Dirttrack National Championship - Round 6 - Rye House

Sunday was the last round of the DTRA National Dirttrack Championships at Rye House, just north of London. With more riders than ever entered, a split event was run with the Pro, Restricted and Thunderbike heats and finals in the afternoon and all the other classes in the morning. This meant I could sleep in :-)

Thunderbike Final start line

Thanks Ian Roxburgh for the pic

Unloaded, signed on, changed and by lunchtime we were out on track. Heat 1 - a good start... 4th from the back row. Then my first Pro heat... front row start... held onto 2nd for half a lap and then went backwards. Next Thunderbike heat and I could only get 5th from a second row start - I was struggling to get into it.

I kept plugging away, thinking about where I could improve, what I was doing wrong. I wasn't really enjoying it and it was pretty hard work with just 3 classes being run back-to-back. Fortunately, I still had a bit of fitness left in my bones from the ManxGP/Classic TT so I was recovering quickly between heats and never felt tired while out on track. My calf was battered and bruised from Saturdays lie in the dirt but only bothered me in the paddock - on track it was the last thing on my mind.

Geoff getting it tight

Thanks James Boddy for the pic

The heats done... I was surprised to see that I'd qualified 5th in the Thunderbike Final with my mediocre riding. I just missed the Grand Final by one place, qualifying 13th. That cheered me up a lot. Okay.. just two races to go... let's give it all we got!

Thunderbike Final - Revvs up. The light flicks on and we're away. The bike hooks up so well on the race line that she pulls into a big wheelie. Well... it felt big... but was probably just 6 inches. I knock the throttle a little to get her back on the ground, hook third gear and run her into the turn 1 melee.

There's a bit of barging and contact around me.. I manage to keep out of trouble and sling the big KTM out of turn 2 behind in 4th place, behind Geoff Cain. Nice!

Thanks James Boddy for the pic

I quickly settle into the race. Dave Chadburn is at the front and pulling away. I'm in the queue behind Guy Sutherland and Geoff. We're all real close... lap after lap. There is kind of a blue groove (it was a groove, but wasn't blue) and it's almost impossible to make a pass without someone making a mistake or having a bit of contact. I find myself running into the back of Geoff mid-turn but his yellow Co-Built is always in my way so I have to back off. He starts cutting the turns tight. Turn 1 and there seems to be some room on his outside... this time I carry my speed and go have a look...

Shhhhhhhhhrrrrrrrrr. The bike goes into a two wheel slide. Shit! I'm losing the front... I try keep her up on my steel-shoed left foot. Ghhhhhhrrrrrrrrr... the swish of tyres sliding across dirt fades into a nauseating grinding sound. Shit! I'm loooooosssssssing heeeeeeerrrrrrrrrr. My left side gets ground into the hard-packed dirt. My left foot getting caught between the front wheel and the bottom of the headstock, graunching my leg in a carbon copy of Saturday's off.

Fuck! The expectation of the impact of another bike on my trapped body goes through my mind before I've stopped sliding. Makes no difference if I'm waiting for it.. or trying to get back in the race. So I'm scrambling to get my leg out form under the bike amidst an angry swarm of Thunderbikes. I have to roll on my side and do a prone dance and wiggle free. I'm out, I'm up.

Queueing up!

Thanks James Boddy for the pic

Get bike up. Need to race! I try lift her... wrong angle and she just slides along the gravel. I adjust my position and hoik her up as the pack comes swarming around again. I hold the bike and watch over my shoulder as the other bikes dodge me. At least if I'm watching I have a tiny chance of lessening any impact. I'm missed by inches - these guys are good riders!

Clutch in and I roll the bike to the sanctity of the grass infield where I get her started again. Wait for the bikes to pass for the last time before tagging onto the back and finishing the race on two wheels. Well... I was was doing well there... and then I fucked it up. A bit annoyed with myself... but happy at the same time that I had the pace to be up there after I felt like the slowest rider out there during the heats.

Jetwash time

My leg got mangled in the same place as the day before and hurts like a bastard. 10 minutes later and I'm lining up with Guy and Paul Sheldon for the Pro 'B' final. There are still points on offer for the Championship. Oh yes... this year I have no Championship. Ah - fuck it... it's still a race! Let's go for it!

