Whitby Motocross (Skelder Bank)

The Whitby Motocross Club circuit lies at Skelder Bank on the A171 between Whitby and Teesside, around three miles north of Whitby; the postcode is YO21 1TN. Coming in from the north through Guisborough is, according to the TMX News track preview, the calmer approach, because the southern and western routes run over winding hills. The same source describes a course carved out of a slope above the North Sea, looking down on Whitby and the ruins of the abbey, with old stone walls across the land. The layout is American in style: many different kinds of jumps, whoops and rhythm sections. The ground is hardpack soil and, again per that preview, unlike anything else on the championship tour. Skelder Bank is a regular fixture of the British motocross championship; Josh Coppins won MX1 here in 2005 and 2006, Tommy Searle took MX2 in 2006 and the MX1 overall in 2022. Race weekends are split, with youth classes on Saturday and the pro classes on Sunday. On ground that firm you have little margin at the front: the tyre earns its grip through the size of the contact patch, not by keying into the surface, and the braking zones add small chop on top. If your front end feels vague here and gives you almost no feedback, top of our cause list is too much front tyre pressure - lower it so the tyre puts down a bigger patch.