End of year thoughts 2007

There’s no doubt about it, I really am pleased with what’s gone on in my first full year of racing.
I’ve done a fair few races and no matter what’s happened to me or the bike, I’ve managed to finish all of them.
The reliability of the TM has been unbelievable and so has my sheer determination (and sometimes stupidness!) to make it to the finish line. If I can match that sort of record this coming year, then I’ll be over the moon.

I concentrated mainly on the ORE sports 2 stroke champs because I thought I might have a decent chance of getting in the first 5. I had such good results in the early rounds that the lead I built up meant that as long as I finished the last few races without any mishaps, I’ve have enough points in the bag to win it outright.
The most pleasing aspect about winning that (and I’ve mentioned it before) is that most of the courses were very much of the motocross type which is not at all to my liking as I like ‘toughing’ it out in woods that are caked in mud and littered with tree roots. I mean you don’t get many enduro’s doing 25 laps a race do you? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not moaning about it, I’m just pleased I beat some motocross boys at their own game, and some of them 20 yrs younger than me!
I don’t know yet weather I’ll be doing all their rounds in 2008, haven’t made up my mind yet.

Tough races? Yes, there’s been a few I can tell ya. Combe sydenham, Rifton barton, Middleton court (all xmoor enduro club), Huntsham barton (ASW), Star hill (Track’n’trail), Smeartharpe (Little silver). Hats off and 3 cheers to those clubs that put on an event in sometimes atrocious conditions. It’s these sort of races that stick in your mind most and gives you more of a sense of achievement if you finish them. It also makes you admire the pure skill and ability of the top riders, decent bike control or what?
I might be wrong, but I do believe that when the going gets tough, it doesn’t matter what bike you’re on, weather it be a 125 or a 450, everyone’s on the same level. I do have to admit that I do like it when I pass a big 4 banger on my little zingy 125! (that’s probably going to get me in trouble now, I’ll have all you 4 stroke boys shouting obscenities out at me when I’m riding round).

Sometimes it’s been a bit knackering after only getting a few hours kip due to my gigs that I’ve had the night before, and with some events up to3 ½ hours drive away it meant i had to get up really early and set off to get there in time. My girlfriend has been fantastic being my ‘driver’ so I can grab an hours kip on the way up. Mind you that’s all changed now because she stays at home babysitting!

My biggest low point of the year came at Trewint on 2nd September at an ORE race. I had a big off (but still managed to carry on), the bike got damaged, I done my shoulder in, damaged my facial nerves, and still to this day, half of my top lip and gum is still numb from the accident. The bike cost me a fortune to get mended and I couldn’t do much in the way of exercise for a while. A few weeks later our baby was born (that’s a high point by the way) but the lack of exercise and now lack of sleep meant that I really struggled to race and this reflected in my results, I just couldn’t seem to get going properly. A few months down the line now and I’m starting to get fit again and getting more kip, thank god for that!

Well I’ve learnt a little bit more this year about riding a dirt bike and also met some nice folk along the way too. A big thanks to all those people that have helped me out in one way or another, I went mention names because I’m bound to miss someone out and then I’ll get slated for doing so!

I’m now going up to the big wide world of the clubman class or maybe the o40’s depending on which club is organising the event. I’d love to do a round (or maybe two) of the BEC just for the experience and who knows I might even have a little dabble at some motocross!

See you all in 2008

Smeartharpe- 29th December 2007

Bloomin nora, what an event this was!…………………………………………….

The previous couple of days it had been lashing down with rain so I thought to myself that this race could be a bit of a muddy one (that was an understatement) so I was looking forward to it as I love the mud and I always think that it’s a great leveller.
Arrived at smeartharpe moto park to be pleasantly surprised to find that the parking wasn’t in a field at all but in on a hardstanding concrete surface. What a result that was, that made a nice change, usually your fighting your way trying to steer in a straight line across some sodden grassy field just to get parked up!
The quads were already racing in their own event and it didn’t look pretty. Every rider was covered from head to toe in thick brown mud and judging by the state of the motocross track that was part of the course, the words ‘ we’re all going to get lagged’ sprang to mind. That coupled with a biting cold wind, things were going to be a bit tough today.
Parked up next to Steve Jose (story about him later) and also met Debbie, Mark and Richard Tucker who I had a chat with about various bike related aspects.

