01 Jan 1970,

 

TRC PUTOLINE WESTWOOD BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP TRIAL

 

What a fantastic opening British Championship round at the weekend. I went to watch the practise on Saturday and the amount of work gone into making this event happen was so good to see.

The Dirtbike–Action team led by John Kerwin and Graham Jarvis with support from Tim Reynolds and his team must have spent weeks never minds days putting the whole show together. Who else can approach the likes of Renault Trucks and organise the massive hospitality unit for a British Championship event? Yes they still have much more work to do to make this location better but with buckets, diggers and man power I am sure they can achieve this.

 

Many of the sections are man made but the trial was a credit to the Clerk of the Course and Graham Jarvis who used his years of riding experience to test the riders to the limits of their ability giving his advice where needed. ACU steward John Collins was not to sure about this type of man made hazard at the start as he prefers to see more natural type sections but in the end he did say how impressed he was with the whole show.

 

With the build up to the event promising a good fight between the top UK riders they did not disappoint on the day. Many of the viewing public commented on how bizarre it was to see the top three riders on different machines and in new riding kit. For me I think this is very healthy for the sport, it’s also good to see the respective importers having their own riding kit produced in such bright and vibrant colours to add to the profile of the sport.

 

On “Race Day” Sunday the venue was blessed with a nice bright but cool day and boy did this bring out the crowds in there hundreds, at one point I think on section four MRS Sherco importer Malcolm Rathmell and myself had a quick head count and we reckoned on around three hundred spectators, yes at just one section. I personally believe this happened due to the central location of the event and the easy access from the M1 Motorway, literally two minutes away.

 

The battle between the riders in each of the respective classes was very good to see and the Championship boys on the hardest of routes certainly gave it 100%. James Dabill took the win which was good to see as many have questioned his form in the Indoor World Series but on Sunday’s performance he opened the defence of his British Championship crown in style. Micheal Browns riding well and I can see a fantastic year of constant battle between these two for supremacy. As for “Wiggy” once he finds some consistency in his riding I am sure he can take the challenge to these two.

 

Just before I close I must comment on the new Ossa making its championship debut at the event. The Expert B class is possibly the most competitive based on the amount of entries and credit must be given where it’s due. Guy Kendrew mounted on the new Spanish machine gave a fantastic display taking a very convincing win. After taking some criticism in certain areas of the press the machine with Kendrew at the controls looks to be very competitive with bodes well for the future. Ossa have never won a British Championship title, is this the beginning of a fantastic journey?

 

“I know only one world – Trials” John Hulme

REPORT  JOHN HULME TRIAL MAG

EVERY ONES A WINNER AT THE K2 RALLY

Victory for Bounds, but everyone’s a winner at the Desert Rose K2 Rally! The Dirtbike-action crew made some major changes to last year’s event , the event located on the edge of the tourist town of Bellingham Northumberland altering parts of the 65 mile lap to include 3 enduro loops, 2 of which were new. The course mainly flowing forestry roads and hard based tracks  in the kielder forestry complex provided the big rally bikes with ideal conditions for some major sideways action. The team were dreading the worst as Tuesday and Wednesdays weather was appalling, the rain lashed down but the Dirtbike- Action crew continued relentlessly setting up the course.  Thursday was much better with glimpses of sunshine coupled with a drying wind. By Friday we now had real hope for the weekend as the sun shone. Saturday dawned bathed in glorious sunshine, the wisps of smoke rising from camp stoves as breakfast and brews where made readying the riders for the day ahead. As the bikes departed the campsite at the rate of 4 a minute and headed over dunterley towards pundershaw a famous RAC rally stage of old, the full entry was soon on the road and moving towards the first check.after the first   A few of the big rally bikes opted for the enduro loops. Lyndon Poskitt on his multicylinder KTM 950 was on one of the biggest bikes and muscled the mighty machine around all 3 of the enduro loops on day 1, an unbelievable feat as some of the enduro class riders made heavy work of them. Craig bounds was on the gas on the test as he set the fastest times of the day with 2 tests within 5 seconds of each other. This was a great feat after he lost a brake calliper after a rider drifted across the road forcing him in to the ditch just after the first test. Lyndon Poskitt set the second fastest times of the day on the multicylinder KTM.  Russell Spray had his own adventure on the test as rider and machine leapt into a deep ditch within 10 feet of the end of the test. After a team of marshals failed to wrestle the heavy weight machine out, a quad bike was summoned to extract the beast. Mark Mollinneux as ever was enjoying himself as the impressive sounding BMW HP2 scorched around the test to claim second in the multicyliner.  The two side cars running in event for the first time were enjoying themselves until one of them rolled it in the first test. Tony Whitehead lead the under 250cc trail bike class after day 1. As the remaining riders finished the test a short uphill section towards the end of lap 2 was starting to prove difficult for the riders. The riders helped each other as is the case on rallies and the sweeping marshals extracted the last few riders, every one made it back to camp and the finish of day 1.Day 2 started an hour earlier again bathed in sunshine and blue skies. With some revised course times and the troublesome section towards the end of the lap bypassed. the riders set off at a prompt 9am start. Craig bounds once again won the tests in the rally class while Lyndon Poskitt won the multi cylinders. Lee Kelly won the rally plus hard route for the second day and Patsy Quick finished off a solid weekends riding with a third in the rally class and forth overall . As the riders finished off the second test and headed for home, the feedback from the riders was excellent and they were all winners on the enjoyment front. The enduro sections 1 and 3 where the most challenging and it was good to see so many riders giving them a go from all the different classes, other that the rally plus for whom it was part of the route. Changes are already under way for next year with a brand new test with duration of 10 minutes and changes to the route. I would like to thank all the riders for making the event so enjoyable to run. We are still developing the event and i think the blend of flowing gravel roads and trails and the optional enduro routes makes the event appeal to a wide variety of riders. A special thanks to all the marshals, Forestry Commission and Colin and Michelle of Kielder Organic Meats for the start area and the fantastic catering. Hope to see you all next year at the 2012 K2 and until then Rally on!!    Report  John kerwin