Guy manages to gap me in my over cautiousness with battered bike and body. I roll the bike home in 14th place for the Pro class - probably my last race of 2014. Would have been nice to carry the high from the Isle of Man through to the last race. Oh well.

It hurt then, it hurt more on Monday, it hurt a little less on Tuesday, it hurt less yesterday and less again today. The body forgets pain... that's why we keep racing.

Post-season sparkly clean, some WD40 and tucked away in the garage for the winter

DTRA Flattrackin' - Round 2 - Rye House

Been away so I'm a bit behind on this one...

Sunday before last we were out at Rye House for the second round of the DTRA National Flattrack Championship.

I think I'm just about to bite the dust here... but looks cool.

Thanks Tom Whiting for the pic

With all my racing, I'm a bit of a slow starter. I need to get out there and do a few laps before I can get up to the pace I know I can do. Problem is... with these short races (road racing too), I leave myself too much work to do. I only really get going half-way through the heats and so don't qualify as well as I should in the final. Start slot in the final is crucial... if you're not on the front row, you're gonna struggle to get up near the front in the race. So, I decide to pull my finger out and go for it from the practice so that by the time the first heat rolls on, I'm onnit. Yeah - nice theory.

Pre-race stretchin

Thanks Ian Roxburgh for the pic

Practice - I go harder than I usually do... finding the limits as quick as I can in 2 x 5 laps. A little break, check the bike over... top up gas and ready for heat one. I'm drawn on the front row so have to finish in the top four. No problem.

A sweet lookin' Yamaha new build from Tom Clemans

I get the bike out onto the clay... practice start on the back straight... find my slot on the front row... revvs up... and we're away! I get an okay start and get out of turn 2 in third I think. From there... it goes backwards. I land up coming home in 6th. Bollocks! I chide myself.

Thanks Tom Whiting for the action shots!

Gotta pull that finger OUT! Next heat - Pro Open mixed with Restricted class. I'm drawn middle row. A decent start... I push as hard as I dare. I land up coming 6th again. No good enough.

Another well organised event - thanks Anna, Anthony and all those helping out!

Confidence, confidence, confidence. That's what I think it is. It takes me some track-time to build confidence. As the heats come, I get faster... I even bag a 1st in Thunderbikes and a 2nd in Pro Open by the end. Too little, too late.

I qualify 8th in Thunderbikes and 9th in Pro. Well, at least I make both finals :-)

Thunderbike final: My starts have been getting better all day and I make a good one in the final. Out of turn 2 in 5th. I hang onto the back of Neil Martin, Dave Chadburn and Guy Sutherland. I can't find a way past and just ride as close as I can, waiting for any of them to make an error.

Thunderbike Final

Thanks Ian Roxburgh for the pic

There are a few small mistakes - enough to keep it close and exciting, but not enough to make a pass out of. I run home in 5th. Happy with that :-)

Pro Final: Another good start from the back row. I get right up into the thick of things in turn 1 and am up to 7th. I hold it for a few laps before George Pickering and then Derek Brindley make passes on me that stick. I'm getting loads of drive out the turns, but the weight of the Thunderbike puts me at a big disadvantage against the DTX bikes when sliding into the turns. Too much momentum.

Battling with Drogo Michie

Thanks Tom Whiting for the pic

I hang on, pushing harder each lap. I'm the first Thunderbike and am 9th with a gap to Guy Sutherland in 10th. Eventually on lap 6 or 7 I push a little bit too hard going into turn 1... front and back slide a little too far and I can't get it back... I lowside in a nice, even slide. Swishhhh-grrrrrrrrrchhhhh...

We're goin' down!

Awesome photography from Tom Whiting - catching the off again!

Fuck! I scrabble up and out of the race line. I and try and get the bike started, but she's a dog to start on the clutch and my gear lever is knackered. My race is run. Bollocks!

Giving it sum beans in a earlier heat race

Thanks Tom Whiting for the pic

At round 1 I qualified 8th and 8th. In the final I got 5th and a crash-out. This round I qualify 8th and 9th. In the final I get 5th and a crash-out. At least I'm consistent! Leaves me 12th in the Pro and 4th in the Thunderbike Championships. Bring on Round 3 at Dirtquake II in 2 weeks!

