So it was off to the middle of a Welsh quarry somewhere in err………….Wales! To watch a few of the boys attempt to snatch some kind of glory in the 24 and 12hr races in the Dawn to Dusk. I traveled up there with Steve Jose in his caravan (similar to the one pictured) that he obtained from his neighbour for the pricely sum of £50! Yes that’s not a misprint, I said FIFTY quid! Even though it had no windows, a cardboard floor, a gas leak and one flat tyre that was thread bare, not to mention no tow hitch so we had to tie the thing to his van, it wasn’t half bad and it gave us somewhere to kip for a few nights. No, seriously it was an absolute gem, everything worked and a right old bargain for the money.
Things didn’t start off too well coz I late getting to the Jose household, but I soon made it up by getting out the cocktail sausage rolls which we both devoured within 5 minutes of the journey starting! A quick stop a couple of hours later for some ‘Harry Ramsden’s’ fish & chips, then it was off over the severn bridge and into Wales. A few more hours later of us bickering like a pair of old women and we managed to miss the junction to turn off to get to the place. Whoops! We finally made it and parked up next to Mike Roose and Arthur Johnson who were both doing the ‘carry on caravaning’ thing as well. A few beers later and some more friendly faces turned up, Jed Treleaven, Richard Williams and Matt Hamley, who were also riding the event. After some more beers and general chat it was time to turn in for the night.
Saturday morning came around and mike got out his BBQ, I did the ‘Gordon Ramsey’ bit (including all the F words) and was the chef as I cooked up some culinary delights (sausages and burgers) which went down rather well and were scoffed up in a flash. Steve Jose had a front brake problem after trying out his bike in readiness for the race, it was found his front disk has a few ridges worn into it, so Mike got out his angle grinder and fixed it. Next it was to the signing on tent where I managed to get Adam (Blake) his T shirt because he was injured and couldn’t come but had already paid for the event, and I must admit he did say that I could ride his bike and take his slot, I was tempted, but soon changed my mind on that one. Around lunch time Rich and Steve Jay arrived along with Scott Johnson, so a few more Camel Vale mcc members joined the party! Arthur tried to get some kip before his marathon 24hr race began but couldn’t calling everyone ‘noisey bastards’! A group of youngsters camped up next to us had about 10 bikes on a big trailer and one by one they all rode about on them for a bit in the camping area apart from one poor soul with a old CR 125. His mates must have p*ssing themselves, he tried everything under the sun to try and get the thing going including kicking it until exhaustion, after about 3 hours it fired into life, yippee! So with a few hours left until the start of the 24 hr race most people were relaxing and waiting around and taking a few bits down to the pit area in readiness for the start of it all.
The 24hr race had Arthur (Johnson) doing the solo iron man and Jed (Treleaven) partnering Richard (Williams) in the 2 man team. Also on show was a couple of more Camel Vale members Martin Cheeseman and Brad Williams who were also doing the 24hr 2 man event. After watching the start on the windy hillside where I met Pete Boyles who was riding in the 12hr event the next day with his son, it was back off to the pits where we had 2 gazebo’s constructed one in front of the other, this was our ‘camp’ for the next 24 hours with a numerous assortment of food, fuel, tools, chairs, lights, amongst other things in order to help the riders get through the event and also to protect us from the Welsh elements!
Some riders were on a 1 lap strategy and some a 2 lap one before coming in for re-fuelling. A few hours in and everybody was doing ok, the lads who were racing the 12hr tomorrow went off to get some kip, I stayed along with Mike to help out the riders doing the marathon event, cleaning the bikes, re-fuelling and general maintenance stuff, anything really so they could just came in to the pits and sit down and take a break without having to do much. Amazing who you meet at these events, next to us was Tony Hobbs who I’ve had a few battles with last year in the Midwest series that I rode in, first time I’ve actually met the bloke, I knew his name and he new mine, bitter rivals last year! We had a jolly good old chat and I wished all the best as he was riding in the 24hr race as well with is mate. Around 2.30am and with 7 ½ hours gone, I went off to grab a few hours kip, and it was just about now that the race had started to take it’s toll on a few.
