What’s the Motocross Grand Prix look like? Kootenay photographer Conrad Swetland travels to England to find out. Here’s his slideshow.

The 2020 MXGP Motocross World Championship was a perfect end to a great winter travelling across Europe, where I visited 19 countries and photographed five different races including Supercross races in Geneva, Switzerland and Dortmund, Germany, Endurocross races in Budapest, Hungary and Risa, Germany and the grand finale.

The opening round of the 2020 MXGP Motocross World Championship took place on the first weekend of March at the Matterley Basin MX track near Winchester, England. The MXGP is a 17-round series with races across Europe, Asia, and South America. On Saturday each class does a timed qualifying/practice session before the premier classes (MXGP and MX2) do a qualifying race. The other two classes WMX (women’s) and EMX125 (junior) also do their first moto. Sunday starts off with the second motos for the WMX and EMX125 deciding the overall results. The MX2 and MXGP classes each do two 30-minute motos for a combined score and overall results.

During the week leading up to the race, Winchester experienced heavy rain, leaving the race track very wet and muddy. In fact, rain and high winds on the day before the event destroyed part of the starting area and podium. The two-story scaffolding structure was blown down into a mess of bent metal and ripped banners. With all the weather and damage from the night before, the racing was delayed on Saturday and the premier classes were only able to do a timed qualifying session instead of a race. The weather did not let up, with rain, sun, snow, hail, and high winds continuing throughout the day.

By Sunday, the weather eased and the track dried out, which led to some great racing on a very technical racetrack. Jeffery Herlings from the Netherlands won the overall, with 1st and 2nd moto scores. The reigning champ, Tim Gajser took second place overall with 8th and 1st moto scores. The nine-time world champ, Antonio Cairoli, placed 3rd overall with 2nd and 3rd moto scores.

Here are my pics from the event.