Awesome sunny weather and long evenings... I can get home from a day in the clay, crack open a beer and take my time getting the bike all clean and sorted for the next meeting - perfect!

Flattrack Practice

All tarted up after some winter-love

Headed out to Rye House yesterday for some Flattrack practice with the new club running the championship this year, Dirt Track Riders Association - DTRA.

Sparkly fresh paintwork - helped out by my mate Steve Mann to get that glitter-bling factor

It was good to see quite a few new faces and bikes out there... also good to see the faces that have been around for the last few years. I was testing out my fresh paint-job and cleaned-out carb. I also played around a bit with cutting tyres.

Oily Rags Rob was out there on his fantastic steam-punk Ducati SS

The weather was very kind... cold early on but warmed with sunshine to a not-seen-since-November 10 degrees. I had a slow start but got up to speed by the second session.
I just went round and round and round. Trying to do a full session non-stop and be as consistent as possible. Experimenting with little things along the way.

 Dimitri Coste and a few friends journeyed over from France

Their très-cool classic flattrackers enjoyed the British sunshine

In the last two sessions there was a blue-groove - I started seeing how far I could push. I landed up sliding off on turn 1... slow-motion low-side - easily done. In the last session I just got a few inches off the groove going into super-fast turn 3. There was no saving that one. I slid out to the fence and hit it hard with me and the bike horizontal. I landed up under the bike, wedged under the fence, with the steel cables trapping me and the bike against the dirt. I needed a few marshals to help lift the fence and drag me and the bike out. Thanks guys!

Good to see some friends again after the winter break

Only damage was a mullered gear-shift lever. Been a while since I've done one of those in. I protected the shiny new pain with my body and it didn't even get a scratch!

Scraped casings, broke gear lever and bruised flesh was the only damage

The last time I rode a bike with a motor in it was the enduro in South Africa five months ago. I have really stuck to my "it's cold and shitty out there and couldn't be bothered to spend two hours cleaning the bike after a ride" training regime. I'm paying for it now - pretty sore and second-hand today.

Rye House Practice

After wallowing in the usual post Manx depression of normal life for two weeks, I got out to Rye House today for some flattrackin' practice.

 A beautiful, sunny day on the clay

All felt good... then I high-sided coming out of turn 2. Bike landed upside-down, I sprained both my thumbs. Not too much damage to the bike... decompression lever, gear lever, bent foot-peg and foot-peg bracket and a rear subframe that's now and inch and a half skew. Still rideable.

I got back out after they had watered the track. It was slippy as fook. I took it easy and got some more practice in - you never know when you might race on a track like this.

A newbie rider enjoying teh experience of sliiiiiiide

Between turn 3 and 4 I slid a bit too much... "I can save it..."... "I can save it..."... I can save it..."..."No I can't." I go down in a low-motion low-side. I guess I should have given up when my shoulder was grinding into the muddy dirt. I'm waiting to slop sliding... "Wham!"

That familiar feeling of being hit from behind. "Crunch!" The impact folds me over like an envelope and I grind to a stop with my face in the dirt and a front wheel pinning my head to the clay.

"Ooooofffff!" I'm winded. I scrabble out form under the other rider's bike... watch for other traffic and then bend over and breathe deep to get my breath back. Ronald Shamier had nowhere to go on that slithery surface and hit me square in the back. This is gonna hurt in the morning!

I did one more session but am starting to feel really beat-up. I pack up and leave early to give myself time to fix the bike. I got the bike all fixed, but not feeling to clever at the moment... not looking forward to getting up tomorrow... but looking forward to the last flattrack racin' of the year. :-)

Mobile workshop - I made it to my local bikestore before they closed to refit my rear tyre... the bead wasn't seated proper

 

Flattrack Practice

Sunday morning I was down at Rye House for a pre-season flattrack practice session

There were many sparkly new bikes there... including Stuart Lovell's beaut two-smoke



Most of the regulars were there... some, like me... had hardly touched thier bikes since the last ride of 2011

Stevie Coles has spent some time modifying his Thundarbike into this badd-ass mad-max creation... brilliant!

First session and all was going well...

Until too much rear brake locked the rear and stalled the engine... I go into the Graziano Rossi leg-drag style

As Jamie 'Full Lock or Death' Croydon says... "You can still save it dude". Lord knows... I tried. 

Doh!



Sometimes you just gotta pray...

A good time was had by all and despite many riders getting caught out by the slippery turn 3 (it almost got me in the fence a few times...), everyone left on thier own two feet.

Thanks driverchris for the action-shots!

Flattrackin - GNC Final at Rye House

The last round of the ShorttrackUK Grand National Championship was held at Rye House on Saturday night.

Things didn't start out too well when the bike refused to idle in the assembly area before practice. I got her going and out onto the track... bimbled up to and into the first turn. She revved suddenly mid turn, spinning the back around and forcing me to lay her down. WTF?

Wicked action pic from Steve Baldock - Thanks Steve!

The meeting was already running late and by the time I'd checked things back in the paddock, practice was over. Great!

Managed to get the bike kinda idling by running her on the choke. Not ideal, but she seemed to rev cleanly. Must be some dirt (or some garage floor garbage... ahem!) in the jets of the carb. The gear lever was bent about 2 inches out of place... of course I forgot my spares box again. Made the gear-change tricky... but maneagable. Soon it was time for my first heat of the evening in the Shorttrack class. I'm drawn on the front row... with zero laps practice... in a race... perhaps not a good scenario.

Soon to be Thunderbike Champ Anthony Brown tells how it's done

Onto the grid, revs rise, the start-tape shoots up and I get off the line. I get out of turn 2 okay and gun it down to turn 3 with Ade Collins just ahead. Lightly on the rear brake... get slide on... all going swimmingly. Hmmmm... mabe a bit too fast... shouldda mabe done a lap out here before trying to keep up with the Shorttrack National Champ... "Clunk!" I tag his back wheel. I almost go down, but save it by picking the bike up and running wide into the thick stuff towards boards.

First heat turn 1 action

Thanks Steve Baldock for the pic

I'm headed for the boards and try get the bike turned. Too late.. I lay the bike down and slide to a halt on my side. My left leg trapped between the front wheel and the engine. I scramble out from under the bike, pick it up and restart as the pack pelts me in its roost. I check over my shoulder for oncoming bikes when I see two other bikes down behind me. Alan Birtwhistle is one of them and he's stuck under the bikes, half-under the boards.

Guto Llywellan and Geoff Cain in the Co-Built garage

I kill the bike, lean it up against the fence and help the marshal and others get Alan out from under the boards. He's okay, his bike is okay. He must have been on my outside when I went straight on. Haven't even done a lap yet and I've already bitten the dust twice! What a muppet!

We go around for the restart. As I approach the grid, I'm shown to the penalty start box "You didn't think you'd get away with that one!" I'm told. Doh! Sorry guys...

Guto's Husaberg engine was having it's last race meeting

We restart. Without the first lap congestion I'm up to the man at the back within a lap and I pick off a few places as I get some practice in. Despite the offs I'm feeling fast... but I'm a bit raggedy. Shorttrack heat 1 done and not in last place :-) Into the paddock for a quick drink and I'm out one race later in the first Thunderbike heat.

I make a good start but struggle a bit to find consistency going into the corners as I explore just how fast one can go. I make some passes and get up to 3rd before going way too deep on turn 3 and losing a whole bunch of places. I make up one or two of these places before the chequered flag. I take a short rest and calm myself down before the next Shorttrack heat. I'm drawn at the back so I use it as practice to get my speed and consistency right. I still manage to not finish last.

Guy Southerland gives us his race face

Next Thunderbike heat and I'm drawn on the front row. I get to the front but soon the Italian ace (great cook and stand-up guy) Jacopi Monti blasts past me. I go to school. In the last few laps I hang onto the back of Jacopo and learn a lot. Points in the bag.

I do quite well in the next Shorttrack heat, mixing it with a few of the lads on the lighter Shorttrack bikes. In the last Thunderbike heat I make a good start and grab some places. Lap 2 and I'm behind RedMax Steve on his beautifully turned out single speed Norton. I draw level him down the back straight and slide on though at the entry of turn 3. I get my sights on the bike in 2nd place just ahead. Red flags. Darn! I was having a good run.

Rider's briefing: "We all know what we are doing..." I was too busy taking a pic!

I slow down and see three bikes and riders on the ground at turn 3... Steve is stuck under his bike and struggling. "Shit!" - thinking that I might have been the cause of the crash. I stop and prop the bike up, hoping that I can help in some way. Steve is in a lot pain. Another rider is flat on his back with a face full of dirt. Steve has hurt his left arm and ankle bady and has to leave the track in an ambulance. That sucks.

The race is restarted. I get another great start and work my way up to 4th. I think of going for 3rd, but after the 2 offs and Steve's crash I decide just to hang back and make sure of reaching the final.

Wayne Drake's podium finishing thunderbike is for sale...

I got enough points Shorttrack to start 10th in one of the Shorttrack Semi-finals - only the second time I've made the semis :-) There are 4 of us Thunderbikes on the back row. It's a good, fun race and we're all pretty close at the back - I'm working on consistency and conserving my energy for the Thunderbike final.

I qualify 6th for the Thunderbike final and slot into the middle row with Steve Coles on my right and Pete Wilky on my right. For the first time that night I don't get a good start. It's okay... but not good. Steve has drawn clear and Wilky is a foot ahead by the time we get to turn 1. As I'm about to get a little slide on and turn her in, Pete vere's accross from my left... completely the opposite way I expected him to go. We touch and our handle-bars clatter together. Next thing I'm half-off the bike... and just along for the ride...

In between heat dinner at Trattoria Monti! Jacopo is a great cook!

I see night sky, lights, feel myself hitting the dirt and being hit by a bike (or two!)... not necessarily in that order. I feel my body grinding into the dirt in a mess of bikes, wheels and handle-bars... feels like a bike hits me and then something big and soft like another rider. It seems to last about ten times longer than it actually did but I eventually stop tumbling with all that hardware and there is silence.

Next thing I know I've scrambled to my feet and am on my haunches, about to stand up. Fight or flight! I see the clay moving beneath my feet and my vision is dancing with a thousand sparkles. I know if I stand up I'll just fall over again. I can't hear anymore bikes - I must be safe... so I just haunch there on one knee watching the sparkles on the clay and breathe.

Welted and skinned!

I move my toes, feet, legs, fingers, hands, arms, torso. It's all working. But there is pain. I see pairs of boots around me. A paramedic fills my vision as I look up. "Are you hurt?", "I don't think I'm hurt... but I'm fuckin' hurting!". "Where does it hurt?" I go through the movements again... "My left leg, lower and upper, my right knee, left elbow..." I raise my right hand and show him my graunched glove, "...and my pinkie". I dare not tell him about the stars... I want to get back on the bike and do this race... 

My mouth tastes of puke... I almost threw up some great pasta from Monti's Trattoria during the impact. That's a first for me. I just stay there on my haunches for a minute or two. Breathing, feeling. The body parts all seem to be working and the stars I was seeing fade. I slowly stand up, helped out by another rider. I move about. Fuck! That hurts! I look around: there is a huge puddle of petrol a few metres away and I see Dave Arnold limping, being helped to his bike... other riders trying to start it. "How's my bike?" I ask.

Plum colored Popeye!

"Gear lever is off." Shit. I couldn't really move about so wouldn't have been much good in the race anyway. They manage to get Dave's bike started and he makes the restart as I wheel my bike off the clay. Turns out Wilky was rammed into me, his bike got a hole through the tank and he couldn't restart either. He was a bit bashed up too... but okay. We watch Jacopo win the race and Anthony Brown finish 4th to take the 2011 GNC Thunderbike Championship on his Co-Built. Well done Anthony!

Another great action shot from the lens of Steve Baldock

A disappointing finish to the season, but I scraped enough points together to finish okay in the final standings. Today I feel like I've been run over by a herd of big, mean and angry Cape buffalo. But thankfully just bruises and contusions. RedMax Steve fared far worse with 4 breaks just below the shoulder joint and a broken leg just above the ankle. He was rear ended after I went past. Get well soon Steve!

Steve in the wars again having just recovered from 2 broken collarbones in the last year

Here's a great vid of the evening's racing... my silly second off is in there...