ShorttrackUK - Round 3 - Amman Valley

Had a nice lay-in on Sunday morning in the van and was greeted by sunshine. :-)

The Duke was filthy... but spirits were up!  

Base camp at Amman Valley

A lazy morning with only the fuel to top-up and handlebars to change. I chatted to Pete Boast at the BMF show and he commented that he cannot use big-ass bars and that he gets far better leverage with flat MX bars. I tried to go back to MX bars at Amman because I'd bent my big-ass bars. But on Sunday evening, in the first turn I knew I din't like them and I wanted my big-ass bars back... bent or not!

Steve with one of his streettrackers on show

 The Skooterfarm garage

Practice got underway at 11h00 sharp and I immediately felt better on a drier track and the big-ass bars! Entered into both the Shorttrack and Thunderbike classes on the big 1/2 mile circuit was going to be a test of my fitness.

 The Co-Built garage with Ben's CCM... still with the road registration plate and brake-light!

 Ben's CCM - ready to do battle!

I am still waaay too slow but thoroughly enjoyed the track. It's so big you got time to think... time to get it wrong and fix it. But... you go so much faster. It was forking bumpy too as it broke up a bit. Sometimes you'd get bounced out of the seat with feet off teh pegs in a classic 'flying Vee' formation... while sliding sideways! Huuuuge fun! I learned a lot.

I was making good starts in most heats on my little 17" wheels

Half-way through teh day my zipper gave out... all the grit. Lockwire to the rescue! Experienced in this technique as I used it at 2006 Manx GP with great results. 

Geoff had a great day on his new machine... getting into the Thunderbike final!

After 3 rounds of heats I found myself in the Shorttrack 'D' final (the slowest slow-pokes entered into teh Shorttrack class) with Guto, Sideburn Gary, Skooterfarms's Pete Wilky and Anthony Brown. It was a laugh and a half!

I got a great start and into turn 1 first. On turn 3 Guto came flying past and I tried to tag onto his back wheel. Half way through the second lap he shed his chain and I was leading again with the others queueing behind. The track conditions were good... loads of grip everywhere. Good for overtaking and great racing. We battled for another 2 laps before I made a mistake and ran wide. By this time Gary was coasting and out of the race. The last 2 laps was a 3 bike train. Awesome fun! I finished 3rd so didn't progress to the next final... but had a blast!

 My technique is improving...

 Guto on Anthony's Co-Built - he was flying all day, made the final before bike troubles forced him to ride Anthony's bike in the final. On a bike he had never ridden before, he finished 4th - Local Hero!

Some of the Skooterfarm lads enjoying the sunshine and racin' 

'CowTech' Jason was thrilled to win a trophy for his immaculate Triumph streettracker 

Despite not making the Thunderbike final, I still got out again in the 'B' final. I was up the pointy-end before another mistake at turn 3 saw me go right off the course onto the outer track! By the time I was back in the race I was last so fought out the last few places... it was awesome fun!

Steve went down hard right in fornt of me in turn 1, lap 1 of a heat. He was out for a few seconds and hurt his shoulder. He enjoyed the rest of the races from his van - get well soon dood! 

A great day on the clay !

One of the beautiful streettrackers on show

Disappointed with my average performance I still had a great laugh. This track showed up a few big faults with my current bike... faults that I plan to fix by the time we get out for the next round on 10 July.

It was a great day on the clay... exhausted, I drove 3.5 hours home. Unpacked. Had a beer. Repacked and got 4 hours sleep before heading to Dover to catch the ferry... next stop Austria... for Erzberg!