Alex's 'Orrible Oulton

In life we all have things that we find frustrating, I think I have finally reached that point with motorcycles. I am not sure what it is but something, somebody, somewhere is not too keen on me doing much racing this year. With the issues that have already arose this year you would think a little good fortune would not be too much to ask, but alas it was not to be.

Birdy had rebuilt the Kwacker ready for the Oulton Park Round and although we were not too confident in the forks we had borrowed I was sure I could adjust them to somewhere near what I needed. The first practice session on the Friday started well and the bike was feeling ok apart from the forks being too stiff and not having enough rebound damping on them. This session was red flagged after 3 or 4 laps due to a crash out on the circuit.

Out on circuit for the 2nd practice session and I was circulating with Mike Edwards as we started to push the pace a bit and the lap times started to tumble. Unfortunately or fortunately the session was also red flagged due to yet another crash, I pulled into the pit lane and set about adjusting the forks again when I noticed water being sprayed on to my glove. The radiator had been rubbing against the front tyre and had worn through. End of session.

A quick phone call to Birdy and he had another radiator that he could leave at Ian ‘now not so’ Popularwell’s house for his Mrs to bring on the evening. Disappointing to miss the rest of the practice day but at least I knew we would have the bike ready for race day. There was obviously an error in communication as the radiator had been left on their kitchen table, about 150 miles from where it needed to be. At least the table wouldn’t overheat! With this disastrous news I attempted to repair the radiator but alas this was all in vain as we could not get the thing to seal.

Race day came and after a long bout of sulking came round to do Leigh’s pit board for him. What made things even worse was that Rob Elsmere who was leading the championship had two DNF’s so this could have been our chance to close right back up on him.

So there you go, circa £270 for the practice and race entry fee to do a total of 8 laps. £33.75 per lap. Not too good eh ?

I’ll let Leigh tell you his Oulton Park story shortly.

Leigh's Pembrey Pumelling

You can see Leigh's tumble from Pembrey on this video. At least between us we keep doing it in front of the cameras for your viewing pleasure !

Leigh's Gone Potty

Well as you know Leigh had a 'little' off in the first race on Sunday at Pembrey and being the concerning person that I am promptly sent him out in the second race despite him complaining of a bit of pain. I quickly dismissed this as just a bit of bruising and advised him to 'just get on with it'. I think you will now agree that I don't have a future in front of me as a doctor, as Leigh decided a visit to the hospital was necessary on Tuesday as he was still in some pain, this showed he had broken his thumb and fractured his ankle. Oops. I still think my diagnosis was correct but I may be should had added 'severe bruising'. Hopefully he will be fit for Oulton Park at the beginning of June.

Its All Gone Pete Tong

Alex here, as you will all know I was due to ride the Tigcraft KTM (pictured left) this weekend at Cadwell Park in the first round of the British Supermono Championship. Unfortunately this is now not going to happened as I have been informed at the 11th hour that the budget is not there to run the bike. As you will appreciate I am extremely disappointed as I had centered my whole season around this championship. I had previously decided to miss the North West 200 due to a clash of dates with Cadwell and missed the Pembrey round of the Junior Powerbike Championship to allow my own funds to stretch to the supermono rounds. Now this has happened it has managed to not only cock up the Supermono championship but also the Junior Powerbikes as I was leading the championship prior to missing Pembrey and also the chance of a good result at the NW200. I guess that's life sometimes but I am not a happy camper at the moment. The next time I will be out on a bike will be at Oulton Park on the 6th & 7th June back on Birdy's MotoSP Kawasaki.

Into The Valleys Of Wales Rode The 650

Well, ok, Pembrey actually, and "death" sounded a bit grim. It's not easy being this amusing!

Anyway, first time at Pembrey and a bloody long drive it is too. Took about 6 hours to get there without a pit stop ( yes, I said pit! ) but the weather was ok and I was actually looking forward to it, having never been before.

Practice day came and I was out on track for the first time. Ian "Popularwell" Popplewell, a man with GENERATIONS of experience had obviously raced there before, so Clive White ( Rapier Paintwork ) and myself thought it a good idea to follow him around........ right across the motocross track!! Completely missing a fast left hand turn and managing to get another 3/4 riders to follow us! This caused Alex much entertainment for a number of hours. Still, I eventually managed to learn the track in time for race day.

Saturday's first race was a good one, after getting boxed in at the hairpin off the start, I managed to catch up to 3rd and 4th place. Now was my chance, my intentions was to outbrake them back at the hairpin and dive underneath. All was going to plan until I hit a false neutral coming out of the hairpin and lost all the ground I had made up. Bummer!! Still managed to grab 4th though.

The second race wasn't my best performance and I really struggled to get by slower riders only managing 5th. This poor performance was confirmed by Alex's hand gestures from the pitwall, suggesting something like "Tanker!".

Sunday came and I was ready for a better result. First 3 laps and I was riding the best I had all weekend! Then on the 4th lap, I lost the front end cranked over in a fast left hander ( no sniggers at the wording please, it's race jargon not rude ). I left the bike and seemed to barrel roll on my own for an eternity. After eventually stopping, it took me a couple of seconds to get to my feet with pain flooding in from various parts of the body.

After seeing the doctor on track, I limped back to the paddock where Alex said he could repair the bike for the next race if I was up to it. Luckily, Gary Smith ( one of the Smith Sisters )had come to watch and was on hand to give Alex some much needed help in repairing the bike without a moment's hesitation. Cheers Gary, you're a star!

I could feel my left ankle getting bigger by the second in my boot and my right thumb wasn't going to come out of my glove in a hurry, so I left my leathers on and went out for another go.

I managed to limp home in 6th but it wasn't one of my better ideas, I was in bloody agony! Dripping in sweat and a little light headed either from the pain or the painkillers I had managed to hold onto the championship lead.

Once again, thanks to Gary for the help, it was much appreciated.

On The Up

Here are a couple of top pictures taken by PLJ Photos at Cadwell Park cresting the 'Mountain'.

Cadwell Crash

This is the moment when I lost the front at the Gooseneck at Cadwell Park and Birdy's poor bike got a cosmetic redesign. Sorry.

On another note Leigh is now ready for Pembrey next weekend, I am giving it a miss due to me racing the Tigcraft KTM at Cadwell the following weekend and funds are too scarce to allow us to do all the meetings we would like.