World Supercross: All the fun of motocross, but no mud and bent brollies

I don’t like to boast, but I once rode around a motocross circuit in front of 7,000 people and the world’s top riders, including Dakar legend Neil Hawker, to raise money for a children’s charity.

For those of you unversed in such matters, this is the modern offspring of what British chaps used to call scrambling, which involved riding ancient Nortons, BSAs and Rudges around muddy tracks in the rain while wearing even more ancient Belstaff jackets which they’d bought for two shillings and sixpence from the local Army and Navy stores.

As opposed to Belstaff jackets today, which are produced by Italians, modelled by David Beckham and Kate Moss, and cost four and a half billion quid.