This is a blog maintained by David Arnold (a.k.a. Mr. Murdo and Dave Skooter-Farm)
I have set this blog up as an online shoebox. It's somewhere I can put junk of interest to me, write down my thoughts, post old photos and maybe share my ideas and let people know what gets my motor running. Also a site which tracks the activities of SKOOTER FARM DIRT TRACK RACING.
Round 3 of the UK flat track GNC took place at Oxford on Friday night. It was a very eventful race. It was raining everywhere else but we had dust and sunshine. Wilky #99 went down in the first turn of the first heat and hurt his wrist. Drogo #27 also had a big crash early on but managed to walk away relatively unscathed. I had fuel problems in my first heat (just happened to be my front row start) and after a strong start limped home in next to last place...not that I'm complaining in view of what was to come in the short track final....a horrible 6 bike accident on the back straight resulting in young Tim Neave #14 getting badly hurt. The fence was destroyed and bikes and bodies were everywhere. the final was cancelled as there was no chance of a restart. It was very sobering to witness and really drives home how much risk is involved with such high speed, close racing.
Anyway despite the crashes and mechanical problems, both me and Wilky scraped into the THUNDERBIKES final....personally I was just happy to not be hurt seeing I was due to have hernia surgery on Monday morning!
Thanks to Matt Davis and Anthony Brown for the pics........
Friday, 20 April 2012
Round Two of the UK Flat Track championship tomorrow with a heavy threat of rain.
Here are some shots from Stoke speedway in 2006. After the race, we actually got showered with our helmets, boots and leathers on....I thought it was a great idea until we totally blocked the toilet blocks drains...Sorry about that!
Anyways, flat tracking is definitely not a wet weather sport!
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.
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!
I know we are already a couple of months into 2012 but here are some of my favourite shots of myself competing in the 2011 race season. Obviously, my choice of pictures shows me in the best light possible but on the other hand, like they say....the camera never lies!
Looking forward to the start of the new season on April 1st (no joke)... as the competition continues to get stronger I've no idea how I'll do this coming season but I feel I've finally recovered from my various injuries I picked up late last year and feel it's gonna be a good year for dirt track in the UK!
He flew out to Copenhagen, Denmark with 12 other top English BMX racers.
They have privately rented the UCI SUPERCROSS track for the weekend. The track is ultra-gnarly......it's BMX on steroids.....super-hero stuff.....the stuff you see in an X-BOX game.
Unfortunately, Jake went down hard on his first attempt to take the fearsome first jump... a 40-footer. According to his Step-Dad, Roy... he did a massive, terminal endo..... landing on his head and breaking his collarbone.
the phone footage is shaky and doesn't show the impact....but it still sickens me to watch.
Over the last 8 years, we have watched Jake grow from a little kid "having a ride round" to becoming one of the most promising racers in the country. He will turn 16 in April, he's the 4 times defending British and National number 1 and is one of only a handful of racers on the BRITISH CYCLING TALENT TEAM.....grooming him to represent his country at the 2016 Olympics (he's just a few months too young for 2012 London)
I'm watching his progress "live" on Facebook....it's a bad break and he's been moved to another hospital to see a surgeon.
Jake is my hero...his first time on one of these "X-Games super tracks", only been there less than one hour, he has the balls to take a jump like that, fully commited, not knowing whether he will make it or not.
Unfortunately, today, it didn't go quite as planned, but knowing Jake like I do, if he had not broken his bones ..I'm 100% certain he would have dusted himself down and tried it again and again ..until he made it.
These modern, made-for-TV tracks make the tracks I raced on back in 1980-81 seem like pre-school.....I wouldn't even ride down that start ramp!!
I'm so proud of his achievements and if he wasn't so damn good at BMX I would have had him on SKOOTER FARM in the junior class in a heartbeat....I know he is in good hands but I am thinking about him....
BTW, Jakes bike sponsor is REDLINE ENGINEERING for those that know their flat track motorcycle history..a company formed by Linn Kastan....originally producing thoroughbred cro-moly race frames before sidestepping into BMX racing in the late 70's!
UPDATE
Jacob is now recovering from his surgery which involved a steel plate and pins. It's a complicated break, he splintered the collar bone into 4 pieces and has been told he can't even begin to do any physio for another 6 weeks. This means he will miss the first few rounds of the British BMX championship...which he's gutted about.
First few pics from this weekends UGLY BUGS BALL with The Stags here in Wigan! A great party for sure....some good bits were an eight-armed drum solo from Arachnid Kenny Roquette, a bug related burlesque routine, a human fly buzzing around a giant turd stuck to a blanket and full-on honking saxaphone by our special guest Mike the Fireman. The party was totally sold out and people showed up in some great costumes. Next up is a Halloween party with The Stags Friday 29th Oct. at THE ROARING PSYCHEDELIC OCTOPUS in Wigan. It's an official OCTOPUS/SIDEBURN/DAVIDA HELMETS bash with amongst other things, special guest DJ Sideburn head honcho, Gary Inman......absolutely not to be missed!
Thanks to GoGo Lou and Wilky #99 for these pics.
