See all 948 photos here
(if you want any very high res copies then email me and i'll send them)

So it had come down to the last race of the year. With me and Gary sitting in equal third spot and Ben only one point ahead it was tight to say the least. That was for second spot that is – first was pretty much guaranteed to go to Gareth as long as he didn’t have some sort of hiccup with this consistent finishes, which has had him finishing in the top two all year.

I was on a bit of a high having completed in the Hafren Rally and came home in fifteenth spot in the enduro or ‘sportsbike’ class. I was well pleased with that but however strong the bike felt low down and in the midrange I felt it could have been a bit stronger in the upper reaches of the rev range. It just so happened that when removing the water pump to repair an annoying oil leak I noticed the shaft (part of the cam) was worn, meaning that just new seals were only going to be a very short term fix. An email to someone on the uk ktm forum resulted in a special long duration cam being dispatched. This should have been fitted for a run out an Enduroland but the order for bearings was mucked up and only one arrived. Still it would give me a chance to bed in the new set of wheels and tyres I’d bought for the 2012 season. I wanted to run in the rear disc with some new pads too so I took my spare set with me (also recently bought from the forum). During final prep I also noticed the front brake had started to bind again and a clean-up didn’t help, so it looked like a seal set was needed. Not having time to get the spares I dug out the new caliper I’d picked up off the forum last year (but never fitted as I had managed to get my old one to start working really well. New caliper fitted and i was ready for action once more.

on the friday before the race my bike still looked like this!
(actually this was taken when i had the wire in the piston but apart of the missing carb it looked the same)

there was a three week break between the Hafren and the last CHEC race.
i fully intended to get into a full training mode.
i made it out on one MTB ride and went as far as the costa shop in town!

Actually I really shouldn’t have been going up at Enduroland, as I was supposed to be resting my hand. As a consequence of being broken into we’d decided to erect a new fence at the bottom of the garden and the heavy layer of flint meant the hole digging and hammering of spikes was a lot harder than I expected and this caused a flair –up of an old RSI injury. I tried to do as little as possible with my hand in the weeks before and after the practice event.

On the Sunday I’d only completed about six laps when the rear shock decided to expire and dump its oil all over the rear end. This was before I’d even had a chance to fit the spares wheels so things weren’t working out too well. I sulked in the pits for a while and then took out Dave’s 300 exc for a couple of laps, stalling it on an incline and flipping it backwards at a standstill as I frantically tried to stop it, nearly breaking my wrists in the process as they got tangled in the hand guards!

Panic - my bike's broke!

It was panic stations all of a sudden. There was no way I could compete in the last race with a rear shock like that, but luckily an evening sms to Chris at OTR confirmed that he’d get it all sorted for me and turned around in time for the weekend’s finale.

But in the meantime I had other issues. The parts for the cam replacement had arrived (cam bearings and new cam chain) but they’d only sent one bearing! A few panicky phone calls and another dealer told me to try Redline and they did indeed have a bearing in stock and even though it was already the afternoon they agreed to get it in the post that day. Sure enough the next day it dropped through the letterbox and the cam replacement could go ahead.
In the end I decided to just reuse the old cam chain as I didn’t have a puller for the stator on the LHS of the engine. It all went back together fine but the valve gaps were out on the inlet side now so they were all re-set. Not to the perfect gap as the gremlins had been hard at work in my garage again and they’d hidden my feeler gauge that I normally use for the task. An unexpected twist was the fact that they put a crappy old tool inside the plastic cover of the missing one, a nice touch!

When I fired the bike up it didn’t want to idle very well and I had to turn up the throttle stop screw a couple of twists and it settled into a steady if somewhat lumpy tick over. A couple of runs up and down the road didn’t improve things too much and judging by the way the engine sounded I was sure it was a little lean. I fashioned a right angled tool bent in a multitude of angles and turned the mixture screw out a quarter turn. The engine immediately responded by calming down into a lovely steady idle, sorted. I spent the rest of Saturday pottering around the bike replacing brake fluids and generally trying to think of anything that might result in a DNF and checking it all so the bike was ‘ship shape’ so to speak.

