british sidecarcross champs 2009 - and more!

azza

it doesn't look like the 'core' atually is tubed? is it? must bei suppose. it seems a dead duck though because i would need to find one used to make a real saving..... plus i'm not doing this to my outfit but to someone elses. big responsibility to NOT be a pisser.

the lads just missed qualifying by two places this weekend and in the repercharge they had the engine lock on lap one. turns out the stopper on the camsprocket snapped off and got into the chain. took out the baffle plate at the top and snapped the chain. i guess it could have been worse.

regards

Taffy

i'll ask the rider azza. it's his neck and the owners money...

BTW
after the weekend my rider - mark kinge - just missed qualifying by 2 places and was ready to do well in the repecharge but after a lap the cam sprocket stop rivett abondoned ship and snapped the chain. he still has a flat spot and the engine is being checked and repaired this week. meanwhile the brothers millard were one place below and failed to make it in the repecharge. a long way to go for nothing!

regards

taffy

just recently the millards i have supported have had some great results with their husaberg outfit and hovered around 11th for the day at the polish GP near gdansk. the other team with mark kinge had a 21st - first team out of the points and then in the next event a cracked frame with 2 laps to go while holding a points scoring position!

welded, suited and booted the two teams travelled to the south of france for an international on a thursday evening and were rewarded with three good races. out of some 30 international status outfits the millards were 2nd overall and kinge 3rd. superb results behind the belgiun; santemans a veteran GP rider.

in the meantime i believe stuart browne was getting an 8th, 13th after a poor start and a snapped chain. his JBS engine is now proving ultra reliable so credit to our own ben ballard for turning that motor out!

two weekends ago, they did nowt as they had just got back from the french trip - the ukraine GP being too costly to commit too while the french race was there and such a good payer. this weekend past they did the 4th round of the british championships in the west country.

this weekend they are at neerekurtens (or some such dutch name!) for the big dutch GP. a race for months i had pencilled in to go and watch. however, my favourite enduroo of the year is this very same sunday.....oh dear!

kinge is running my jetting and attempting to cure the wheelspin whilst the millards have dropped it it would seem.

the following sunday - the 14th - the next british round is on at whattisfield hall just north of bury st. edmunds on the diss road if anyone wants join us. i think arkley might be coming!

anyway, this weekend, after a party in leeds on the saturday, i wnet to the 3rd round of the AMCA championships at macclesfield in lancashire. from the last AMCA meeting i delivered many photos here. well unfortunately, out of the top 6 teams, the 2 ktm teams were missing, one did the ACU british championship round while the other has lost his passenger by giving him the push! not at speed i might add!

so with stuart lines and simon bradford out the races were totally dominated by HUSABERGS!!!! so much so i can't say much really. all three were won by steve french by a mile with other husabergs behind. with 2 quality outfits missing though, the field looked depleted. stuart is running a brand new FS650c engine. yes there really are some still out there!

regards

Taffy

cheers james

glad you made the trip and hope i didn't waste your day. i was asked to spanner for my sponsored rider mark kinge today after he visited the shop yesterday. basically it was air filters and oil and petrol. mark has suffered wuith a flat spot which i dialed out immediately and by the last of the three races he had forgotten he'd ever had one.

this is mark:



although it's only 10 months ago, it was at this meeting last year that stu brown last lost a race when he snapped a chain and i reminded stu of this before the meeting and thought; sheeyut, what have i done! the curse will be upon him!

stu won all three races today, including the first when rounding the first corner he got knobbled and the outfit tipped over on its side! as this was the first corner, brown was down in 15th and after righting the outfit they worked their way through the field in the 20 minute moto and won with a lap to spare - superb!

i will say that stu thinks that everyone thinks he runs a standard motor and i love him for saying upon meeting me: "eyup! taffy, did well ut GP last weekend, especially weeya standard motor!". what he fails to realise is that i can see the JBS 700cc big bore kit studs sticking up! so i know, that he knows that i know! this is stu below, he picks completely different lines so that when he meets a back marker he can get by them:



visiting the ACU british champ[s for the day were the turner brothers who i have reported on twice here as running ooup north with the AMCA. well they made it down with their 628 husaberg and had a 15, 14 and 9 (approx) as they managed to get ahead of a group of 6-8 in the last race. great effort. this is the turners:



mark kinge had i believe a 6th in race one as they struggled to get past a coupla outfits. shame really as in race 2 mark proved awesome as he moved up to third holding off the 580 katoom outfit of simon bradford, eventually bradford came back at him and retook 3rd with two to go and poor old mark had to quite literally "eat his dirt";



the millard brothers rode well, after tipping in the first race in the brown incident, they took their outfit through to about 5th and then had a 2nd and a 3rd behind bradford to finish. if you look at the line that everyone (and the millards below) else took you can see that brown can be very unconventional....



