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!
I started racing Enduro's in August 2006. Here is my blog with everything thats happened. The good, the bad, and the ups and downs. Latest blog posts are at the top.
