(Last Updated On: December 19, 2019)

Jeff Keen – Art Director

Jeff Keen - Art Director
Jeff Keen – Art Director

VMX 2019 Highlights – Tales from the backroom…
In retrospect, VMX in 2019 has been a bit of an anti-climax for me. I didn’t manage to attend a single event during the year due to family responsibilities, but I have really enjoyed staying connected by being involved in the production of another four issues of VMX.

Sitting at a computer is certainly not the same as the sights, sounds and smells of a VMX race meeting, or VMX Magazine Classic Dirt for that matter, but seeing the eclectic content that Ken unearths keeps me in the loop.

My personal highlights from Issues 76-79 are as follows:

  • The Suzuki TR500 Longtracker – what an insane concept. It must have taken some ‘big kahunas’ to twist that throttle to the stops, especially with no brakes.
  • Harry Stitt Frames – it was great to see young Harry carry on the skills of traditional British frame building.
  • ATK 250MX – for some strange reason I have a bit of a thing for the ‘left-field’ creation that is the ATK.
  • Imola Motocross 70th Anniversary – now that is an event that is on my bucket list. Any excuse to spend more time in Italy is always a good excuse.
  • Honda RC125M – We haven’t featured a works bike from Terry Good’s collection for some time, but it was almost worth the wait to feature Honda’s original handbuilt motocrosser. What a gem – all 154lbs of it!!!
  • Moto Memories by Roger Harvey – great memories of a time when the world was seen in black and white.
  • The Villa and Gilera water-cooled 125s – now THEY would always be welcome to take up residence in my shed. Simply stunning…and certainly something I have never seen Downunder.

Hopefully I will be able to venture further from my desk in 2020. The new ‘mystery’ location for Classic Dirt 16 sounds like a cracker. At the moment it is all a bit ‘secret squirrel’ but I hope it will be an absolute cracker.
Looking forward to a great 2020.