After enjoying the best season of his professional motocross career in 2025, Louie Kessell had every reason to be optimistic about taking another step forward in the ACU British Motocross Championship this year. However, a freak training injury brought his 2026 campaign to an abrupt halt, leaving the popular West Country racer facing surgery, months of rehabilitation and the longest spell away from a motorcycle he has ever experienced.
In the latest of our Checking in with feature, we caught up with Kessell to find out how his recovery is progressing, reflect on his breakthrough 2025 MXGB season and discuss his ambitions for returning to the start line in 2027.
From Career-Best Results to Injury Heartbreak
Kessell’s 2025 season was undoubtedly his strongest since stepping into the Pro ranks. Finishing 17th in the British Championship with 77 points, he produced his standout performance at Landrake, where ninth and eighth-place moto finishes earned him a career-best eighth overall.
It was a result that underlined the progress he had been making, particularly during the second half of the championship, when he began regularly battling with riders further up the field.
“2025 was definitely my best year yet since going into the Pro class,” Kessell told Dirt Hub.
“I got in the top ten a couple of times and then was hovering around 10th, 11th and 12th quite a bit towards the end of the season. I was quite excited coming into this season to build some momentum and see what I could do. But I suppose sometimes a plan goes out of the window, doesn’t it? That plan got put to a halt pretty early on.”
Having completed the opening 2026 MXGB round at Hawkstone Park, Kessell was looking to increase his bike time ahead of the next round when disaster struck during an otherwise routine practice session.
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“I didn’t have the best off-season coming in, so I hadn’t ridden loads. I was reasonably happy with Hawkstone and was trying to get a bit more riding done before the next round. I was practising at my local track and it was a bit greasy and slippery. I didn’t crash, I just dabbed my leg, but I knew straight away that something wasn’t right. I think as a rider you know when something is just a little thing or not.”
After waiting three to four weeks for an MRI scan, the extent of the damage became clear. Kessell had torn both his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and meniscus.
A Failed Comeback and the Decision to Have Surgery
Initially, Kessell hoped to avoid surgery after being told that the NHS waiting list for an operation could be six to nine months. Following advice from a specialist physiotherapist, he embarked on an intensive rehabilitation programme in the hope that strengthening the knee might allow him to return to racing without undergoing reconstruction.
“I spoke to a top physio who’s a proper knee specialist, and he looked at all my scans. He said if I rehabbed it and did some good physio, it might be all right. I did that for six to eight weeks, getting it stronger again, and it felt quite good, to be fair. It felt pretty normal, so I was hopeful I might get back racing towards the middle or later part of the year.”
That optimism initially appeared justified when he finally returned to the bike.
“I got back on the bike once and did a couple of sessions. It actually felt good, but then I put a hole in the casing, so that was the end of that day! I went to ride the next weekend and the knee just gave out again. After that, that was the end of it really.”
With the knee unable to withstand the demands of racing, surgery became unavoidable. Kessell eventually underwent a private operation at the end of August and has since been concentrating on rebuilding his strength.
“I had the operation in August, got everything fixed, and now I’m just rehabbing and getting it all strong. It’s a long recovery, as anyone who’s had an ACL reconstruction will know, but I’m slowly getting there.”
Finding his place among Britain’s Best
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the injury was its timing. Kessell had finished 2025 with growing confidence, scoring 64 of his 77 championship points across the final four rounds and producing his career-best result at Landrake. More importantly, he felt he had established himself among a competitive group of MX1 riders.
“When you do it once, it’s obviously a good feeling and you’re buzzing,” he explained.
“But towards the end, in the second half of the 2025 season, I was there pretty much every weekend around the same group of riders. You start to feel like you belong around that group, and then you start looking towards the next pack in front of you, trying to gain a second or two to get to them. I felt like I was getting there and making good progress.”
The contrast between that progress and his injury-hit 2026 season has been difficult to accept.
“To go from probably my best season to definitely the worst I’ve ever had is a bit of a shock to the system. I think I’ve only ever had about four weeks off the bike in my life before this. I’ve been riding since I was about three, so I’ve never experienced anything like it.”
Can Kessell make the 2027 MXGB Opener?
