Idless woods- 25th July 2010

It was off to the next series of the south West championships not far home nr Truro, only about 30 mins away. I managed to cadge a lift from Morcambe and Wise (a certain Mr Blake and Mr Jose), and in return I was of course on pit board duties again for them. We got there quite early as we new that parking was at a premium due to narrow fire road that led up to the start/pit area, and you could only park to one side of the road. Absolutely cracker of a day weather wise it was too, nice warm sunshine, hooray, summers here!

As this was a local event and us parked up near the start, it wasn’t long before what it seemed like every bloody rider stopped and had a chat with us all as they walked past on their way up. Mark and Rich Tucker were the 1st to arrive, followed by a whole host of local talent (or not!) in the shape of Phil ’smiler’ Harris, Andy (converted to a 4 banger) Smith, Francis (my T shirts too big) Banfield, Steve Jay, Jon Hinkley, James (I wear pop socks) Hull along with brother Dan, Paul Ford, Rob (love song man) Ellick, Rich (Dragons den inventor) Batstone, Ollie Hicks, Arthur (evergreen) Johnson, Jed Treleaven, Paul Fordy, Rod Mclean, Phew! the list is endless! But hold on, where’s ‘mad’ Jack Twentyman? Suddenly my phone rung, and sure enough it was ‘mad’ Jack running a bit late as usual, so he asked us if we could move up the vans so we could make a space for him where we were so he didn’t have to walk too far to the start! So we did, and sure enough with just about half an hour or so to go before race time, up turns Jack and parks behind us (this was to cause a ‘you’ve been framed’ moment a bit later on).

So with me yet again being a general ’dogs body’ carrying this and that for a few riders to the pits, it was off to watch it all happen down at the bottom of the start straight to see who got the holeshot. Phil (harris) wasn’t riding today so I was stood there with him along with John Pitman (who also wasn’t riding) and Mark Tucker. So after watching all the classes start, it was off to explore the woods to see if I can find some decent sections of ’where it all happens’ in order to catch exhilarating action! With the conditions being warm and dry, and it being a fast course, I couldn’t really find anywhere without going miles away (coz I was needed back at the pits to help with re-fueling) that produced some tasty pieces of action.

The racing at the front of the pack was top notch, some good champ riders there today, and the top 3 were all within a few bike lengths of each other for at least the first hour, good stuff to watch it was. After helping out a few riders on their pit stop, it was time for me to stay round the start area and resume my pit board duties for messrs Blake and Jose until the race finished. In the meantime a few riders had some problems, Steve Jay stopped in the pits for a while not feeling too good, Andy Smith stopped for running repairs a bit later on, James Hull DNF’d with yet another puncture, and I poured Mark Tucker another cup of coffee from my flask!!!

Now what the fooking hell is going on here then? The catering van is leaving! What’s that all about? Probably the busiest period they’re likely to get when all the riders are ‘Hank Marvin’ and need food at the end of proceedings, and they pee off and leave! Now come on play the game, I know we’ve been a bit peed off in the past when the vans ran out of chips at the end and all that’s left is bread rolls, but to actually leave the bloody place the minute the race finished is errrrrrr……..well, lets say politely, not good! Still never mind, it was all decided to stop at Macdonalds on the way home in order that Steve Jose could satisfy his hunger and keep his weight up.

But wait, drama ensued just as we were leaving as ‘mad’ Jacks van got stuck down a drainage hole whilst trying to leave the place. After showing everybody how to get stuck ‘good and proper’ by digging yourself an even bigger hole by revving the nuts out of your vans engine in front of us all, Jack rather embarrassingly had to admit DEFEAT, (not something in his vocabulary), and go and get help in order to get towed out which he did.

A good day out today, enjoyed it………………….

Bratton court- 4th July 2010

Got, a lift up to the Exmoor event with ‘mad’ Jack Twentyman. Now I have mentioned it before, the A396 is an horrendous road, more twists and turns than a factory full of corkscrews, loads of pot holes, blind corners, add this to the fact that ’mad’ Jack wasn’t hanging about and overtook anything that got in his way, it was somewhat of a ’white knuckle’ ride for me in some parts with me hanging on for grim death!!

Having breathed a sigh of relief after arriving in one piece, we got parked up within earshot of some of the usual motley crew of Phil (smiler) Harris, Andy Smith, Steve Jose, Adam Blake, James and Dan Hull, Paul Ford, Rich (the inventor) Batstone, and Rob Ellick. Incidentally, when I went over to Rob’s van to have a bit of a chin wag with him, I was told that he was sitting in the front seat listening to Steve’s Wrights ‘love song’ hour on radio 2!!! And sure enough he was! Apparently he was pissed off at an event a few weeks earlier because the race started in the middle of the ‘love song’ hour and he had to miss half of it! Rich Batstone still had a washing machine hose attached to his fuel can (still waiting for that to be shown on Dragons den), James Hull was wearing ’pop socks’ that looked some sort of ’girlie’ thing from the 80’s, and Phil Harris had my front wheel from my gasser on his bike because he’d smashed his up.

So it was off to get a riders list from the signing on tent where Debbie Tucker was sitting on sun bed in the warm weather nursing her broken wrist due to being thrown off the back of a horse, no taken pictures today then Deb! Then it was off to the start line to watch the everybody go. Today’s racing was a little bit different from the normal Exmoor events as is was to be 2 x 1.½ hour races, with only a fuel stop for a rest in between and the 2nd race being a reverse of the course. After the start I got a lift on the back of Mark Tuckers quad up the hillside and onto a decent viewing point at the top of one of the hills. After a few laps of standing there Steve Jose pulled up with a bad case of Pin and needles and couldn’t ride properly so had to take it easy for the rest of the race, Michael Brooks had an off and bust his brake lever and also had his mousse hanging of his back wheel so went back to get it sorted, and a few laps later ’Brookster’ pulled up beside me again only for his 2nd mousse to hanging off his back wheel again!! 2 mousses changes in one 1 ½ hour race, not much chance of a decent finish there then Mike! Rich Tucker yet again was riding like a young man possessed and was trouncing the field, mind you ’mad’ Jack wasn’t doing bad either in 2nd place and yet again belying his age. Paul ford had fork seal problems so not a good day for him.

It was off back to the pits at the end off the race to catch up with the riders and here their thoughts (or excuses) on how things went. Quite a few had said that they’d got lost on some parts of the course on the 1st lap? Maybe not enough arrows on some parts, or maybe just following someone that had gone the wrong way! After about 15 mins of the riders having a break, it was off to get a lift with Mark (Tucker) again on the back of his quad up the hill again and to watch from a different part of the course this time. From there on I took a hike around part of the course which to me seemed very fast and dry before I headed back down to the lap scoring / pit area for the last half hour of the race.

Drama ensued when word got back to me that Phil Harris had gone missing on the last lap! Turned out that he’d had a big off and had made his way back to his van minus his bike which he’d left somewhere on the course because he’d injured himself a bit too much to ride the thing back. I then went on a walkabout the find the bloody thing and bring it back for him. I must say twisting the throttle on a 300 seems to me like riding a bloody tractor, it’s got more grunt than a German porn star! Phil wasn’t too bad after a bit of a rest so everything turned out alright on that score.

After the post race banter with usual crew, it was off to get terrified again with a lift home with ’mad’ Jack!