DIRT QUAKE

Great day out at the DIRT QUAKE event I helped organise for Sideburn Mag last weekend. An unlikely mix of activities and hard to put a finger on why it was so good...Sort of a cross between a motorcycle race and a 70's Saturday morning kids TV show.
I was ultra busy on the day and didn't take a single picture. All these images are taken from various folks on the web, facebook etc.....hope they don't mind.
I'm indebted to the folks behind the scenes that helped to make this happen and to the racers for signing up for something that was an unknown quantity. It was a ton of hard work but I hope we can find a way to do this again, bigger and even better next year.

Verona Bike Expo 2012... part one

Just back from an enjoyable and fruitful few days representing Sideburn Magazine at BIKE EXPO 2012 in Verona, Italy.
A relentless schedule of early starts and late nights took its toll on all involved, not helped by a pre-show boozy do on the night we arrived. The shout was given, so it was over to BELLA NAPOLI for delicious pizza served by the metre! I was amongst great company: Benny Boneshaker, Zip, Guy and Pat from Greasy-Kulture, Matt from Dice Mag, Conrad Leach and of course Ben and Gary from Sideburn.
The meal was concluded with a Lemon-based strong spirit whose name escapes me.We then moved to the bar next door where Gary introduced everyone to the local tipple, a luminous orange spritzer-tipple called APEROL....it went downhill from there. A couple of hours later we bid goodnight and headed off in search of a taxi, which proved a tad tricky as the streets were deserted. We were dressed in our themed outfits for the weekend, tweed and deerstalkers and Gary was particularly worse for wear sporting his deerstalker in 'flaps down' mode. Eventually we spotted a taxi rank off in the distance with two availlable taxis. As we approached the taxi rank I quipped " Looking like this...I bet they drive off before they get there". Lo and behold, that's exactly what happened. That kinda set the tone for the weekend. Finally got back to the hotel to find we were sharing it with JESSE JAMES and ARLEN NESS amongst others.

FRIDAY NIGHT RACING AT OXFORD

A couple of shots from Oxford on Friday night...In my opinion, the most successful UK Flat Track race in its seven year history!
This was round one of the 2011 GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP, held at the defunct Cowley Stadium. There hasn't been a motorcycle race here for over 5 years and in order for it to happen, a lot of hard work had to be done. The CO-BUILT guys spent a couple of weeks prior to the race, grading and watering the unloved track. On the day of the race, a bunch of us sheeted the entire greyhound track around the outside with tarpaulins and then secured them with literally hundreds of old speedway tyres!! We had to ensure that no shale whatsoever got roosted onto the dog track. CO-BUILT organised bringing in the plant hire needed to do final grooming and watering in between heats. There was a few uninterested parties who didn't want this to happen....namely the dog track guys and the owners of the tarmac go-kart track in the infield.
All the collected hard work paid off, it was a warm summer night with a record attendance of spectators. The grandstands were full as well as the indoor glass-fronted viewing balconies.
The track was a loose cushioned track that didn't groove up and suited my riding style. It was rather bumpy but that somehow added to its charm. It felt magical to ride under the bright floodlights.
The racing was very close and fast-paced with suprisingly very few stoppages, only one serious accident requiring the ambulance to take Geoff Baldock to hospital with a shoulder injury.
Special Guest, DAVE ALDANA put on a great show, riding like someone half his age......but crashing 3 times consecutively in the semi and the following restarts.....rendering his borrowed bike unridable. I asked him if he wanted to borrow a bike, he answered "who's gonna want to lend ME  a bike after that!" ...I guess he had a point.
SKOOTER FARM had a great nights racing. Personally, I rode my best ever......leading my first two heats for the majority of the race but making a couple of mistakes and settling for two 2nd place finishes. This was good enough to put me 6th on the grid in the final. I rode hard and really on the limit and finished 10th overall.
Pete Wilky #99 also rode great on his Harley XR750, finishing in a respectable 7th overall.
Gary Inman #13 rode tough all night but failed to make the THUNDERBIKE final. He did do well enough in the super competitive SHORT TRACK class to make the semis.which is no mean feat!!
The whole event was a media frenzy with 2 seperate film crews and a host of Hi-Viz wearing photographers.
During the interval, the pits were opened to the public and literally hundreds of curious race fans came over to see the bikes and racers up close.....at one point 4 rows deep in front of the SKOOTER FARM/SIDEBURN race tent...it felt good to be the focus of all that attention!
It was no accident all these folks showed up. Again, CO-BUILT did an amazing job of promoting the race and can give themselves a huge pat on the back. Perhaps Friday night races at Grand National level is the way forward for getting spectators into the grandstands?
The UK racing scene has really stuggled to pull any sort of crowd since its launch in 2004.....I really hope that this Oxford race is a turning point in crowd attendance!

Its Dave Aldana time!!

Dave Aldana is here this week....gonna be good!

  Talky night Thursday 5th May then racy night Friday 6th May

details here

update: whilst googling Aldana images....this came up.... Rachel Aldana!!

Daves nickname was RUBBER BALL.....I wonder what Rachels nickname is?

Keep turning left

I'm jazzed to stumble upon this rad racing shot of myself (number 31) over at keep-turning-left.blogspot had a really great day racing, finishing in a strong second in this last Thunderbike heat. It was disappointing the finals were abandoned due to many stoppages and the meeting over-running......I'm sure I could have got a favourable result had the final taken place.

Rammy the Rookie

Via the magic of Facebook, I've recently been back in touch with some old BMX buddies. I invited  Jason Ramsden and Tony Law over to the SKOOTER FARM practice track a coupla days ago.

Jason was an old ROBINSON team-mate back in 1981...and I ain't seen him since about 1982.

Both guys had a good day but Tony was struggling in pain due to 20 plus years of Freestyle MX abuse to his body.
However, Jason got into it really quickly, within minutes he was comfortably sliding the bike through the corners.
Jason was always a natural on a bike, tons of style and a total command of "Body English". He came away smiling and really stoked and can't wait to ride again next week.

 I know I said the SKOOTER FARM  team was fully subscribed but taking into account CAPTAIN HIGHSIDE is pretty much out for the season... I think there may be room for one more rookie on the team. I reckon a couple more sessions on the little track, maybe a practice session on a big track and then maybe Rammy could try a race or two......I hope so!

VERONA EXPO part five.......SIDEBURN SUPPORTERS

Unfortunately my camera battery ran out so I didn't get as many portraits as I would have liked. Anyway, from the top we got Renzo Ruffo and his lovely wife. He's the son of Italian 50's/60's road racer Bruno Ruffo. Don't know what attracted him to Sideburn but he kept coming back to see us!

Next shot is Jacopo Monti, hot Italian dirt track racer who competes in the UK championship.

The guy in red is Sven from SCRAPERS car club he does a nice mag called MOTORIZED.

Next up is the guy behind SINNER SUPPLY.....sorry but his name escapes me.

The last shot is of the singer of an AC/DC clone band hired to play throughout the day.......not supporters....more like competitors...we got into a soundclash with them with Mr. Martini's 300w amp!