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I’ve always read that there’s two different types of people, watchers and do’ers. This weekend we used the BMF Show in Peterborough to move from watching motorsport to actually race in motorsport. Sort of! We were entering the 50cc moped enduro!
The plan was simple, get accepted, get a scooter, go race, drink beer afterwards. What could possibly go wrong??
The show itself is held over two days and is the biggest bike event in the UK. A late start to the moped enduro meant we had chance to go round and look around, the most interesting of the show had to be the ‘wall of death’! Sadly, due to health and safety to the spectators, the actual chance of death was slim, but was still pretty impressive to see.
We also hadthe chance to see Nick Sanders bike from Parallel world.
Mark (Gone2Mars(Bikers Cafe)) took advantage of the cheap deals to get himself a full set of new leathers for £90. I had a mooch around however the only thing that I fancied treating myself to was a Ducati 916s, good job I didn’t have my credit card to hand as it was at the opposite end of the money scale!
So finally the time arrived to get ready, scrutineering gave everyone there a chance to look over our standard road worthy Gilera Runner, the only modification was a massive number 14 painted on the front, they mocked, but secretly I think they were nervous!
After the rider breifing, it was off to the track. The start would be a LeMans format, with the opening rider running across the track to the awaiting bike. I drew the short straw and got ready.
The flag dropped and we were off, realising that our lack of planning meant technically we started 63 out of 65 runners, it was going to be a long afternoon.
I made a couple of places at the start before getting stuck in the queue for the first chicane. The opening laps were busy, the jam on the first lap meant the front runners were already lapping the back markers, but I remembered our pre-race chat which revolved around the fact this is an endurance race, all we had to do was keep going round the circuit. Simple.
Entering into the 3 chicances on the circuit the confidence on the brakes meant I could make a couple of places, but a lack of power from our factory standard gilera was frustrating as the people I overtook into the chicane, passed me on the straight!
I managed just over 15 minutes before I got the call from my awaiting team to pit. I did a couple more laps and then came in, completely exhausted. Made the change with Mark and relaxed.
Our format we ran was 15minutes on, 30 minutes off. 2 runs each. It was interesting to watch, we were monitoring each others lap times, our average lap was 43.5 seconds. Around 7-8 seconds off the quicker runners. Frustrating for the rider.
All in all it was great fun, day two was pretty much the same apart from the wet track to start. Our slick road tyres struggled to start with, but eventually the water cleared and we were able to get the couple of horsepower back down again.
Despite 3 low sides and 2 or 3 trips into the wall, the bike lasted the whole two races. Mark lowsided hard and bent the steering, but kept running until the rider change where we managed to straighten the steering back up.
Finally we got the results and ended 40th out of 65 overall for the weekend. Not bad for our first attempt. Despite the fact we went for a laugh, we ended up getting serious and are already planning some modifications for the september weekend. Good times!
Excellent stuff there Champs, brought back memories of the moped race team I ran at the BMF back in 1990 with a standard Puch maxi. We were miles off the pace too as tuned AR50s steamed past our riders. In the end we came 6th in class out of 12.
Glad you all enjoyed it and look forward to reading about September.
Keep us updated on your mods in the mean time
I think we came 30th out of 42 in the class. Pretty good result but I am nursing a few aches and pains. Dropped it once and clipped the wall a couple of times. And my knee sliders have tyre marks on them from getting the chicane exits too tight!
Yup, top stuff and looks great fun Champs. Not suprised we don’t see the FS1Es and AP50s out there any more as they are all in collectors’ garages now.
Good to see you doing hand signals too (pic 5)
Its back at East of England Showground
BMF Tail End Show, Peterborough
19-20 September
I was there all that weekend on the Peterborough club stand. Doubt I’ll be there at the tail ender as this is a bit too close to our “due”date.
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