As we reported a few weeks ago, some exciting news for the REVO ACU British Motocross championship is the fact the series will be shown Worldwide on a live stream. While major championships like MXGP and the AMA Nationals have had this service and the pre-season Italian International has also shown live streaming for their races, it isn’t something that is common in our sport, and for a small sum, whether you are in UK, mainland Europe, Australia, America, or any other motocross country, you can watch the best British riders going head to head in this newly promoted and what many are expecting to be a really exciting series.

With the REVO ACU British motocross championship starting in a months time, and being the only motocross championship running during the month of May in Europe, it is a great chance to get yourself some live action from the comfort of your couch. 

The opening round will be on May 2 at the Culham circuit, then 16 May at the legendary Foxhill circuit, and Lyng on May 23, before another round is run on June 5 and 6 at the Canada Heights circuit, all before the MXGP championship begins, before the series continues again on MXGP free weekends, so something to watch while the GP boys take a break.

We caught up with series promoter Gareth Hockey and he took us through the process along with his head of marketing Darren Bachelor, who was full of information on what we can expect from this very exciting addition to the sport in the UK.

MXlarge: So, for fans all around the World, this is great news and ads a new dimension in the British motocross championships. While we don’t expect an MXGP.TV or AMA Nationals type of experience, as the cost for those series is mammoth, but what can you tell me about the live streaming for this year’s Revo ACU British Motocross championships?

Hockey: For us we trailed the live streaming with the Youth championship in 2019. It opened our eyes to a completely different audience and got us thinking we need to push it further and now we have the adult championship; it is the ideal time to bring something different to the championship and evolve more. For this year the live streaming will be for all the rounds, we will also have an option, similar to MXGP.tv where the subscribers can take a full season pass, or just a race-by-race pass. You will be able to watch it live or watch it later. It is something new, we have tried it before, but obviously this year will be a learning curve for us and something we will build on over the years.

MXLarge: I think if you look at most live streams, be it MXGP, AMA supercross or motocross, they all started somewhere and at the beginning where nothing like they are now, so I totally understand and I think most people will that the quality might take some time, as you move through and learn more about doing live streaming. How will it work for as many camera’s you use for each event and that type of thing?

Hockey: There are large costs to put the production on. We are having a meeting in the coming days to talk about how many camera’s we need for each venue, how many statics we have, that will all be decided this week. That meeting will take place between the production team, ourselves and our branding department. In the past we have had four or five camera people, dotted around the track on towers. We will also bring in an extra camera person and presenter, so we can drop some live interviews in, be it Tommy Searle or Shaun Simpson coming off the track after a race win, or something like that. Also, in the paddock we have a lot going on, and we want to be able to catch that. People who can’t be at the event will know what is going on and not just watch bikes going around the track.

MXLarge: You see it with MXGP and AMA races they have also special bits and pieces, maybe interviews with former champions or a major sponsor, or whatever, will you also be doing that during the week or previous to the weekend itself?

Hockey: Yes, for us, at the moment I like to get more exclusive stuff with the teams. Maybe something with the Dave Thorpe Crendon Fastrack Honda team, or the REVO Kawasaki guys. So those will be extra content, that will be exclusive and won’t be available on YouTube or Facebook. We are also doing a Trailer video, so when you go the system, you get a teaser video, and this is the British championship. We want to do this properly.

MXlarge: What about costs for the subscriber?

Hockey: The cost will be around 39.95 pounds or five pounds per round, so a little cheaper if you take the whole season subscription. We know that if somebody watches Desertmartin because they can’t attend, they might attend other races, so a full season pass might not suit them. For people outside of the UK, who probably won’t come to any races, the full season pass might be something for them.

MXlarge: I remember reading somewhere where the youth event you did the live stream had a massive audience. Can you remember what that was?

Hockey: Looking back at the junior event, we did around over 220,000 people viewed the footage. We had people from all around the World. Some people might see it as a negative showing it live stream, as people might just watch it from their home, but I see it as a positive, because the audience will be much bigger than a live attendance. So better for our riders, sponsors and teams being seen in different countries.

MXLarge: I mean if you look at MXGP, they might have 20,000 at a race, but there might be a million people watching their live stream service. I know that the numbers for MXGP.tv are huge. Where can people watch the live stream for the REVO British Motocross championship?

Hockey: It will be on our website (RHL Activities » Events in motion), but links will be everywhere, and our team are presently building an app for the championship. You can also watch the live feed from there and also the up-to-date news. We will have a lot of social media information during the event. We will also work with some websites as we have seen how MXGP.tv do it working with websites like MXLarge, and it seems to work well.

MXLarge: As we mentioned at the start, it seems obvious if people support it, fans or sponsors, then this live streaming will only grow.

Hockey: Yes, that is the idea, and the first-year plan is just the start and we will grow it each year to introduce more and more exclusive coverage with the teams, their sponsors and the riders themselves.