Got changed, done all the necessary and made sure I didn’t lock my keys in my van this time! And lined up ready for the sighting lap.
I was right, every inch of the motocross section was about 2ft deep with sludgy thick mud, one tiny mistake and off you slid into the stuff. There was a couple of table top jumps but you couldn’t get up enough speed to jump the buggers as you were sliding too much all over the show. The woods were boggy in places and a lot of riders were getting stuck which caused the usual mayhem, and this was just on the sighting lap! I made it back ok but it seemed like ages before the actual race got underway as I sat freezing my nuts off on the start line!
The flag dropped and I must admit it wasn’t one of my better starts but I made up a few places almost straight away until a rider in front ‘closed the door’ on me while I went for a gap on his outside and I went down like the Titanic straight into that thick mud, nice one! Half a lap gone and already one glove and one side of my bars covered in mud .
Into the wooded section and I passed quite a few riders that had got stuck, there were some lovely roots to make things even more tricky and 1 or 2 slippery little downhills, before going back out onto that gloopy motocross track to complete a lap which I reckon was about 5 miles long.
After about an hour into it, the spring on my gear lever broke which made gear shifting somewhat hit or miss, but nevertheless, I carried on. I pitted after about 1hr 40 mins, changed my ‘caked in mud’ gloves, wiped the bar down, and off I went again.
There was a rutted section in the woods that had become so deep then when you rode into it it was as high as the saddle! Took a bit of riding to get through that did, I bloody well got stuck in it once but luckily a couple of spectators came to my rescue with that one. There were a lot of riders taking a breather at this point just parked up or going round very slow due to tiredness.
Had a couple of ‘offs’ on the now almost impassable quagmire of a motocross track, it seemed like you were trying to ride through some sort of ‘fudge brownie mixture’! Big thanks to the marshal who helped me pick my bike up when I got buried in the stuff.
With about 30 mins to go I got a puncture on the front, the tyre was flat and the wheel was wobbling about a fair bit, but given the conditions with no hard ground at all, I decided to carry on and hope it wouldn’t come off the rim.
The last couple of laps I was almost going round in isolation as so many riders had pulled out due to it being so energy sapping or their bikes had simply ‘given up the ghost’, I must admit I was a bit ‘cream crackerd’ myself, but I was pleased to get another lap on the scoreboard with 10 mins to go and went on to finish.
Not really a technical course but due to it being cut up so badly and so much mud about, you didn’t really have any sort of breather on the bike as you were constantly trying to stay in control.

Steve Jose told me afterwards that he was so tired that he parked up in the pits halfway through the race and went and got a burger before carrying on! I thought that was a bloody cheek because the tight git didn’t get me one!

I was just about to go home when the mobile rung, it was Steve who told me that I’d come 2nd in the sports 2 stoke and there was a trophy to pick up. I was well pleased, and looking at the results, over 120 bikes started and there were over 70 dnf’s, yes that’s right over 70 dnf’s! Just goes to show how tough it was today, and with me having a broken gear lever and a front wheel puncture, I managed to finish and get a really good result to end the year with.



Finishing position: 2/43
Bike status: new handgaurds, gear lever

Injuries: none

Typical!!!-9th December 2007

Typical isn’t? I had the choice of 3 races today run by different clubs. ORE, SCEC and CAMEL VALE. I ended up not doing any!
ORE had said that their last round of the series would be on 9th December, so I waited for confirmation of where the venue was and the entry forms to come out as I wanted to complete the last round and go out ending the series on a high as champ of the sports 2 stroke class! But on the Monday with 6 days to go they announced that they couldn’t run the race and it would in the new year..
The CAMEL VALE race was now closed as the regs had to be in by saturday, no late entrys on that one, so that one was out of the window as well. 2 down, 1 to go ………………………………...............................so I quickly got on to the SCEC website to enter that one, B*llocks, race full!!!!!! I was left with nothing, ‘all dressed up with nowhere to go’ as it were. You could say I was a bit ‘peed’ off!
So what now? Well, everything dies down a bit now as xmas is approaching so not really much happening unless I can find somewhere to have a quick ride around.
Looks like there’s a couple of events at the end of the year, so hopefully I’ll be doing those.