Steve, Dan and Dave have a laugh and a chat before the start

while i spend some time on my own getting ready to do battle

two riders set off. one is young, fit and an a new bike
the other is old, fat and on a six year old bike....which one is which?

Gareth out maneuvered me at the first corner

but i used the 450 to haul him back in on the straight

I’d been thinking about my race strategy and as my two nearest rivals were on the row ahead of me all I had to do was go like hell in the beginning of each session, catch them up and I’d have them beat. Helping me to do this I had Gareth, (the leader of the un-official championship) starting on my row. I intended to use him as a pace setter and to try and stick with him, so that he’d pull me up to them.

I got to the race venue near Chesham fairly early as the nerves were just dying to take over and I didn’t want anything to be stressful at the start of the day. Tony had booked a family break so he wasn’t around but Steve, Dan, Dave, Darren and Nick were all there and low and behold Phil had decided to get dirty again by signing up to race again too. The Hafren outing must have re-ignited his racing fire!

Getting ready for the day I bumped into Gary and he sadly informed me that our yearlong battle would fizzle out for this event as he’d managed to strain his back and wasn’t in any condition to complete for second spot in the ‘unofficial championship’ that I run for CHEC. I wasn’t too sure what to believe, I was sorry for Gary but it did remove some of the pressure, however I couldn’t shake off the feeling that it was a clever race tactic to get me to ease off (which I’m sure it wasn’t).

I bumped into Dave Garland too and he was disappointed that I never noticed his new bike, well it was the same as his old Husaberg but this one had a yellow frame! He’d got so pissed off with struggling with the clutch on his first one that he’d bought a newer one. He wasn’t going to have much luck with this one either I’m afraid.

After signing on I took a quick walk to see which way the track went at the beginning of the lap so that I knew which way to go come red mist time i.e. the start of the race.

At the riders briefing we were told that the track was a very fast layout this year so that suited me as I knew the bike would be fast over the fields with its new cam (or hoped it would). I’d also re-fitted a homemade vented airbox cover that I’d used earlier in the year to help it breathe a little better.

steve nearly comes a cropper entering the quarry!

Dan in action

Gavin gets a bit enthusiastic

Pretty soon it was time to line up for the start and the nerves had calmed down a little at last and I was concentrating on getting away cleanly. I started my stopwatch 30 sec before the off and managed to get away first when the ‘go’ was given. Heading off from the transponder pickups I entered the field and turning right at the large oak tree I took the wide line used by the previous riders but Gareth come up the inside on a tight line. We accelerated hard up the hill towards the next tree where we had to turn left. Time to let the 450 get into its stride, so I gave it full throttle up the hill and overhauled the 250 exc 2T of Gareth’s but he had the inside line and once again came past me on the brakes. I was hot on his heals when we got into the trees.

don't look behind you!

i think this is Ross

Nick exiting the quarry

The track only weaved left and right a few times and there was one minor dip before we came back out into the open to cross the field again, where we made for a gap in the hedge into the next field. Here we turned right for a while before a couple of left turns had us nailing the bikes flat out down towards the woods once more. I made up some time on Gareth in the braking zone but he’s naturally quicker in the woods. We followed the same path as in previous years and one section has a couple of tight turns and Gareth overshot the first one and naturally I followed. After a brief look around we managed to rejoin the track but had lost a place to someone we’d just overtaken. After a few twists and turns we crossed another (shorter) open area before re-entering the woods once more.

Darren Looking good as he exits the quarry

me at the same spot

on the other side of the quarry

These woods contain a large, deep depression or ‘bomb hole’ as people like to call it. I wasn’t exactly sure what had happened but Gareth got caught up trying to pass another rider at the top of the drop off (I found out later he had a branch stuck in his front wheel) but whatever it was, it allowed me to nip ahead and thankfully it wasn’t too wet at the bottom or on the slopes so I exited the woods in the lead. This back field is pretty big. You start by turning sharp right - skirting around the bottom part of the field and once you reach the far corner you take a left up the slope and continue in a general anti clockwise direction. There is a bit of a dip back down the slope to the center of the field when you get to the top part, but you arc back out again and on the far left corner I had a monster slide coming out the turn but luckily the bike never went down. We continued on the periphery until re-entering the woods once more near where we exited not long before.

i'm at the back of the pack but coming fast.
i suppose they were holding back for the youngster .......
but they this is a race and best to overtake on the straight than stuff it up the inside on a bend

i power away from the bend in front......
Darren keeps well clear of the flying rocks!

