Megapost time!
I take a load of photos at virtually everything I attend, but fail to make the time to post them, with snappy captions, well that changes TODAY!
These are my phone snaps, from the DTRA King's Lynn round, last Sunday. We were supposed to be racing a two-day meeting at Redcar, but the track owners double-booked the date and the local speedway team took precedent. Luckily, the Adrian Flux Arena at King's Lynn could accommodate the DTRA, but only for one day. So it was a packed day of racing, with over 140 riders.
Above is big Rupe, and his big Huskie with its ETTO bodywork. Rupe races in the Rookies, but I'm encouraging him to race in the Thunderbikes too.
Dave Webb, Vintage Class stalwart. Experimented with struts instead of shocks, gone back to shocks. Won the four-stroke class on this stock-framed bike. If you're beating Dave on a four-stroke vintage bike, you're going well.
Adrian pushing Leftie's road bike into the pits. Leftie converted his bike to have a taste of Vintage class fun, and put it on the podium (and won the Thunderbikes. He was on fire).
Erin on her dad's BSA Victor 441. I'd posted it on instagram the week before, saying how many laps it had done and how Jon got his money's worth out of it. It seems I cursed it. The single spat the drive chain and cracked the cases before the day was over. Erin races too, a 250 DTX.
Jaz Wood get his stock-framed Triumph through scrutineering.
It's not all stock frames though. Ed and Mark race neat Trackmaster Triumph Twins.
Mike Fisher's Champion Bultaco. Read more about it by clicking Mike's Champion Bultaco
The Vintage class is going to keep growing. This CZ has joined the fray this year.
Ian 'Fish' Fisher has joined the vintage class too. Love the funky font.
There are so many Bultacos coming out of the woodwork, like this Champion-framed bike.
Ben, Bultaco and Persian rug hang out with class leader Sean Kelly.
Gareth Ashman was another new entry in the Vintage class, but his Yam didn't behave itself. A bike that did was...
Simon Bird's Yamaha. He is very fast in the Inters class (Intermediate, between Rookies and 'Pro'), and won the Vintage class outright on Sunday.
Paddock vibes with Sean and Rosie
Ed's Co-Built pipes. Rude!
It's not all vintage!. We have 450 framers too, like Tom's Survivor CRF450 from SB38. There are dozens of DTXs too. The make great races, but not great pit photos.
And there were Hooligans, like George Pickering's S&S Indian FTR 1200. Hawt!
And this very clean Sportster with its tidy USD front end conversion.
Steph, SB37 cover star, races in minibikes and Thunders now. Here she is, all happy in her Sideburn Panther Cross T-shirt, talking to Hooligan hard charger Jake Young, and bike builder extraordinariee, Charlie Stockwell, before being caught up in someone else's accident in the Stock Minibike class, and knocking herself out. Thankfully, she's ok now.
This is Steph's C&J monoshock Rotax (that I owned for a few months, but never started). That's Gareth Howes pushing it.
There were a couple of big crashes, including the one Steph was in. So there was lots of sitting about while the medics were treating people. This is Jon Bell's Yamaha 500 from SB40.
The lull in the action allowed me to go say hello to Arbo the lurcher. What a handsome dog.
Tanya turned up in her new Panther Womens T-shirt.
I don't try to take photos of the action (Jon Braking Point and Paul France are much better), so I take all my snaps before, in the pits, and the odd one after. This is Marcie, celebrating her first podium. She was properly over the moon. It was great to see how happy it made her (and her family).
This is me and Leftie. He rode like a demon, won a very competitive Thunderbikes class (in a final I thought I was flying in and came 7th), and was on the podium in the Vintage four-stroke class. He was the Sideburn Vintage rider of the day. We/I rarely choose the rider who won, but the one whose performance was a surprise or out of character. Leftie's first ever race was at Dirt Quake, and the legacy of that event is bringing riders into the sport. It really did that for a few years. Sat here, a couple of empty cans next to me on a Friday night, that makes me proud. He turned up to Dirt Quake, all snot and attitude, on a Harley chopper, now he's winning in a class full of framers, and beating the factory Royal Enfield Twin. So good.
I thought I was going to miss this race, because of a bike problem, and I was gutted. I got the bike sorted and it was great to be back on my own bike, after racing a couple of Thunderbikes, Anthony and Jason had kindly loaned me. I've been racing with Short Track UK and the DTRA for 15 years, and I still love it. I've never done what Leftie did, and won a final, and probably never will, but I still love the racing, and trying. GI
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