Weedon Report 070506

Well it certainly made a nice change to be local for once! No need to crawl out of bed at some ungodly hour this week! Actually, being local also gave me the opportunity to help set up on the Saturday. There was a great turnout on the day, nearly thirty people I think, despite a crappy local weather forecast for the weekend. I figured we’d be ok until about 2.00 but we’d got the whole thing sorted by around midday. Well done everyone, a great effort! If only all the events could be this well supported eh?

Apparently Ray had been to the venue the previous weekend to recce the place and start with the course layout. We had an easy grass path to follow where Ray had been whizzing around on the TBEC quad. In fact Ray spent so much time on the new Quad that it now sports a special anti-theft device! The seat has formed to Ray’s A**e so much that it’s too bloody uncomfortable for anyone else to ride now!

I think Ray was secretly pleased to give me a lift on it at one point, I think it’s the only time in his life he has ever pulled a proper wheelie!! There were some other close encounters too! Two of them with our Chairman Mr Roberts. He was following Ray around when Ray suddenly pulled up leaving Dave about half an inch to spare before planting into the back of him. Maybe this incident was praying on Dave’s mind the following morning, because apparently Dave was building towards, how shall be say…his “Morning constitution!” when he realised that he had left his ..erm,,”Final sprint to the line”, (the portaloos!!) a little late. Realising that there was no way that the distance could be covered in the available time, Dave grabbed the quad, and without worrying too much about letting it warm up first, screeched up to the loos with only milliseconds to spare. A close one indeed Mr Chairman!
Race day wasn’t altogether incident free for the Roberts family either.

As most of you will have seen, Dean landed awkwardly from a jump and had to be taken to hospital. .
You can see from the photo that he was well enough to indicate to Dave the number of competitive laps that he managed during the race!! I’d just like to reassure readers that, despite the photo, Dean didn’t contract an awful wasting disease during his brief stay in hospital, His body has always been that shape!!!!! (You will also note Dean’s unusual choice of summer evening wear. It certainly surprised the hospital staff when they removed his riding gear and found the dress underneath!!!!).I gather that he is on the mend though, and Dave has asked me to thank Ray and Sam Carver for helping to get his motors back from the event while he was at the hospital.

A fine tradition was nearly bought to an end at Weedon, as it looked like a TBEC event was actually going to start on time for once!! Fortunately, with only five minutes until the off, someone noticed that the timing pods hadn’t been put out and connected. This was remedied quickly though, taking just enough time to ensure that TBEC time has no relevance to actual time at any point! (Are we on TBEC summer time now??)

Andrew Rowell (387) took all the teeth off his front sprocket on the first lap - bad luck or what?

Gray Yardley (621) was enjoying his first enduro until his chain snapped 4 laps into the first session. As I had assured him that any eventuality could be catered for within my tool box, Gray headed off to scrounge a split link, only to discover that I had already used the clip to replace one that I had flushed down the drain previously!! Sorry Gray!

Alan Liddington stayed true to form and never showed up again. It was probably fair to say that Brother Chris (384) was a little cross, having run around all over Warwickshire collecting bikes and stuff for race day. Chris consoled himself by offering the chain from Alan’s bike to Gray so he could carry on, Gray managed to squeeze in another lap in the morning session and adding another 8 in the afternoon, so everyone was happy. Great effort and well done mate.

Here’s a photo of Alan on his bike before his operation.

Someone else searching for spares was Nigel Herring (24). Apparently Nigel was keen to find a hands free kit for his mobile that will fit on his bike, something to do with not being able to tear himself away from his young lady in Hull for very long??? He was also off the pace a little as his socks with “Gear” and “Brake” on them had got mixed up in the wash, creating all sorts of problems as he hooked his toe under the brake lever trying to engage 2nd! But at least he had the sense to have his Helmet labelled so there's no mistakes

Ben Ilott (51) was seen repairing a rear wheel puncture before rejoining the fray in the afternoon session. The flat cost him over a lap in time, but he still recovered to post an excellent result of 20 laps. Well done Ben.
Welcome back to Anton Ridden, riding for the first time since his Rendlesham crash. Not quite back up to speed but not long before he is I’m sure.

Mathew Rowland (61) was also flying, although it looked like he’d had a couple of heavy landings as it looked like his rear wheel was damaged during the final laps. Didn’t stop him setting his fastest time on his last lap though!

The officials are looking at tag number 380 as for the last couple of years it only did one lap per meeting but now appears to be on the pace (now let me think, who had it last?)

There was a distinct air of friendliness and courtesy shown throughout the race I thought. A breath of fresh air. Mind you I did let out a little yelp as I nearly landed on another rider on the MX track. I’ve no idea why he turned sharp right as he landed but It was all I could do to miss him..Sorry an all that!! Good job I did as it may have been a problem ringing the paramedics. They managed to lose their mobile phone but fortunately it was handed in an hour later much to their relief. Also lost near the ambulances were a pair of Smith goggles. Unfortunately these haven’t been handed in yet but if you can help with their whereabouts please mail ray@tbec.co.uk

I understand there was a little help needed for rider 410 (Sharon Bell) - her chain decided to jump off on the motocross track - luckily there were a couple of willing marshals and few minutes later back on track for a few more laps ( a little bird tells me Sharon gets yet another medal).

So all in all a fun event then. Personally I thought the track was excellent fun, nice and fast! The predicted deluge didn’t arrive and the sun shone after we had cleared up, so we sat down and had a coffee!
The only bad news for the first time riders is that it REALLY doesn’t get any easier than this, But I hope you all had a great event to get you going.

Just a gentle reminder, the BLUE TAPE area means walking pace only. One or two seem to have forgotten temporarily!!

Get your entries in for whaddon for the 12 hour,and despite being a non-championship round, promises to be great fun. With scrutineering on the Saturday, there should be a pretty full paddock with a few beers flowing, don’t miss it!

See you all at Whaddon then?

Dan #15