Back on track and revved up by the staging of yet another successful series of events recently, the Bermuda Motocross Club is looking to ramp up its recruitment of riders, create more development opportunities for youths and recognise its heritage, as it celebrates 50 years of existence in 2022.

Simmons has also targeted the improvement of the track facility in St David’s and the creation of more opportunities for international riders to compete on island as major objectives in the next two years.

Like most sporting organisation across the world, the BMC was severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced a halt to activities and frustrated the growth of the sport locally.

However, their return has been a successful one, with Sunday’s Trophy Race adding even more energy to the local motocross community and providing an indication that things are heading in the right direction — the perfect fuel for the club’s ambitions in what is a significant year for them.

“We want this year to be our biggest because it is our 50th anniversary and we are going to do some great things this year,” promised BMC president Arlene Simmons.

“We really want people to appreciate what goes on at Bermuda Motocross Club, we have some fabulous riders, the talent in Motocross in Bermuda is something that shouldn't be overlooked.

“This year we're also going be bringing out the youth programme,” Simmons added, while pointing out that classes are being made available for interested riders of all ages.

“I really want to see our youth development grow. Our youth development will be my major focus for 2022 and 2023. I would love to get more sponsors to help us to develop, not so much a better track but to enhance our facility and our soil and things like that,” said Simmons.

“We have quite a large contingent of riders that go overseas to race and just to give them the variation of different soil types. So we're going to concentrate over the next two years on developing a very good track,” she stated.

“We would love to have international riders come to Bermuda and to host international races here, which will boost our tourism product. We have a lot of riders that want to come to the Bermuda to ride but we have to be up to standard so that's what we're going to be working on over the next two years — to get up to international standards.

Meanwhile, Simmons expressed satisfaction with the execution of Sunday’s event at Southside and is already looking forward to the next motocross competition on January 16.

“It was a great event. The weather was nice, there was a little bit of a breeze, the sun was out it wasn't too hot and It wasn't too chilly. We had a great crowd. Of course we have an exemption certificate so we could only take up to a certain number of people. So in the end, we did end up having to turn some folks because you know we were getting close to our number,” said Simmons.

“We had a foreign rider come in and just literally entertain the crowd so we did a Bermuda versus Canada … and the expert class really rode a great race. The entire day was fabulous, the crowd interacted a lot with the riders, who really put on a great show.

Almost 60 riders turned out on Sunday with Kenneth Matthie winning the Experts Class ahead of Canadian Teren Gerber and Allan Degraff in the feature event.

Letroy Trott took top honours in the Over 30 Class where Ronald Trott and Ben Zoeller took second and third place respectively.

In the 85cc Class, Jazuri Easton-Thompson came out on top ahead of Aiden Simmons, and Rudell Pitcher Jr, while Simmons returned to claim the 65cc Class with Grae Trott Edness finishing as runner-up.

A’jahni Foggo, Azai Burt and Tinho Tucker Wall took the top three spots in the 50cc Class with Tucker Wall coming out on top in the Peewee50 class ahead of Jacob Raynor and Daige Musson.

Jazuri Easton Thompson was also successful in the Novice Class, which saw Kaje Matthie and Bryan Mota rounding out the top three.