great weather again and a great day out. even mark's girlfriend now wants a snazzy husaberg rucksack after she saw our own male model arkley fashioning it for her!

regards

Taffy

well we did a UMX round on sunday, we tried a new needle which improved the bike at idle. it had been spitting back and stalling so that was that cured. in race one the millards got away in second behind a 700 zabel. the zabel was superbly piloted to a win and the millards could do little while kinge/foyle had a huge tangle on the first corner and had to fight their way through to 12th.

race two saw the millards get away in the lead now that zabel was out with a fragged clutch. they went on to win it as they did the last race of the day - both easily. kinge slowly worked his way through the field to to 8th and then bang! a huge plume of smoke - oh dear!

we decided to strip the motor there and then and found to our consternation that the top of the piston had broken off, the rod had smashed the linar and bottom half of the piston and other than that we had just bent a rod. it could have been so much worse!

the piston crown had whacked all four valves yet their seats are fine! imagine a linar in 100 pieces and a piston letting go for just 4 bent valves and a linar! damn near felt like straightening the rod myself!

i might get some phgotos but i did exclaim "jesus H christ" upon lifting the head!!!

there is a british championship round this weekend and i have the task of organising some welding, engineering, some motor engineering, ordering parts and getting the whole package back to mark by the weekend!!!

watch this space!

the week after kinge/foyle and millard/millard will be at the belgiun GP. i may be there if funds permit.

regards

Taffy

well since that meeting on the 28th june at frome i took the engine home and rebuilt it doing a couple of little safe tricks to it while mark kinge fitted a new tyre of a type he hadn't used before.

i had a lot on my plate and i knew that this was the first time that it was down to me. i had had heart palpitations at frome at the thought that my special cam had caused the horrendous blow up but after i blamed myself i then blamed the camchain only to blame myself when i found bits of piston in the exhaust only to be finally exhonerated when we found the piston snapped clean in half at the little end.

so this is it i thought. the cases needed welding and machining for the three linar 'O' rings to sit properly while the crank needed splitting and a new rod fitting, then there were the parts like a piston and linar, new valves, seats machined and a thorough clean of course!

anyway, i got everything back on the wednesday evening and booked the courir for after 12 noon. i had 4 hours to build the engine in! so i got going and was cruelly tortured at the site of 5 different parcel courir people coming up the drive - thank god to deliver!

finally one arrived at 2pm and said: "i'm here for a 32KG parcel?" to which i pointed and said: "you're lloking at it!", "oh! how about if we came back?".

"oh yes please!" so one hour later they duly arrived and took away a boxed engine. mark fitted it friday evening and set off for the wrangway circuit in north somerset.

the day went well with a 5th, then a 7th while riding with no goggles - they got knocked off. mark now wears a pair of black eyes!



before problems. all i got was: "it's blown up!" by text and i started to sob uncontrollably!!! after all there wasn't an item in the engine that i wasn't responsible for! well was there?

i received a late-night text to say that a cam sprocket bolt had come out and i think i'm just about off the hook for that one! as i stripped the engine the cam assembly looked good and was put to one side.

i am officially out of the dog's kennel - for now!

stu brown and luke peters carried on NOT!!!! yes they won the first two events on their 700 husaberg before in the third race of the day they put on a thrilling show coming through from very last off the grid to follow the millard brothers across the line.



apparently they stalled it and were left for dead!



they really are riding well but congratulations to the millards for riding really well. dan the rider and joe are still young and riding well, only someone like brown makes everyone look daft! they are second in the championship so husabergs are 1-2. infact, only a husaberg has won for 1.5 seasons now!

the boys father was a british champion 8 times in the seventies and eighties and he can be seen in this photo behind the fence watching his protege! (black shirt)



so husabergs dominate and brown looks untouchable. next weekend he'll get his arse kicked in europe but he just seems so quick here it makes you ask "just how quick are the rest!!!"