This part was a bit tighter and got cut up quite quickly so it became fairly slippery. Very soon we climbed a short incline and this brought us back out into the open, near the pits and old quarry. Crossing the quarry at the far side we dropped down a slope and up the other side again to exit out into the field where we doubled back fairly soon afterwards and looking over my shoulder I spotted Gareth hot on my heels. We re-entered the quarry via a small hump then turned left and approached the next drop-off. I went wide to the left and just managed to stop in time as I saw the drop was about ten foot! I struggled to push the bike backwards due to the rekluse biting but I managed to make enough room to hop down further to the right. We exited the quarry to the right near the pits and the slope out could be taken at speed but you had to be careful so that you didn’t overdo it too much.

flying fuel stop. Gareth's dad lends a hand as he keeps a lookout for his son

no you really don't want to be behind that 450 went it lets rip

Skirting the pits we crossed a short bit of open going, turning right at the tree and crossing into the next field via a hole in the hedge. This led to the small copse in the middle of the field that is basically another large hole in the ground. We dropped into it and turned right to exit on the other side where we once again continued to the edge of the field where we crossed another hedge into the adjoining area, turning sharp right up the hill, then left at the top and left again at the far side. This corner of the field seem to be where all the big chunks of flint meet up for a chat, as it was more flinty rocks than anything else and I’ve no idea how anything could grow there. Braking down from speed and getting it turned to carry on down the hill and up the other side was difficult.

oi ! Dan (80) stop throwing stones!

In the corner we got to the ‘two way’ section which is just before the next set of woods. Due to crops in the fields there wasn’t enough room so they often have to put these walking pace only strips in. After the two way part the track in the small wood was tight and twisty with no place to overtake if you needed to. Exiting out the woods for a short blast up a track had us turning back on ourselves in a run though a stand of trees that flows nicely but is still very tight. This leads back to the two way part and once past that the track turned right onto a farm track that could be taken at full throttle – if you had the guts to do it! I held the 450 open and got it airborne each lap at the midpoint where I was easily doing 70 mph before braking for the left turn as it entered the next field for the run back down to the pits.

I’m not sure who got to the transponder clocking machines first but the pictures show Gareth and me clocking at the same time but once again he led me in the bends but I’d haul back time on the open going. I have no recollection of how or when I got past but looking at the pictures now I see I exited the woods first and led into the quarry!
This time I jumped down the drop-off on the way back into the quarry and now I knew several spots where I could make up time. One of them was shortly after the quarry where we went from one field into the next – there was a hump on the crossing but with Gareth hot on my heels I just held the throttle open and hit it at full speed. I knew the OTR fettled suspension and the scott damper could cope with it and true enough the bike didn’t flinch as I rocketed through the gap.

Having a fast bike and being very confident on the brakes I tried to use this to my advantage so not only would I keep it full taps on the open going I tried as hard as I could to nip in front of anyone just entering any woodland section, and it worked! I used the 450 scatter gun of a rear tyre to keep Gareth at bay on the straights and used slower riders to hold him up in the woods, luck was on my side.

Robbie Waller flying into the quarry

I kept up the pace and frantically tried to overhaul Gary who I thought was still ahead of me. I can remember overhauling Phil on my second lap as he was still on his first one! He was back in the 100’s so started later than us. On the third or fourth lap I had a 10 second lead on Gareth and that stretched to over 30 seconds by the next lap. Bizarrely I had forgotten that I’d passed Gary on lap one when his fuel line had come off and the bike ground to a halt. I remembered it later when I was talking to him during the lunch break but I was so wrapped up in my battle with Gareth that I pushed most things out my mind.

oops - help!

morning - need a hand?

watch out for the drop!

