Joined Nov 2001
17K Posts | 774+
Ely, England
was sat at home friday night and thought i'd give chris ginn a call to see what's occuring. turns out that a two-man'er had been postponed and a proper time-card event put in it's place. so i got a last row/last rider entry and entered. it was also away from the sands of the east coact norolk/suffolk and at little hadham in essex. CLAY country so i was hoping the course wouldn't get too wooped out!
the new rockers didn't arrive until saturday and i didn't start on them until 4pm, i had one tappet that never did feel right but i continued trying to feel for that nice 'STOP, 1/8th back'. by 8pm the bike was fettled and i went for a quick spin and am pleased to report that i had no 'raoucious roar!!!!' so i had been 1-tooth out on the valve timing.
we were given the following times to do
60 (includes qeueing for ST thus very generous)
60 (ditto)
25
25
20
20
18
16
the first two laps have the ST on them thus the 1-hour allowed. plenty of time.
i tried to help a lad first thing having just his second ride on a husey who couldn't get it started. i think it's one of those re-imported-from-the-states in late 2002,2002 model FC470's.
cleaned the stator, cleaned the plug and got it going. it was only his second enduro and he suffered terribly. i overtook him twice in a ditch with him laying tight agianst the bank absolutely bolloxed no doubt from kickstarting the thing to death.
'frosty' was there and i think if he reports he'll say the weather was a bit 'wam' for him. i know it can get hotter but this one was tough!
chris took his 450 around at about the same pace as me although i, as said started last. #154.
everyone went off in 4's bar the last row upon which i started with a katoom 450. all day we were fairly even with me arriving back and he just 30-60 seconds behind me. on lap 5 the 'championship' riders came storming around the corner and it's best to get out of their way, #153 tagged on the end and sneaked through the bounder!
having started on the button first time both in the paddock and on the startline i thought i was ok but later on it just wouldn't catch. bump start it and it was fine! the reason i know is that on the second lap i stalled the bike in a bog and it wouldn't restart. some lads hauled me out and gave me a bump down the next slope-no problem!
i did the laps in 20, 21 (stalled in the bog), 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20 which meant that when i should have got faster i was shattered and therefore came in 2 and 4 over for the last two.
the course had loads of tree roots showing, also abou5 bogs and two ditches with ramps. one ditch had a tight right straight after it but sadly, i have to report that every time i came up to the other i didn't jump it- yeh i know, size; large and pink for me please!
there was one bog with a 300/400 year old tree on it's side and if you had the balls you rode down a steep slope, gunned it and jumped maybe 6' high and 15-20' long to clear the bog and all in the thick of the woods still!
just one simple fall and besides the starting problem it ran well, the tappets are now noisy and i bet they hold a secret to the non-starting. it was also running lean on the PJ and i could feel the heat from the bike.
spoke to #153 afterwards and it turned out he was a journalist for a new UK mag that's called "moto X" magazine (original isn't it!) got a free mag and he's trying to ween in about 30% enduro testing etc. oddly enough, although he didn't say it, the head office is on forehill here in ely.
this weekend is round 1 of the banovallum in lincs and i'd like to do well there.
Taffy
the new rockers didn't arrive until saturday and i didn't start on them until 4pm, i had one tappet that never did feel right but i continued trying to feel for that nice 'STOP, 1/8th back'. by 8pm the bike was fettled and i went for a quick spin and am pleased to report that i had no 'raoucious roar!!!!' so i had been 1-tooth out on the valve timing.
we were given the following times to do
60 (includes qeueing for ST thus very generous)
60 (ditto)
25
25
20
20
18
16
the first two laps have the ST on them thus the 1-hour allowed. plenty of time.
i tried to help a lad first thing having just his second ride on a husey who couldn't get it started. i think it's one of those re-imported-from-the-states in late 2002,2002 model FC470's.
cleaned the stator, cleaned the plug and got it going. it was only his second enduro and he suffered terribly. i overtook him twice in a ditch with him laying tight agianst the bank absolutely bolloxed no doubt from kickstarting the thing to death.
'frosty' was there and i think if he reports he'll say the weather was a bit 'wam' for him. i know it can get hotter but this one was tough!
chris took his 450 around at about the same pace as me although i, as said started last. #154.
everyone went off in 4's bar the last row upon which i started with a katoom 450. all day we were fairly even with me arriving back and he just 30-60 seconds behind me. on lap 5 the 'championship' riders came storming around the corner and it's best to get out of their way, #153 tagged on the end and sneaked through the bounder!
having started on the button first time both in the paddock and on the startline i thought i was ok but later on it just wouldn't catch. bump start it and it was fine! the reason i know is that on the second lap i stalled the bike in a bog and it wouldn't restart. some lads hauled me out and gave me a bump down the next slope-no problem!
i did the laps in 20, 21 (stalled in the bog), 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20 which meant that when i should have got faster i was shattered and therefore came in 2 and 4 over for the last two.
the course had loads of tree roots showing, also abou5 bogs and two ditches with ramps. one ditch had a tight right straight after it but sadly, i have to report that every time i came up to the other i didn't jump it- yeh i know, size; large and pink for me please!
there was one bog with a 300/400 year old tree on it's side and if you had the balls you rode down a steep slope, gunned it and jumped maybe 6' high and 15-20' long to clear the bog and all in the thick of the woods still!
just one simple fall and besides the starting problem it ran well, the tappets are now noisy and i bet they hold a secret to the non-starting. it was also running lean on the PJ and i could feel the heat from the bike.
spoke to #153 afterwards and it turned out he was a journalist for a new UK mag that's called "moto X" magazine (original isn't it!) got a free mag and he's trying to ween in about 30% enduro testing etc. oddly enough, although he didn't say it, the head office is on forehill here in ely.
this weekend is round 1 of the banovallum in lincs and i'd like to do well there.
Taffy
