirt
‘You ride slicks’ says Oliver Holmes. ‘You’ve just got to accept it’s going to move around on the dirt. A set is £400. I’ll put on a set for the Saturday and a set for the Sunday. I’ll put a set on for qualifying, then at lunchtime turn them round, then second and third round turn them round again so they get even wear. Sunday I’ll do the same thing. I use warmers, to get them as hot as you can. If you’ve got warm tyres you know you’ve got grip’.
Hand-built for the job
‘It’s a proper supermoto-specific bike. It’s absolutely brilliant,’ says Chris Hodgson, referring to his TM. ‘They’re completely hand-built. You buy them for £13,000 and you can spec them from the factory’. Like virtually all the bikes in the paddock, his bike is a single-cylinder 450cc four-stroke.
‘A couple of guys go with twostrokes but I think the four-strokes have advanced that much over the past few years that you can’t really go past them now.’
Work hard, play hard
‘It’s an old one this, a 2018 KTM 450,’ says Blaine Pearson. ‘I’ve put a sixspeed gearbox in it, 320mm disc, Brembo caliper and master cylinder, full carbon exhaust, everything’s titanium… I bought this off Alex Mullaney, one of the top lads. He spends all the money then I buy it off his dad cheap! I still get nervous on the start, you could have 35 people going into a hairpin. You still get nervous but you work all week, do all the overtime just to come here for a weekend.’
Too hot to handle
Mechanic Dan Hunter checks the tyre pressure on one of team Tripz.UK’s bikes. Ian Collins, mechanic for Jay Smith, explains why it’s so important to use tyre warmers. ‘I run 28psi in the rear and 30/31psi in the front. All the tyre warmers are set at 85°C. 60bhp on tarmac is not a massive amount compared to British Superbikes, but once the tyre goes onto grass, gravel or dirt it loses temperature. And then you’re back on the tarmac so you’ve got to generate heat.’
He’s the top dog
The Tripz.UK team dog, Bubba, named after Supercross legend James ‘Bubba’ Stewart. The paddock atmosphere is as laid-back as possible – everyone knows everyone.
‘It’s a good laugh,’ says rider Blaine Pearson. ‘We have a few beers at night, have a fire, a party, then next day go race our bikes. You can battle hard and barge each other but you come back and shake hands and everything is alright.’
Go there…
Looking for somewhere to go over the August Bank Holiday weekend? Why not head to Oliver’s Mount for this year’s round? A single-day ticket is £15, or for both days it’s £25. Camping options, too. More info at oliversmount.ticketco.events