Man with suitcase outwits Russian fiasco.

The final round of the Motocross World Championship was a disaster for most UK based teams, but the odd ingenious individual was rewarded for his persistence and daring.

After getting together some months ago, and after hours of organisation, disaster struck when all the bikes that left the UK failed to arrive at the event held just outside of Moscow. The truck left England well over a week in advance for the event with 18 bikes on board, but failed to make it through customs and was forced to turn back on Saturday.

When teams arrived on Friday, scenes of chaos ensued as managers and riders ran around trying to find spare bikes. Some were lucky, but others were forced to just sit out and watch.

Stephen Sword, Tom Church and Mark Hucklebridge were three of the lucky ones - but Church took his life in his hands by deciding to beat the problem in his own way.

Having heard of the problems on Thursday, before he left the UK, he took a chance with the Russian customs by carrying his entire Bott Motovision KTM bike in suitcases. Somehow, he got through the security checks and was rewarded with his best result of the season to finish eleventh in the race and move to 31st in the championship standings. He and his bike arrived home safely on Monday morning.

"It was a big gamble for me to carry my bikes because of the problems coming in and out of the country, but we were really lucky," he admitted, "There were a lot of teams on our flight and all had a lot of excess baggage with suspension and other parts they might need if they borrowed bikes. I was the only one who carried everything - all I needed was tyres.

"It worked well and I had a great result. I was on my practice bike and we had no spares, so I had to be careful in practice and qualifying not to break anything. I got a good start and worked my way forward. By mid-race, my shoulder started to ache a bit, so I took it steady because the track was very demanding and you couldn't afford to make a mistake. I ended up eleventh and am really pleased I moved up almost ten places in the championship."

Albion KTM's Sword was loaned a bike from the Champ KTM team and also had a fantastic result, riding to fifth overall and tenth in the championship. Hucklebridge, meanwhile, loaned a bike from another team, but was far from lucky. After moving into 15th place, he was hit in the side by a Russian rider and was rushed to the first aid tent at the track. The VOR Motori UK rider had badly cut his arm and also torn a muscle at the top of the limb, both of which required a number of stitches.

After being released by the doctor, he later fainted and was taken to another, German, doctor at the track. It was later revealed that the painkillers and anaesthetic given to 'Huck' were very old fashioned and that was what made him ill. After a long sleep, however, he was able to fly home and visited doctors in the UK, who confirmed there were no broken bones despite the severe swelling in the top of arm.

Others on the injured list included Stuart Flockhart of RWJ Honda, who broke his leg in the early warm-up on Sunday, and Wayne Smith of Y-Bike, who dislocated his shoulder.

The CAS Honda team were also able to compete on loaned bikes, and Billy Mackenzie used a Yamaha from a local rider. But, for the MJ Church Kawasaki team, it was a disastrous weekend.

Tallon Vohland and Espen Blikstad were left watching the event alongside other disappointed British-based riders including Carl Nunn, Antti Kallonen, Matt Winstanley and Rob Herring.