Apparently I nearly pushed Steve’s brains out of his mind when I overtook him on a straight and the rear of the ktm threw up such a large chunk of flint and it hit him so hard on the helmet that it broken the peak, knocking him clean off the bike! Sorry it wasn’t intentional at all, but if it slowed up Gareth in any way then thanks!

A short while later I got some of my own medicine back as I was overhauling another rider. His tyre hurled a big lump of flint straight into my chest, just above my body armour. The pain was intense to say the least and it knocked half my wind out, so I was having trouble breathing. I found out later that it had struck the plastic flap that closes the top of the knox armour, and even though it didn’t make contact with the skin, the pure impact was enough to cause a carpet burn like abrasion and it took a day or two for the area to turn a lovely sickly yellow.

Gary working his way through

Phil

It was during my forth last lap that all of a sudden the bike started to splutter. I knew it was going to be tight on fuel in this race as I’d previously gone onto reserve here, but I was surprised it was so soon, the ultra fast going was taking effect. I noted the time as I came round to the clocks and saw it was one hour and twenty minutes into the session. That would make it easier for me to work out the lap times I was running, so I could try and calculate whether an extra lap was on the cards at the end of the session. Luckily I had positioned my fuel can where I could get to it quickly and as I pulled up to refuel Gareth’s dad came over to lend a hand which was very nice of him. I glugged several liters into the tank and got away in what I thought was a very respectable time. Coming back round again I checked the time again and started to try and work out if I’d have enough time to get one more lap in after this one. I was sure I could so I pushed hard to keep on track.

Big Dave

don't have a good enough bike to race? think again .....
up until the last round Ben Blackman was in second spot in the championship on his trusty drz

I had a close call in the far set of woods near the two way section. Just as you exit the first bit of woods there was a low’ish branch that I had previously clipped slightly with the RHS hand guard. This time however the front took a bit of a wobble on an annoyingly placed tree root and I hit the branch with my forearm – which knocked my hand clean off the grips but I managed to keep control. I got back to the clocks and crossing the field in the lead up to them I was frantically trying to confirm that there was time enough. I was sure there was so I went for it and in doing so I set my second quickest time of the day. I clocked out on the minute, thus avoiding any time penalties. I was on a bit of a high as I couldn’t believe I’d managed to keep in front of Gareth, at some point I was starting to think that he’d sneaked past without me noticing, but during the brake his dad confirmed that I’d managed to come in clean whereas his son was 30 sec over.

Lunch Break

into the pits at the end of the first session me showing off to Nicky
Darren in the background looking at .......something

Once I got parked up I immediately filled up with petrol and to my dismay I found I’d burnt through all my fuel! Luckily the CHEC guys had some to spare as they were short of marshals and hadn’t used so much. As the track wasn’t too demanding I felt pretty good during the break and I chilled out by the car for a bit. After a spot of lunch I went back to the bike to check up on the front brake. It had gone all spongy for some reason which was strange as it was a new caliper. I bled the system through a bit and it was ok but not great. The rear was also lacking a bit of bite and I’m not sure the stainless steel discs I’ve been buying on-line are up to racing. I have this same type on the other set of wheels and both have the same problem. There seems to be a black contaminant on the surface of the disc and I’m sure this affects the braking power. I’ve used emery cloth to remove it but it comes back each time. I think I’ll stick to KTM one’s from now on unless someone else can recommend a good disc that can stand up to very heavy braking in race conditions.

The afternoon session started the same way as the morning one, with me and Gareth battling it out. It was very close and I was still leading when we got into the last section of woods just before the quarry. As I exited the woods the rear tyre broke loose and the bike spun out slightly to the right, my foot broke clear of the peg and was waving around, just as Gareth tried to get past I suspect, as I felt the impact of a wheel on my leg but I managed to make myself wide enough to stop him passing. I set my fastest time on this lap and was still in the lead when we came back round to start our second lap. We were that quick we’d gotten round before everyone had started their first lap, we came tearing up to begin the second lap while others were still preparing to start!

