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Throwback Thursday: Rox

Dec 17, 2020

Throwback Thursday: Rox

I found these photos on my laptop, but I can't remember when they're from. If I had to guess, I'd say 2014. I'm pretty sure they're all taken at King's Lynn. I do know they're all by Ian Roxburgh, who used to shoot the races for the DTRA. He had/has a great eye. We have some super snappers covering the races now (Jon Braking Point and Paul France) but I still miss Rox. Above is Co-Built Geoff Cain on one of the Rotax framers he made the chassis for. A young Ollie Brindley. No

DTRA 2020 Update

Mar 30, 2020

DTRA 2020 Update

Like every race series in the world, the DTRA is being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. There will definitely not be any races before June and the DTRA will watch the developments before making further decisions to see if a June race is possible.. The DTRA's head honcho, Anthony Brown, has made it clear that he doesn't want to run races at a time where on track injuries could put further strain on the NHS. Good News 1: The new number plate, available exclusively to club mem

Lockdown Colouring-in 1:
Oliver Brindley

Mar 23, 2020

Lockdown Colouring-in 1: Oliver Brindley

Last December we made a colouring-in book supplement that was free with Sideburn 39, full of images drawn by Japanese firefighter, part-time bike shop mechanic and artist, Takashi Urashima. Over the weekend a message referring to the drawings came in from Vir, co-owner of Sideburn's Nepal and Himalayan tour partner - Helmet Stories. Vir has a young daughter and, like the citizens of many countries at the moment, is under some kind of Coronavirus lockdown. His suggestion was t

Fast and Left Premiere: Tomorrow

Dec 12, 2019

Fast and Left Premiere: Tomorrow

The UK premiere of the new flat track film, Fast and Left, takes place in Leeds tomorrow. Our mates are organising and raising money for injured racer Oliver Brindley. We're going to be there slinging swag and giving a percentage of our profits to the cause too. Then there's a change of pace when UK hardcore band, Terror Claws do a short set. Why's that noteworthy? Because Dave Skooter Farm and Ryan Battle, both DTRA racers, are in the band. ORDER TICKETS #FastandLeftfilm #Yo

Fast and Left: UK Premiere

Dec 4, 2019

Fast and Left: UK Premiere

DTRA racer Ross 'the King' Herrod has organised the UK premiere of much talked about flat track film, Fast and Left. It will take place in Leeds city centre on Friday 13 December and is a benefit for Oliver Brindley, the British racer who is on a long road to recovery after suffering a life-changing injury in the final round of the 2019 AFT Singles season. I've had a sneak viewing of the film and it immediately made me want to load my bike in the van and find a race. Sideburn

Epic580 - Charity Ride

Nov 11, 2019

Epic580 - Charity Ride

2019 AFT Production Twins racer Cory Texter organised a 580-mile bicycle ride through the length of Florida to raise money for AFT Pro riders who were very seriously hurt in the back half of the 2019 season. The amount, and severity, of these recent injuries has really shocked the sport and Cory wanted to do something about it, as did his fellow racers: Brandon Robinson, Jarod Vanderkooi, James Rispoli, Chad Cose and Noah Chambers. The ride was completed yesterday. They're fi

Oliver Brindley Recovery Fund

Oct 2, 2019

Oliver Brindley Recovery Fund

Rookies of 79 is a charity set up to help injured pro flat track racers. They have funds running for a number of riders hurt this season, including Oliver Brindley. Here's the link - Rookies of 79. Here's what they say... American Flat Track singles rider Oliver Brindley was seriously injured while racing at the Meadowlands Mile on September 28th. We are asking our flat track family to please make a donation to help him and his family. They are all here from England and will

Melancholy and Infinite Sadness

Sep 30, 2019

Melancholy and Infinite Sadness

As a fan, and low-level amateur racer, the inherent danger of motorcycles, bike sport and flat track in particular has been like a constant dull ache for the past few months. Since the mid-point of the season it seems like every other AFT race has left a rider with a serious, sometimes life-changing injury. Jeremy Higgins, in the Production Twins at Springfield; JR Addison in the Production Twins at Minnesota; James Monaco in the Expert Twins at Minnesota and that's not to me

Greenfield Half-Mile Update

Sep 17, 2019

Greenfield Half-Mile Update

So it’s been a week since we marked about a half mile track... A few of a DTRA crew were over, helping us get Greenfield Dirt Track ready for the final rounds of their UK and Euro Championships the following weekend. Anthony Brown, Scott Faulkner, Fergus Bluff, Max Inman, Gary Birtwistle and the usual Greenfield boys Matthew, Toby etc were all helping us get the timing loop working again, picking some stones from the track, painting the fence, strimming and cutting grass etc.

