Mitchel Godden

Last updated

Mitchel Godden
Born(1975-02-13)13 February 1975
Pembury, England
NationalityEnglish
Individual honours
2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011 British Sand Ace Championship Winner
1999, 2003, 2005, 2009 British Best Pairs Championship Winner
2001, 2003, 2008, 2012,2021 South-Eastern Centre Championship Winner
1999 Southern Centre Championship Winner
2018 Pokal Bergring Cup Winner
2007,2009,2011 MSC BadWalsee Wolfegg Winner
2016 Sidecars Super Series Winner 2021 & 2022 British Champion
Team honours
2015 Team Long Track World Championship Winning Manager

Mitchel Stuart Godden is an English motorcycle rider who competes in Longtrack and Grasstrack Racing for Solos (1992) and more recently 500cc Sidecars (2015). He is the son of Don Godden who won the Individual Speedway Long Track World Championship in 1969.

Contents

Mitchel Godden followed in his fathers footsteps and started racing in 1992. He started on a 250cc (ex Jeremy Doncaster) Honda red Rocket and rode this for one season before using Godden works 350cc machine and then after a couple of seasons progressed to 500cc class. Godden later progressed to international racing becoming a specialists on German grasstracks and Dutch sandtracks.

In 2015 Godden went in to 500cc Sidecar racing and had success in the UK and on the continent. With his passenger, Paul Smith, he has won international events in Werlte, Ludinghausen, Osnabrook, Hertingen Berghaupten, Bielefeld, Rastede & Angenrod, (Germany) and Roden & Eenrum in the Netherlands amongst others.

Using his track racing knowledge and engineering background Godden produces his own complete 500cc Sidecar machined known as Zircon Racing. The team Godden/Smith raced to an impressive 19 podiums from 22 starts in 2017, 18 podiums from 23 starts in 2018 and 21 podiums from 23 starts in 2019, and 15 podiums from 16 starts in 2022 including 8 first places, and probably the most impressive season in 2023 with 21 podiums from 23 starts including 16 Gold medal positions with most events being fought out of foreign soil.

Godden/Smith finished 4th in their first attempt at the European title in Tayac France July 2017, 2nd in the 2018 FIM-Europe Championship in Werlte Germany July 2018, 3rd in 2019 FIM-E Championship in Eenrum Netherlands August 2019, 2nd in 2022 FIM-E Championship in Eenrum Netherlands August 2022, and 2nd again in the 2023 FIME Championship held in Bad-Hersfeld Germany.

The team are the only British team in history to hold 4 European championships medals and the only team in British history to win a championship medal(s) on foreign soil.

The team won their first British 500cc sidecar championship in 2021, after several near misses in the years before, taking the title with an unbeaten performance. This was followed by taking their second and successive British title in 2022 and the third and consecutive title in 2023.

Promotion

In recent year Godden has also turned his hand to promotion. He started the charity Kart meeting at Buckmore Park as well as promotion and running of the Invicta International Grasstrack meetings at the Hop Farm and Collier Street 'The Kings of Speed' in 2008, 2011 and 2012. In 2016 he started the Pit Bike Winter Series at Iwade Stadium.

Management

In 2013 Godden on behalf of the ACU took over the manager role of the Great Britain World Longtrack team. In 2013 he led the team to the bronze medal and 2015 he led the team to their only championship. His last year in the role was 2018.

World Longtrack Championship

Individual Championship

Team Championship

Rider

Manager

European Grasstrack Championship

Solos Finals

Solos Semi-finals

Sidecar Finals

British Masters Grasstrack Championship

Top Ten Finishes

Other Appearances: 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2009, 2011, 2012.

British Sidecar Championship


British Sand Ace Championship

Sources

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grasstrack</span> Motorcycle racing format

Motorcycle Grasstrack is a form of track racing which typically, in its current form, takes place on a flat track consisting of two straights and two bends usually constructed in a field. It is one of the oldest types of motorcycle sports in the UK with the first meetings having taken place in the 1920s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Track racing</span> Motorcycle racing on oval track

Track racing is a form of motorcycle racing where teams or individuals race opponents around an unpaved oval track. There are differing variants, with each variant racing on a different surface type.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Hall (speedway rider)</span>


Richard James Hall ,(born 23 August 1984) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from England.

Glen Alan Phillips in Farnborough, Kent, is a former motorcycle speedway rider from England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josef Franc</span> Czech motorcycle racer

Josef Franc is a former international motorcycle racer who competed in Grasstrack, Longtrack and motorcycle speedway. He earned 8 international caps for the Czech Republic national speedway team

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bohumil Brhel</span> Czech speedway rider

Bohumil Brhel is a Czech former motorcycle speedway rider. He earned 10 international caps for the Czechoslovakia national speedway team and 15 caps for the Czech Republic national speedway team.

Long track is a discipline of track racing, that takes place at high speeds on tracks ranging from 425 to 1,000 metres in length. Longtrack racing is an umbrella term for events using long track machinery, similar to that used in speedway but with a longer wheelbase and a two-speed gearbox. This includes Grasstrack which uses the same machinery but shares one combined World Championship.

Gerd Riss is a former speedway rider from Germany, who competed in motorcycle speedway and Longtrack racing. He is an eight-times World longtrack champion. He also earned 22 international caps for the West German national speedway team and 12 international caps for the German national speedway team.

Mathieu "Mat" Trésarrieu is a French motorcycle speedway rider who competes in Speedway, Longtrack and Grasstrack. He is a two times World Longtrack Champion and is a three-time speedway champion of France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephan Katt</span> German speedway rider

Stephan Katt is a former motorcycle Grasstrack, Longtrack and speedway rider from Germany. He earned one international cap for the German national speedway team.

James Shanes is a British speedway rider and also competes in Grasstrack and Longtrack speedway. He is a four times British Masters Grasstrack Champion, 2 times European Grasstrack Champion and world long track competitor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Appleton</span> British motorcycle racer

Andrew Appleton is a motorcycle racer from England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zdeněk Schneiderwind</span> Czech motorcycle speedway rider

Zdeněk Schneiderwind is a former motorcycle speedway rider who competed in speedway, Longtrack and Grasstrack racing.

Marcel Gerhard (born 25 August 1955) is a Swiss former speedway rider.

Martin Peter Hagon (born 25 December 1961 in Hackney, England is a former motorcycle speedway, grasstrack and longtrack rider.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trevor Banks</span> English motorcycle racer

Trevor Charles Banks is a former motorcycle racer from England, who competed in grasstrack and longtrack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dimitri Bergé</span> French speedway rider

Dimitri Bergé is a motorcycle speedway rider from France.

Stéphane Trésarrieu is a former motorcycle racer from France, who competed in Grasstrack, Longtrack and motorcycle speedway. He is a three times speedway champion of France and eight times grasstrack champion of France.

Richard Speiser was a German motorcycle racer who competed in Grasstrack, Longtrack and Speedway.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.