With the opening round of the 2027 British Motocross Championship scheduled for 21 March at Hawkstone Park, Kessell faces a race against time to be ready. He is hoping to return to riding around February or March, although he acknowledges that this would be relatively early in his recovery from ACL reconstruction.
“If I could be back on a bike for the first round, that would be brilliant. We’re just doing all the rehab and physio we can to make that happen. I’m hoping I can be there, as long as the physio goes well.”
After such a lengthy absence, he also recognises that simply getting back on the motorcycle will be only the first step.
“I’ll probably need to do as many races as I can because I haven’t ridden for over a year. It’ll definitely be a shock to the system. I’ve never had that long off a bike, ever, so it’ll probably be like starting all over again. I’ll try to get as much racing in as we can and get the ball rolling.”
Kessell is registered for the 2027 British Championship and plans to continue racing under the KES Commercials KTM banner, though his return depends on his recovery.
More MXGB Rounds and the Return of the Patchquick Trophy?
Away from his own injury struggles, Kessell is encouraged by the direction of the British Motocross Championship.
With discussions taking place about the possibility of expanding the series to ten or even twelve rounds in future seasons, he believes additional championship meetings would be welcome, particularly given the reduced number of alternative national events available to professional riders.
“The British Championship over the last couple of years has definitely grown and got better and busier. If it was ten to twelve rounds, I think that would work because there’s not loads of other racing to do around the British Championship now.
“A few years ago there were other championships you could back it up with, like the MX Nationals, but there’s not loads of others to do now. So a few extra rounds would probably be all right for everyone.”
As a West Country rider, Kessell would also love to see the famous Patchquick Trophy make a comeback. The traditional midweek meeting was once a popular fixture for professional racers and spectators alike, and Kessell believes its return would be a positive addition to the British racing calendar.
“We were definitely gutted when the Patchquick stopped because, being a South West rider, it’s been around for years. I did it a few times but didn’t get to do it as much as I would have liked. It was always a good event.
“You’d go there on a Wednesday evening and there’d always be spectators everywhere. It was a bit of fun because it was something different. You’d always get good riders coming down, so you’d have good racing with loads of people around you. It would be good if we could get that back on the calendar.”
Kessell is also open to the idea of introducing occasional new or old-school circuits into the British Championship.
“Having a new track or a new type of track chucked in would definitely be different for all of us, and different is good. It spices it up a bit.”
Life away from the Bike
The injury has also had an impact away from racing. Working as a carpenter, Kessell was initially able to continue working while attempting to manage the knee injury. However, following surgery in August, he has been forced to take an extended period away from his trade.
“I was still working and managing it a bit before surgery, but since August I’ve been off work. With the recovery, you’re very limited in what you can do, especially early on, because you don’t want anything going wrong. I’ve just been focusing on rehab and physio and trying to get the knee working properly again.”
To keep himself occupied, Kessell has been helping his father with his van-dealing business, watching the occasional film and maintaining his upper-body fitness in the gym.
“Being able to go to the gym and train my upper body has been nice. It keeps you a bit sane when you go from training all the time to doing nothing. To still be getting in the gym and doing a bit is good for the mind.”
More motivated than ever for 2027
Despite everything he has endured, Kessell remains determined to return stronger and rediscover the form that made 2025 such an encouraging season.
His immediate priority is to complete his rehabilitation and get back to enjoying motocross, but his longer-term ambitions remain firmly focused on competing inside the British Championship’s top ten.
“I definitely want to get back to at least where I was leaving the 2025 season. Being out for as long as I have makes you think about a lot of stuff. It makes you realise how much you want to do well, continue to progress and how much you just enjoy riding a motorbike. I just want to get back having fun on a bike, and I’m probably more motivated than I’ve ever been to get some good results. I want to at least get back to where I was and prove to a lot of people that I can still do it and be in the top ten in the British Championship.”
After a year that has tested him physically and mentally, seeing Kessell back behind the start gate in 2027 would be a welcome sight.
And if he can rediscover the confidence and speed that carried him to that career-best eighth overall at Landrake, there’s every reason to hope that his strongest results are still ahead of him.
Images courtesy of Louis Kessell
