Bloody hell, I got a flyer! (No 307), I’m off while everyone’s still standing. And no, I didn’t jump the start! Mind you it wasn’t going to last long, read on.
Surprisingly with the crap summer we’ve had, the weather today was bright, warm and at times the sun actually shone through!
Oh no, it’s another journey on the twisty, bumpy, dark and dingy A396.
Arrived with plenty of time to spare (makes a change), in fact yet again, which has happened at a few ORE events this year, we were late starting (there, that’s my moan out of the way). The race was due off at 2.45pm, we didn’t start until after 3.30, don’t know what was going on there, but I was itching to get going as this was another round of the 2 stroke champs that I’ve entered, and after 4 of the rounds so far, things are going well for me. Still a long way to though as there are 9 rounds in total.
The start and pits were 2 fields away from the car park, Up hill as well, ok for me, but with Marie being 7 months pregnant the poor girl struggled just to get there! I’m now thinking about ‘borrowing’ a trolley from Tesco (or are the Asda ones better?) so I can put her in it so she doesn’t have to walk too far!
After waiting what seemed like ages at the start, we eventually went on our merry way on the sighting lap. As always with these laps, no one is quite up to race pace so the inevitable happens, and when everybody arrives at a tricky bit of the course the queues start. On this occasion it was a very nasty drop down through the woods where you could have easily gone over the bars. The course had plenty of woods to test us, somewhat unusual for ORE, as normally they ran tracks mainly around moto x style venues.
A cracking little rocky stream that we had to go down was excellent, along with some slimy up hills, tight sections, off camber hills and of course some cross country fields where you could ‘nail’ it if you wanted to, round about 15-17 mins a lap. Certainly more of an enduro style course than their previous events. Nice!
Right, onto the start, the flag dropped and I got an absolute flyer, 1st into the first corner. I got passed by a couple of riders in the woods, but I was pleased I made it to the ‘nasty drop’ before a queue formed. 1st lap out of the way, I was going in about 4th or 5th when all of a sudden all hell broke loose! My little125 started to sound like a chieftain tank going flat out along a concrete road whilst running over a box of fireworks!
I immediately thought that my baffles were shot to bits, so I stopped and listened. The noise wasn’t coming from the back, but below the seat at the front of the engine. I then thought that my exhaust had split somewhere near the manifold or the expansion chamber. I carried on hoping that I could make it to the halfway point of the race, make my pit stop and take a closer look.
The noise was quite frankly horrendous, everyone was looking, and every time I went passed lap scoring I thought they were going to pull me out of the race. I was also seriously down on power, I was struggling big time on the hills and every time I opened her up along the fields.
After about 1 ½ hours I pitted. Marie was stood there waiting for me, ‘your bike sounds terrible, I can hear you coming from miles away’ she said. ‘ I know it does, it sounds like sh*te’ I said. I got off and took a look to see what was up.
Jesus! My exhaust manifold had come away from the engine! All that was holding it on were the 2 retaining springs! The 2 bolts that secured it to the engine were missing and there was about a ½ inch gap between the manifold and the cylinder opening. I don’t know what had happened, because I hadn’t come off and I hadn’t hit anything to sheer the bolts off. I now had to make a decision, and a big one at that.
Do I carry on and risk a small stone, mud or water getting into the barrel, which could cost me dearly, or do I continue and try to finish and get some championship points?
It took me all off 2 seconds to decide…………….I’m carrying on! I quickly refuelled, kicked her over, and off I went. There seems to be something inside of me that says no matter what happens, I must try to finish, it’s either down to pure determination or stupidity!
My ears now were starting to suffer because of the constant noise coming off the engine, so bloody loud, and yet again every time I went through lap scoring I thought that I’d be pulled over and told to stop because of the noise.
The last couple of laps I had a few small ‘offs’, nothing major, just down to getting a bit tired really and not concentrating enough.
With 5 minutes to go I managed to get another lap in and rode round to finish, very, very relieved!
Unbelievably I managed to finish 4th in the 2 strokes. Given the circumstances, I was well pleased.
That little TM rode it’s heart out today.
It’s definitely been one of those weeks. First of all the jubilee clip on the bottom hose of the radiator broke, which emptied the coolant out earlier in the week, and now after closer inspection at the end of the race, i've found out that the 2 bolts that hold the manifold in place had simply come loose and fell out. Both have been small, but potentially damaging. Something else for me to check in the future.