Greenfield Half-Mile

Sep 10, 2019

Greenfield Half-Mile

After land working all weekend in a 125-acre (50.5 hectare) field and watching Oliver Brindley finished in third place at the Williams Grove Half Mile, I couldn’t help but think about the possibility of marking out and grading up a Greenfield Half-Mile! After using Google maps and measuring three of the Half Miles in the 2019 AFT calendar, I discovered one would easily fit in the field that was still half stubble and being torn up as the research was taking place. After a qui

The Corner Siren’s Call: A Poem

Sep 6, 2019

The Corner Siren’s Call: A Poem

Time to tame her Sitting on the framer Counting down the time Waiting on the line Twitchy Spidey sense Body taught and tense Everything is slo mo Then GO, GO, GO, Fire up the bottle Haul back the throttle Out of the gate Looking down the straight Expunge all your fears Shift a couple of gears See the line in your head Through the needle we thread Tip over and hold her Feel it in the shoulder The corner siren calling Look on her: enthralling Her desire to sate Hot shoe takes t

Buffalo Chip TT Thoughts

Aug 6, 2019

Buffalo Chip TT Thoughts

This is getting daft. Sunday's race was delayed nearly two hours because of rain, so the first singles practice started at 11pm UK time. I saw the new schedule, watched singles Qualifying 1 (Q1), then set my alarm for 1am and slept for a bit. I woke, watched the singles heats, then set the alarm for 3am and watched the semis and mains. It all finished, for me, after 4.30. I set the alarm for 7 for work on Monday and tried to get some sleep. And I'm not even that fussed about

New York Short Track Thoughts

Jul 15, 2019

New York Short Track Thoughts

I'm not sure how long I can keep this up. I watched all the practice, qualifying, heats and semis, then fell asleep for an hour after setting my alarm for 2am. Ugh. There were no Production Twins at the NY ST, so the extra class was the Bultaco Invitational. It was won by Charlie Roberts, one of the main men behind the Rookies Class of 79 charity, that raises funds for injured flat trackers. The 40-odd year-old Bultacos were only about 1s a lap slower that the latest, tuned 4

Lima Half-Mile Thoughts

Jul 5, 2019

Lima Half-Mile Thoughts

This is a little bit later than usual for a couple of reasons, but I saw this race live in the flesh, having flown out to the Midwest and driven for hours on end to follow the fortunes of Red Torpedo-sponsored riders, Jared Mees and Shayna Texter. And it was a great experience. My full story will be in the next issue of Sideburn with photos by Ed Subias, but here are some thoughts. The race is promoted by Jared and Nichole Mees. That means they put up the money to bring the A

Red Mile Thoughts

Jun 4, 2019

Red Mile Thoughts

Here's the latest instalment of my morning after brain dump after watching (and listening to) the AFT 2019 races on Fanschoice. First thought was thank goodness the rain held off to actually get a Twins race finished. The Singles managed to have their Saturday Springfield TT, but the last two Twins mile races have been rained out, and this one was postponed from Saturday to Sunday. There must have been a lot of twitchy executives. The rescheduled race was at a very handy time

First Sacramento, now Springfield

May 27, 2019

First Sacramento, now Springfield

Last week the Sacramento Mile was postponed because of rain, this week the Springfield Mile has been postponed until August. Initially it was moved back to Monday, but the forescast caused AFT to postpone it till the last day of August. The two Springfield Miles, traditionally on Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends, are forming a double header on Labor Day, at the end of August, so there will be back-to-back Mile races on the same weekend. That means there are now SIX AFT Twi

My Favourite Things

May 15, 2019

My Favourite Things

MY FAVOURITE THINGS Framers on short tracks And Brindley on fire Smell of the hot dogs and fat, sticky tyres Scottie Toepfer and his photos of kings These are a few of my favourite things Black, yellow race shirt by Sideburn magazine Kolkman and Gauthier And B-Rob’s trophy queen A Honda RS that has worn piston rings These are a few of my favourite things Classic Trackmasters, thick oil in their frames Local track heroes beating the big names Ohlins and Race Tech and Penske re

Off The Groove Podcast: DTRA

May 13, 2019

Off The Groove Podcast: DTRA

I'm a big fan of podcasts, listening to at least one most days, so I honestly can't understand why I'm so late to the Off The Groove podcast party. It's hosted by the voice of AFT, fanschoice and track announcer Scottie Deubler and is purely focussed on flat track. I know, it could not be more perfect for me. I got on the Groove bus when Mr DTRA, Anthony Brown, announced he was going to be featured. In the same episode as Anthony are Oliver Brindley and Johnny Lewis, so there

Atlanta Short Track Thoughts

Mar 24, 2019

Atlanta Short Track Thoughts

As with the Daytona TT Thoughts, this is bullet point top of the head notions, hot reactions to AFT 2019 round 2 - Atlanta Short Track. SINGLES In one heat race there is a crash at the fastest point of the track, just before the braking point. The rider rolls down the track, gets up looking dazed. He obviously has a damaged helmet, but the AFT/AMA official looks to be helping him make the restart. This happens numerous times during the night, and occurs at every AFT race, but

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