DES HELYAR 1939-2011

A Life time in motocross.....or scrambling as it was known then.

His first major involvement in motocross was in 1957 when after 3 years of paying he finally got his first motocross bike. Over the next 54 years he raced at Expert level against names like Ricksmans,England and "Badger" Goss.He then started his own motorcycle buisness taking on brands like MAICO,SUZUKI,HONDA,KAWASAKI.He attended schoolboy and adult meetings with his 3 children who all rode,for more than 10 years he run a spares van at Portsmouth Schoolboy Scramble Club with wife Cate and in all those years you could count on one hand the meetings he missed.If it wasnt for him many riders wouldnt have finished there days riding,tyres changed in minutes ! In 1993 built a new two storey shop with showrooms downstairs and upstairs,for awhile there was a motocross museum upstairs with over 30 bikes covering all ages and included Graham Noyce's 1979 500c World Championship winning bike as well as Dave Thorpes 1985,1986 and 1989 500cc World Championship Winning bikes. Late 1998 he opened COXFORD DOWN RACEWAY,Nr Basingstoke practice track which is still going today,he done all this whilst still working at the shop.The last few years health had slowed him down but he was still involved with the shop and track,doing what he could.

His racing career:

The Shop:Des was borned and raised in Tadley and so was the shop.Our motocross shop is based at 5 Pamber Heath Road,Tadley,Hampshire and has been based at the same location since the 1960's.Dad started there in the late 60's working on just about anything,cars,bikes,vans etc but it was his love for bike that the business went the way it did.In the early 70's Des took on Suzuki motocross and Suzuki road bike dealership as well as doing other brands like Triumph,Maico and others.Late 70's Des took on the Honda motocross dealership and by the 80's motocross bikes we're the main sales but still doing road bike spares,repairs and MOTS.In the early 90's Des took on the Kawasaki motocross dealership and we were now the souths main dealer for Honda,Suzuki,Kawasaki.For a number of years we had our own Helyar Racing motocross clothing made by brands like Sinisalo,Tackla and for a number of years the very popular Apico clothing.We also for a few years imported a few motocross brands such as ZING BRACING MOTOCROSS DECALS,SUNLINE LEVERS,HRP BODYARMOURS,ASV LEVERS AND JT RACING MOTOCROSS CLOTHING.As the business grew so did the shop,after a number of years Des finally got palnning permission to build a new shop which was completed in 1993.

The family:

Coxford Down Raceway: