DIRT QUAKE: WORK WITH WHAT YA GOT!

The fast approaching DIRT QUAKE race event is Joe Public's one-time opportunity to come racing....no strings attached. It will be a one night stand of exhilaration, fear and a true sense of accomplishment.

Whatever bike you can lay your hands on, we got a suitable class for you to race it in. Novice, street-tracker/street-scrambler, inappropriate road bike and chopper classes.

Here's what was lurking in my shed. Given to me over 15years ago... a crusty, unloved Suzuki GS750 hardtail chopper. I say 'hardtail' but what I really mean is 2 iron bars bolted into where the rear shocks should be.

My mates, PITSTOP PAUL and his lad PITSTOP KEV dropped by today to make initial steps to get her running for the big day. When I aquired the bike in the last century, it was running. However, it seems to be missing a rectifier and the wiring loom looks like it was put together over the phone by Peters and Lee. The overall standard of engineering is so poor and ham-fisted....it's almost perverse.

I'm not gonna race this bike personally. I'm already racing my Rotax in both the club meeting 11am-4pm and then in the GNC at 7pm which is more than enough considering I'm suffering with a hernia. The deal is if they can get it running then Pitstop Paul can race it in the Chopper class.....I'm positive I'll get far more pleasure watching a newbie at the helm representing SKOOTER FARM/SIDEBURN than riding it myself. If Paul decides not to race.....I already got a subsitute. A guy who's last legitimate occupation was being fired out of a cannon in a stunt show!

The Pitstoppers left undaunted with a small shopping list: coils, plugs, plug caps, air filters and a rectifier.
Work continues next week.

I hope this post inspires folks who toy with the romantic notion of being a motorcycle racer to stop fantasizing and make it a reality...even if it's just for one evening.

Remember....Ride it like you borrowed it!

THE MAKING OF 'DIRT QUAKE' TEASER TRAILER

 Great day recently, filming the teaser trailer for Sideburn Magazine's next event DIRT QUAKE.
Weather was amazing, Hayley Saull and Dan Walsh from Patteran Productions did a super job as did my co-star Wilky # 99!
Extra big thanks to Kaitlyn, our glamourous starter girl who patiently hung around all day waiting for her call...and also Jonathon Saull for taking the photos.

Bikes featured in the shoot were my '82 Suzuki GS 850 shaft drive and Wilkys newly imported '38 Harley Flathead. The bikes were required to be street legal for the road sequences and it was a bit of a challenge to achieve that. Wilkys bike wasn't even registered in the UK and mine had been stood in a damp shed for over six years. Favours were called,  queue-jumping MOT's sorted by Gary at NORTHWEST CUSTOMS, emergency carb stripdown, new battery and filters by Paul and Tony respectively at PITSTOP MOTORCYCLES.
Wilky jumped through hoops to re-register his sickle on a UK plate....just in the nick of time.
The choppers rode surprisingly good out on the track....considering the hardtail frame, high bars and forward foot positioning. the Flathead developed a fault half way through the day....but Wilky somehow managed to keep her running and got the job done....a real trooper!

Keep an eye out for a cameo appearance by SKOOTER FARM team manager Joe Crawford!

Watch the trailer

DIRT QUAKE PREVIEW from SIDEBURN on Vimeo.


More event details http://sideburnmag.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/dirt-quake.html

HEAVY SESSION

Invitation only....get in touch if you intend coming along

THE RED MAX GOES DOWN.......

Get well soon to RED MAX Steve Von Hillary who went down hard yesterday at the Amman Valley flat track race. Steve has suffered a broken collarbone that looks like it will have to be pinned. This puts him out of action for a couple of months, missing next weeks mile race in Chech Republic and the next round of the UK championship in Stoke on July 10th.

Steve was the only English guy to ride in the ALL AMERICAN TWINS race on the Saturday night in the horrible, wet conditions and put on a great show!!

All the Skooter Farmers rode well especially Wilky #99 who won the Short track 'D' final. this meant he  transferred through to the 'C' final, so, including the Thunderbike final.....he went out in 3 consecutive races without a break!!

Jason #75 has also come on leaps and bounds.....riding better than ever. Capt. Highside was on the podium again with a 3rd place in the Thunderbikes 'A' final.

Wild in the streets......Punjab style!

Just saw this over at the MOTORCYCHO blogsite...I bet that guy spends more money on shoes than he does on his bike!

I recommend you look at this site  motorcycho.blogspot

"Once you go black......you ain't never goin' back!"

Captain Highside doesn't do things by halves. Still a bachelor, he attended Ged and Sue's wedding dressed as a black man. Now we aren't talking about just the reception...he showed up at the registrars office in full pimp garb. To tell the truth, it wasn't a standard wedding. Local boxing/ex BMX racer legend Phil 'Pitbull' Henigan was dressed as Fred Flintstone......and the wedding car was a JCB.

Good friend Bean turned up with his hair dyed peroxide blond just like me at the time and also dressed very similar.

The reception was held in the local curryhouse and as the night progressed things got messier and messier. The entertainment got going and John was up singing and dancing. People really thought that John was a coloured gentleman.....and the women were swooning around him, wanting to get into his tight, silver pants... check out the lustful look on the young lady in the last picture. By the way, that's Pitbull bopping away in his Fred Flintstone shoes with the Captain in the same shot.

After the curryhouse, the party moved to local nightclub 'Applejacks'.

It was a Saturday night and there was a huge queue outside. Fred Flintstone and Bean walked straight to the front, told the bouncers who we were, and bish-bosh, we were escorted in, much to the dismay of the clubbers patiently lining up.

We didn't stay very long, John was now really drunk but stayed fully in character. He spent much of his time in the ladies toilets with Louise, touching up his make up. Fred Flintstone and Bean were on the dancefloor and not before long, a fight broke out. Fred/Pitbull is somewhat renowned in the Chorley/Preston area as a tough guy.... he instantly layed out four lads. The bouncers were soon on the scene and unknown to us, Pitbull and Bean were gently ushered into the managers office. At the same time the four battered and dazed young lads were very roughly manhandled out of the nearest fire exit (and probably given another good kicking)

Sensing it was time to leave, we couldn't find John anywhere......trouble was brewing, the battered lads mates, who were still in the club, were on the warpath.........looking for Fred Flintstone and his peroxide blond sidekick.....who just happened to look exactly like me!

 After a few tense minutes we found John and high-tailed it out of there. The next morning we got the full story. The police were called in and Pitbull and Bean 'explained' that they were minding their own business when they got 'picked on'...the police promptly arrested the young lads and then gave Pitbull and Bean a ride home to their respective doorsteps. cheaper than a taxi! Below is a shot of me and Bean earlier in the night.

LIVERPOOL DEATHMATCH

Great clip of the last ever "NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD"  Halloween skateboard all-nighter.
If you don't know about this event, It was the brainchild of Foxy (vocalist for S.S.S.) and was held at a skatepark I built, RAMPWORX in Liverpool. It had a bunch of bands play in the early part of the evening and then at the stroke of midnight, a 10 minute bare-knuckle brawl/ skate session took place. The baying crowd were actively encouraged to throw stuff into the bowl during the Deathmatch. Over the years I saw beercans, pumpkins, fireworks, male and female streakers and a lambs heart.
Foxy is the "Don King" of promotion in UK skate circles and NOTLD was extremely well attended.... maybe 1000 or so people at the last one and things really did get out of hand but it was a real lot of fun.
 Foxy even managed to get Tony Trujillo, John Cardiel and the rest of the ANTI-HERO team to attend one of them...so that was an eye opener for all involved parties!!

"Don't tell me what to do.....N####R!" YoYo's bowl 2003

Finally figured out how to convert analog video tapes to M-pegs, so I can now host stuff on Youtube and then post it here.
Here is a short clip of Duane Peters skating my backyard pool back in 2003.We booked a Manchester show for The Hunns with my band The Stags and we put the band up. As soon as Duane saw the pool he wanted to skate but the weather was crappy. The morning after the show,it was still very cold and overcast but it had stopped raining and we got to skate for about 30 mins or so. Duane did all his trademark moves: Sweepers, Layback Roll-outs, Invert-Reverts, Acid-Drops and Tail-Tap stalls. That's me in the red hoodie putting in the odd run....we coulda done with another couple of skaters sessioning but sometimes ya gotta just take what ya can get!
The pool, named after our cat, YoYo, was home-built in summer 2002 and took just over 14 days to construct.I know its 8 years after the fact but I would like to publicly thank the following people for all their help with the build: Di and Joe Crawford, John Lee, Pike, Tim Stamp, Whitey, my Dad, Adam Wilson, Doug the Hole and Louise Crawford.
At the start of the clip I shouted out "Do a Layback Roll-out!" you can just about hear Duane reply "Don't tell me what to do...nigger!!"

Point of no return....

Full Frokkul Wheelie.....just about to loop out and land flat on my back. Summercamp, Les Deux Alpes 1998.

Don't try this at home...

 A few years ago, there was an eclipse of the sun. It happened mid-summer at around midday, when the sun was at its fiercest .

The eclipse attracted a lot of media attention and people were advised, in no uncertain terms, NOT to look directly at it. Not wanting to miss out, I came up with the bright (no pun intended) idea of donning 4 pairs of sunglasses in order to witness this once in a lifetime event in all its heavenly glory. For the purpose of the story I would like to be able to tell you that this reckless act caused me to sizzle my retinas but no..... it worked a treat.

Downhill gravity bikes

This was a Summer trip to Les Deux Alpes in about 1998. We Just completed building our second major skatepark, 'Rampworx' in Liverpool. We had a heavy deadline we had to meet and to celebrate, me, Louise and Tim Stamp a good friend who worked alongside me on all the parks I built, jumped in the car and took off.

A great trip all round: snowboarding up on the glacier, skateboarding on the mini ramp, riding trials bikes up the mountains, para-penting down the valley and the Tour de France mountain stage coming to town during our stay.

The highlight of the trip turned out to be hiring these weird downhill bikes.

They had no pedals, crazy 20" wheels with ultra-fat 8"wide soft tyres, a beefy aluminium frame, and disc brakes.

The deal was to take 'em up in the cable car to the start of the snowline, and ride the bikes down.

At a rough guess I would say it was a 7-8 mile ride down. We togged up in all our skateboard pads and helmets and spent all afternoon, in the blazing 75 degree heat, blasting down the dusty mountain fire roads. It was definitely a case of "Go as fast as you want" and at some points, we were really hauling at 50 plus MPH with some very hairy corners and big drops if you were to get a wobble on and go over the edge.

Louise also came along on a 26" beach cruiser and on a more sedate journey down, she took these pictures.

BACK-FLIPS? ...WE CAN ALL DO 'EM part two....The 'Half-Nelson'

In reference to the recent "Back-Flips" post, Captain Highside has pulled this one out of the vaults.This is our mate Doug Nelson, doing the trick that he invented.... the 'Half-Nelson'.

As I said in the last post on this subject, Doug only ever did this move once.....and this is the moment.

Full Frokkul Fiasco on Sideblog...

I am sure that anyone reading this blog is aware of Sideblog. If not, you need to go there now.


http://sideburnmag.blogspot.com/2010/02/peek-inside-skooter-farm-daves-shed.
 
Maintained by Sideburn Magazine big hitters and fellow Skooter Farm teamsters Gary Inman and Ben Part  they just gave FULL FROKKUL FIASCO a shout out!!
 

OOOPs!...FULL FROKKUL FIASCO.....with a chainsaw!

We've been outside today preparing and clearing the spot for the new workshop.

This involves chopping down 2 obstructive trees.

all was going well until Trevor, my Dad, whilst stood on the top rung of his tall step ladder took a dive.

When he cut through the trunk, the upper part of the tree came crashing down...crushing the ladders and sending my dad down to the floor with a running chainsaw in hand. Luckily, he wasn't hurt and instantly we saw the funny side!!