After some 3 hours I was up, made a cup of tea and headed off to the pits to see how everybody was doing. The youngsters Jed and Richard were decidedly looking worse for wear as was Arthur, it had been a long night, but nevertheless were going ok, not long to go lads just another 12 hrs! 7am came around and the start of the 12hr race were rivalry was abound with the jay brothers up against each other, Steve teaming up with Steve Jose, and Rich teaming up with Scott Johnson in the 2 man event. After the 1st lap the 2 teams were neck and neck as they both came into the pits together, next lap Scott suffered a puncture so lost time, next lap Steve Jay got a puncture, a couple of laps later Rich Jay got a puncture, (there’s more) Scott another puncture, Steve jay had 2 punctures in one lap, both his front and back tyre punctured in the same lap must to the annoyance of Steve Jose who was sat there waiting for him to arrive in the pits in order to change the transponders over. This wait meant that Rich and Scott had took the lead again, Jose’s face was a picture and steam was seen coming out from under his helmet! Scott got another puncture! Steve Jay got another puncture, incredible, I counted 9 punctures in all as the Welsh slate quarry had taken it’s toll on the tyres. Jose had no problems though as he was on mousses although Arthur Johnson was on tubes and never had a problem in the whole 24 hrs? weird eh? Mike was kept busy as he changed the whole bloody lot and put new tubes in every time and his work certainly put ‘Quik fit’ and ‘ATS’ to shame. I was still in the thick of things cleaning and re-fuelling the bikes of the 2 man teams and Matt Hamley who was also doing the 12hr race on his own.
Drama and mayhem ensued in the afternoon! With the wind whipping up some force and there being no place to hide in the middle of a quarry, a few gazebo’s went flying including a huge one that some Germans had all there BMW enduro bikes under. Not only that, the computer tent that had all the lap top screens giving you up to date lap scoring on each of the 6,12 and 24 hrs races, went walkabout as well!!! This included all the screens and all the wires that accompanied the system along with the tent, laying in a heap on the floor about 20ft away from where they should have been. Luckily nothing was broken and the organizes set up the whole thing again in the big marquee which was to hold the presentations a bit later on.
With just 3-4 hours left before the whole race ended Jed and Richard had had enough and went off for a nap, Arthur was out on his feet and was basically only just summoning up enough energy to do one lap at a time, sometimes we even had to help him get on his bike! The 2 man teams of Steve/Steve and Rich/Scott were doing well and one stage 2nd and 3rd out of about 30 teams, but for some reason slipped back a bit at the finish. So with not long to go Jed and Richard came back to do another couple of laps and then stick the bike in the holding pen just before the finish along with Arthur, these boys were simply now dead on their feet and had no energy left, and to be honest it would simply had been too dangerous to race a bike when you can’t even see straight let alone hold on to the bars and twist the throttle. The other Camel Vale 2 man team of Cheeseman/Williams were way in front of the 24hr expert race and didn’t look like being caught which in the end proofed right.
With about 15 mins to go I went down to the finish area to jeer up Steve Jose and Rich Jay who I knew would come round and get another lap in before time was called in which both of them managed to do. So with a sizeable crowd waiting for the 1st placed 24hr iron man to finish (that’s how they end the event) along he came, a certain James Giddings on a 125!!!!! I’d been speaking to part of his pit crew, a guy named Rob (who helped me out last year at a BEC event in Wales) a few times during the race so I knew how well he was going, and boy was he going! 24 hrs on his own and he beat everyone including the 2 and 3 man teams without hardly any rest at all. Now that’s how to ride a 125!
So with the flag waved for the finish, the rest of the riders who were ’cream crackerd’ came out of the holding pen in which Jed Treleaven managed to get the holeshot! And poor Arthur had to push his bike up the hill to get a finish when it suddenly cried enough and refused to start again. I then went back up to the pits to wait for the other riders to come in who were still out there on their last lap.
After everybody had a rest and a brush up it was off to the presentations to see who’d won and who didn’t. Fair play to the ‘evergreen’ Arthur Johnson who got 3rd in the 24hr iron man, I asked him if he was going to do it all again next year and apart from the 2nd word being ‘off’ he muttered ‘don’t ever let me go near this place again’, yeah alright, we’ll see you next year then mate, we know you love it.
A good nights kip was had and then after a quick stop for brekky at the local Macdonalds it was off home. The 50 quid caravan of Steve’s did us proud, the windows didn’t fall out and the roof stayed on and the 3 dead rats that had been in the cupboard that he’d found when he bought it didn’t really smell that much at all…………………………..
