Hawkstone Park

Hawkstone Park sits near Shrewsbury in Shropshire and is run by the Salop Motor Club, founded in 1931, which has organised the venue for more than sixty years. The club's account puts the first scramble on 5 March 1950, restricted to Midland riders and watched by about a thousand spectators. Between 1954 and 1999 the circuit hosted 30 Grand Prix races; Jeff Smith won five times and Dave Thorpe was the last British winner in 1984. Since 1999 the Hawkstone International has opened the British motocross season: the 2026 edition is set for 15 February, run in the MXGP, MX2 and EMX125 classes for riders aged 13 to 17, with racing from 8.30am until the awards at around 4.30pm, and free parking. Our record puts the track length at roughly 2900 metres. The club describes the circuit as soft and sandy throughout, and its landmark is the steep sandstone hill with the exposed rock face just below the summit; the early accounts describe how the sand gets rougher as a meeting goes on. That hits the rear first: it pogos and swims instead of following the line. Top of our cause list for that is a rebound setting too fast for sand - slow it down so the rear does not spring straight back up after it extends.