MX Nationals- Round 1 Culham Park

MX Nationals - Round 1 Culham Park 23/03/14

MX Nationals- Round 1 Culham Park 

Last weekend saw an excellent start for the new MX Nationals series at Culham Park in Oxfordshire. The paddock was packed, the weather held out and the track looked good despite the recent flooding in the area. 

The pro class was pretty stacked, with the UK's fastest 250 and 450 riders.  80 riders in total were to compete in the qualifying session to get a spot in the first fastest 40 race of the year. 

Qualifying:-

Matty set off looking good. Although the track roughed up quickly, it didn't put him off enjoying riding the track he knows well. Ten minutes into to the timed qualifying session, Matty sat in 12th spot and everything looked on track for him to qualify for the fastest 40 race. But then the day took a turn for the worse . . .

The bike caught the lip of the jump wrong and spat Matty off big time. We are unsure exactly what happened next but he fell hard and seem to land on his head. The red flag came out and the session was stopped until they airlifted Matty to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. 

Recovery:- 

The good news is, after a tense few days Mathew is now at home with his family. He is really lucky to have no broken bones. A reminder to everybody that it is important to wear a neck brace, body amour and knee braces to look after your body when you are out on the track.  At the minute Matty has been told to rest. He feels ok, a bit battered and bruised and is still a little confused about what happened. The Callaghan Family would like to thank everybody for their kind messages. 

Thank You! 

Both Verde Sports Racing and the Callaghan family would like to say a very big thank you to everybody that helped trackside on Saturday, all the marshals, officials, first aid and the air ambulance crew.  Everybody in the paddock at Culham showed so much support over the weekend and the days that followed. 

Taking a positive out of the first MX Nationals, Mathew qualified 16th despite the rest of the field having a extra 10 minutes to ride.  It was just unfortunate he didn't get chance to show us what he was capable of against the rest of the " fastest 40" in the UK.