Finishing position: 10/44
Bike status: new front spindle and wheel bearings
Injuries: bruised big toe
Surprisingly with the crap summer we’ve had, the weather today was bright, warm and at times the sun actually shone through!
Oh no, it’s another journey on the twisty, bumpy, dark and dingy A396.
Arrived with plenty of time to spare (makes a change), in fact yet again, which has happened at a few ORE events this year, we were late starting (there, that’s my moan out of the way). The race was due off at 2.45pm, we didn’t start until after 3.30, don’t know what was going on there, but I was itching to get going as this was another round of the 2 stroke champs that I’ve entered, and after 4 of the rounds so far, things are going well for me. Still a long way to though as there are 9 rounds in total.
The start and pits were 2 fields away from the car park, Up hill as well, ok for me, but with Marie being 7 months pregnant the poor girl struggled just to get there! I’m now thinking about ‘borrowing’ a trolley from Tesco (or are the Asda ones better?) so I can put her in it so she doesn’t have to walk too far!
After waiting what seemed like ages at the start, we eventually went on our merry way on the sighting lap. As always with these laps, no one is quite up to race pace so the inevitable happens, and when everybody arrives at a tricky bit of the course the queues start. On this occasion it was a very nasty drop down through the woods where you could have easily gone over the bars. The course had plenty of woods to test us, somewhat unusual for ORE, as normally they ran tracks mainly around moto x style venues.
A cracking little rocky stream that we had to go down was excellent, along with some slimy up hills, tight sections, off camber hills and of course some cross country fields where you could ‘nail’ it if you wanted to, round about 15-17 mins a lap. Certainly more of an enduro style course than their previous events. Nice!
Right, onto the start, the flag dropped and I got an absolute flyer, 1st into the first corner. I got passed by a couple of riders in the woods, but I was pleased I made it to the ‘nasty drop’ before a queue formed. 1st lap out of the way, I was going in about 4th or 5th when all of a sudden all hell broke loose! My little125 started to sound like a chieftain tank going flat out along a concrete road whilst running over a box of fireworks!
I immediately thought that my baffles were shot to bits, so I stopped and listened. The noise wasn’t coming from the back, but below the seat at the front of the engine. I then thought that my exhaust had split somewhere near the manifold or the expansion chamber. I carried on hoping that I could make it to the halfway point of the race, make my pit stop and take a closer look.
The noise was quite frankly horrendous, everyone was looking, and every time I went passed lap scoring I thought they were going to pull me out of the race. I was also seriously down on power, I was struggling big time on the hills and every time I opened her up along the fields.
After about 1 ½ hours I pitted. Marie was stood there waiting for me, ‘your bike sounds terrible, I can hear you coming from miles away’ she said. ‘ I know it does, it sounds like sh*te’ I said. I got off and took a look to see what was up.
Jesus! My exhaust manifold had come away from the engine! All that was holding it on were the 2 retaining springs! The 2 bolts that secured it to the engine were missing and there was about a ½ inch gap between the manifold and the cylinder opening. I don’t know what had happened, because I hadn’t come off and I hadn’t hit anything to sheer the bolts off. I now had to make a decision, and a big one at that.
Do I carry on and risk a small stone, mud or water getting into the barrel, which could cost me dearly, or do I continue and try to finish and get some championship points?
It took me all off 2 seconds to decide…………….I’m carrying on! I quickly refuelled, kicked her over, and off I went. There seems to be something inside of me that says no matter what happens, I must try to finish, it’s either down to pure determination or stupidity!
My ears now were starting to suffer because of the constant noise coming off the engine, so bloody loud, and yet again every time I went through lap scoring I thought that I’d be pulled over and told to stop because of the noise.
The last couple of laps I had a few small ‘offs’, nothing major, just down to getting a bit tired really and not concentrating enough.
With 5 minutes to go I managed to get another lap in and rode round to finish, very, very relieved!
Unbelievably I managed to finish 4th in the 2 strokes. Given the circumstances, I was well pleased.
That little TM rode it’s heart out today.
It’s definitely been one of those weeks. First of all the jubilee clip on the bottom hose of the radiator broke, which emptied the coolant out earlier in the week, and now after closer inspection at the end of the race, i've found out that the 2 bolts that hold the manifold in place had simply come loose and fell out. Both have been small, but potentially damaging. Something else for me to check in the future.
Finishing position: 10/44
Bike status: new front spindle and wheel bearings
Injuries: bruised big toe