presentations after wrangway. joe and then dan millard, stu brown and luke peters (then someone else but who cares!)



so for now we need two new exhaust valves a sprocket a camchain and we are go again!

this weekend i've been promised a sight to behold! the belgiun GP is at ghent and attended by 20,000 spectators.

let you know!

regards

Taffy

Belguin GP. Sunday 12th July 2009. location neoretoren, Ghenk.

at the weekend the brits and more especially; the husabergs ran faultlessly!

i was with mark kinge/kev foyle and they kindly invited me to go with them "compliments of the house" for building mark my first engine. so we left very late thursday after a days work and having met the team at dover to get over to calais.

we slept in belgium overnight and then went on to sign on at 1pm.

since last week mark had again worked hard and fitted a new cam sprocket, 2 exhaust valves. we set up shop and the first thing we did was replace a waterpump seal - again as these always lose their edge so i slipped it on there 'pretty good' and checked the levels. persuaded mark that 900cc was better than 1LTR, that the coolant should be down from the neck anyway (so don't panic) and by the end of the weekend i think i'd won those arguments but i'm trying to give him ideas for the chassis at the moment he's kicking my arse so i need to suck it up for a bit but anyone who knows me, knows i'm always having ideas!

'stephan' from the site made himself known to me on the saturday and then again sunday before i bumped into him at the end of the meeting. we had a damn good chat and exchanged many ideas including some of my madder ones!

qualifying
firstly you have a simple practice, the 46 riders are split into 2 qualifying groups, then next, a timed practice from which they get your grid positions for a qualifying race ready for sunday's GP. so thats three times out on the saturday or four if you need the 'last chance'.

get in the first 12 of your qualifying race and you're straight into the final, 13th-23rd means along with 13th-23rd in the other group and you get a 'last chance' race for 6 riders to qualify making a total of 30 on the grid.

the track was deep shingly and wet sand that was really heavy work for any engine, think about it, 2 men, a bike and a chair, huge radiators, fuel for a week and then add to that - heavy going!

the 2 strokes loved it and pulled raping wheelies on just the drive wheel with the passenger still outside the outfit - YOU JUST HAD TO SEE IT!

anyway, mark struggled desperatley with understeer in free practice like no one else. so we came back in and i didn't realise it but he has a special set up for this 'slurry' and when we changed a wheel and settings we were ready for timed qualifying!

mark went out for the timed practice and the husaberg was running beautifully as were the huseys of brown/peters and the millard brothers. brownie was ON FIRE and ran 2nd best time so all the husabergs were ready for the qualifier.

off we went and the husey ran straight and true, no understeer but we could only get 16th fastest for the qualifying race. now, 15 sit along the grid and in this particular case the track leads into a right and so it favours the british left chairs. so mark had to be on row 2 BUT he was on the inside behind the belguin hendrix - the fastest man and on the right of the circuit!

disadvantage? was it hell!

qualifyer
anyway, brownie got away in about 7th and worked his way to 4th, the millards were 14th and worked their way to about 9th and kinge started in 9th and worked their way to 11th LOL!!! (all rough numbers here folks!).
the result? for mark it was only his second qualification after poland the month before and he was ecstatic. HIS AMBITION FOR THESE LAST TWO SEASONS HAS BEEN TO SCORE A CHAMPIONSHIP POINT. lets see....

in the meantime none of the other brits was having any luck and some top BSCC didn't make the cut. it turned out that from 8 outfits from the Uk the only qualifiers were on the husabergs!

there was a swiss outfit, lischers but they had trouble in the qualification race, won the 'last chance' and then had a breakdown in race 1 on sunday.

when the day dawned for the two GP races and it was wet again and all went out bar mark who said 'no' as nothing would be learnt from the conditions. i think it's coz he's 39 and wanted to save his energy....

anyway, who should we line up behind on the grid but brownie! the millards were on the far left of the front row and then it was time to go! brownie was mullered into the first corner although from the below photo you can see close to the camera the top boys are still only level with him here yet were 25m after 100m!:



i know why - does anyone else?

anyway, brownie was settling into 8th and came through to 5th later, the millards were about 11th and mark kinge who got biffed off the track by jan hendrix while 17th and came 20th for his first ever world point! could have been 17th though!