an enthusiastic jump into the quarry results in a hard landing and a hand off the bars for Sam Dimmock

So far my race strategy had worked well, go like hell on the straights and keep slow riders between me and Gareth. I was trying to overhaul another rider shortly after the start when a large rock hit me in the throat. For the second time I had trouble breathing and struggled to hold on while clutching my injury with one hand. Somehow I remained in the lead until we entered the woods for the second time and another rider crashed right in front of me. I either had to stop or ride over the top of him and lucky for him I stopped, but this allowed Gareth to sweep past on the right hand side and by the time I’d pushed the bike backward to get clear he’d pulled a small gap. As he’s faster in the woods this gap extended a little but I could see him in the field and I tried as hard as I could to catch up but the bike didn’t have a seventh gear so I was still behind when we got to the quarry on lap two.

On the first steep slope I tried to overtake a slower rider and hit the bottom of the slope so hard it knocked my right hand clean off the bars, my weak hand was having trouble holding on now, and thankfully I remained in the saddle. The luck that was mine in the morning session had deserted me now as it was my turn to be caught behind slower riders at each and every section of woods. I was held up too many times and no matter how hard I pushed I just couldn’t close the gap down. By now I’d lost sight of Gareth so it was hard work keeping the fast pace up. What wasn’t helping was the loss of almost all of my rear brake. A rock had no doubt struck the disc and bent it. It was almost coming back to the bars before pumping back out again as I applied the brakes. This was a disaster as I use a lot of rear breaking and the front was no better from the morning. Of course this was placing even more strain on my right hand and I had another moment somewhere when my hand got knocked off the bars again.

alan nicholls

I did overtake Gary at some point, I think it was near the quarry again and that was a good sign so I was pleased with that. I was felling the pace though and I must have slacked off a little plus I think Gary must have speed up somewhat, as when I approached the two way section after exiting the woods I heard a 4T bike behind me so I pulled over to let him past, I’d assumed it was a faster rider from further back in the pack. I was surprised to see it was Gary and he waved me on so I got my head down and tried to put in some fast times.

Cliff Barnett

I then noticed Phil on the side of the track in the quarry area watching the race and I wondered what had happened. Bike trouble maybe? Nope – tree trouble. I think it was the one that had tried to grab me off my bike earlier and by now it had become a lot more brazen as it knocked Phil on the head hard enough to send him flying off the bike, in full view of the marshal behind him, who by all accounts caught it all on film? Phil took some time out, re-joined for two more laps but then decided to call it quits as his concentration was shot. As he was relegated to a spectator he’d been watching us and had been checking the gap between me and Gareth. Apparently I had started to close down the gap from 30 odd seconds to near 20 odd but I didn’t realise this at the time.

Dan passes one of the young riders

So that was how it ended. I was very happy things had worked out so well despite the few issues I’d had and I was very hopeful of a good result. I was pretty certain I’d managed to beat Gareth but there were some other good riders there too ie Gavin, so it was very uncertain where I’d finish. Still having turned 48 on the day I don’t think I did too badly!

time to pack up. Gareth lends a hand holding the bike as it was on a slope ....
while Darren in the background contemplates the next move.

We took ages to pack up and go as there are always so many people to talk to at the end of the race. Nicky was upset as she’d lost a glove in the morning so I told her to go have another look while I chatted and packed up. She reckoned it was pointless but I told of the time I found my watch at lane end and I told her I’d help later as I lucky where those sorts of things are concerned. She was searching for almost an hour while I faffed about and once I was ready I walked to the edge of the field to have a pee in the quarry. On the way back I walked towards her and she confirmed that it was still missing. “Well are you sure it’s not that black thing over there” I said as I walked over and picked up the missing glove! Happy days!

Well results are out and I’m very pleased to announce that I managed to win the event outright! This has allowed me to move up into second place in the ‘un-official’ CHEC championship.

The Aftermath

As i already mentioned in the report the flints were flying during the event and i've already said the rear break disc is bent. what i didn't mention yet is that both hand guards were also smashed too! Not forgetting my own bodywork! I'll spare you the chest shot but its a nice colour yellow too.

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