in race two, with a drying track we changed the chassis and lined up again. brownie again had a mediocre start and pulled through to 6th or so while the millards in 9th, had a sidecar puncture and had to fight the outfit to get it home:



all credit to the lads!

for kinge and foyle though it was a case of going forwards from a poor start and so they did and clawed their way through with 2 laps to go to 16th. yep! 16th and 5 more WC points! on the last lap under a blue flag the swiss lischer (also riding a husaberg) had nipped past MK/KF otherwise the UK husabergs are the business at the moment!

the english drinking tea!

afterwards: millards gutted, we go nuts but 5 places behind! work that out!

what a great weekend. for mark and kev -a day in the sunlight, what does tomorrow offer?

regards

Taffy

i'd say you're spot on james! i didn't think anyone would get that!

i'm fast discovering these bikes are so similar to speedway bikes leaving the line. tyre pressures, gearing, perfect revs held, even the body position is kinda frozen to get rid of the variables.

so if stuart IS running standard capacity? then it must be because he's fed up with the reliablility issues?

mmmmmm!

he is some rider thats for sure! can even make an engineer look good :lol: :lol:

regards

Taffy

did a club meeting today down at ringmer near lewes on the south east coast nr brighton. this was a UMX meeting and with the millards repairing their husaberg and getting ready for the estonian GP next week, mark kinge and kev foyle were the only husey team at this 30 strong entry meeting.

the day dawned nice and warm, plenty of cloud but mainly sunny, the track a greasy clay and some puddles laying around. dropped mum off at some old freinds and moved on just to get there in time for practice. mark was slithering around just like everyone else and when the first event came he drew a second row start. ho hum!

last around the first turn, he clawed his way up to 9th by the flag in what was a 7 or so lap event. this would give him 7th on the grid in the next two events.

so in race 2, imagine his smile when for some reason folk took the middle of the grid and not the 2/3rds to the right for that all important first right hander! at the drop of the gate mark and kev got the holeshot and lead away. thety then wore the #4 outfit of wilkinson like a badly fitting coat! 3 laps in and they were bye! mark then held on for a great second with nobody attacking him.

so race 3 and we hoped for a good start, the track now was dry and indeed during the race there was a bit of dust. i was getting burnt and ran off to hide under a stone!

so, in race 3 mark again got the holeshot into the first turn and lead away. this time though the two danger teams of stickle #44 and wilkinson were well down and as great as it was to watch both outfits work their way through, nothing was going to stop kinge from the win. with just a lap to go wilkinson and stickle ploughed past second and ate into kinge's lead.

we made it by 15 yards but "i had it under control!". yeh sure mark but hell we'll take a win coz a win is a win right!

next time out will be a practice day near oxford on the 16th at which i hope to have my own engine ready.

regards

Taffy

on monday i went down to petersfield in hampshire to a meeting called 'the ken hall trophy' which is in its 43rd year. full of famous solo and sidecar experts it has a long history of quality winners.

the sidecar entry is the only time the continentals come over and a good 8-10 outfits made the trip including the cemak brothers from czechoslovakia.

the latvian rider marius rupieks got together with the latvian passenger of another outfit for the weekend and jelled immediately with 3 wins from 3 - maybe they'll do that a bit more often!

world champion elect janis hendrix was there but you all wanna hear about the husabergs!

well as none of the continentals had husabergs it was left to the home town boys! sonderqvist the danish gp winner on a husaberg came over and borrowed a british left chair and by the third race was flying!

in race one stuart brown had the other latvian outfit come straight at him and tipped him over. he was last away but pulled through to 5th right behind the millards on the line. in the second race brown had a slow start and pulled through overtaking the millards to take 7th with three continental outfits getting their acts together this time.

in the third race brown had a good start and was 6th having started 4th. its not often anyone overtakes brownie coz he can be a slow starter or good but he never gets caught - this time he did.

afterwards i found out that he is running a 198MJ. those that know about such things can add their own comments but today = zip.....from me!

my man mark kinge had a great 10th in race one, and expected 14th in race 2 and then in race 3 got run over by his brother on the line. i saw his shirt afterwards and it had all the colour ripped out of it where the tyre had gone!

anyway, german GP this weekend and hoping that brownie will find some new speed. i have absolutely no idea where he'll find it....

regards

Taffy