TM

TM Racing.... A Little History

 

It all started way back in 1976 with two friends who had one great love in common: motorcycles and racing. Thanks to the excellent quality and high performance of their motorcycles, that small Pesaro enterprise became in just a few years a force to be reckoned with. The pioneers of TM, Claudio Flenghi and Francesco Battistelli (or rather "Mr Engine" and "Mr Frame") are two childhood friends of the same age who have spent a large part of their lives in direct contact with the world of motorcycles. At just 12 years old, already working in car and motorcycle workshops, Flenghi in particular in a few years assimilated considerable experience working in sectors of great technical interest such as the Motobì racing department and the Benelli experimentation and testing centre. Battistelli, with a love of motocross, managed to involve his friend Flenghi in his passion and after an initial phase in which they dabbled with improving the performance of their friends' bikes as a hobby, they decided to do the job in earnest by preparing an Aermacchi on which Battistelli won the regional championship. In the meantime Flenghi began to cultivate his real interest, that is to say the world of Go Kart racing, gaining important experience on two-stroke engines. And so the idea was formed of building an original motorcycle with an engine made by themselves. Flenghi set to work, coming up with his first engine in a short time which was to be fitted into a motocross frame built by the competent Battistelli, who also took care of road testing the bike. This is how, in 1976, the first experimental bike was born and which was entrusted to two young riders who immediately achieved results far above the wildest expectations.

1977 TM Racing 125cc Machine

In 1977 the two friends left their respective occupations and founded their motorcycle making enterprise which was registered under the name of TM (from the initials of the names of the sons of Flenghi and Battistelli - Thomas and Mirko). Still in 1977, a bike was entrusted to Gastone Serafini, a young rider from Pesaro, who was to be a determining figure in helping Battistelli in developing the bike and who would go on to achieve competition results of the highest level. At the 1977 Milan Motorcycle Show TM was to attain unexpected success that would urge it to move its premises from Flenghi's small workshop to a new and more well equipped factory located in the Pesaro industrial zone. It was in exactly this period that the Serafini family stepped in to became part of the organisation and in so doing the production figure of 200 moto cross bikes was reached in 1978. In 1979 TM expanded its racing team adding Tommaso Lolli alongside Gastone Serafini, the bike continued to develop and it was in this year too that the first TM enduros were built. In 1982 Battistelli decided to leave TM and his place was taken over by Gastone Serafini who, having reached the end of his professional racing career, decided to join Flenghi full time in running the company. The following years saw a succession of different riders at the controls of TM motorcycles achieving excellent results both nationally and internationally, with equally excellent results in the Kart sector, where TM and its bikes soon became a leader. The philosophy that has always distinguished TM is without doubt the choice of materials, which must always be of the highest quality, and the workmanship, even defined by some as "obsessive", not to mention the high performance of the engines used on the standard bikes, in many cases far superior to those of the most prestigious competitors. This justifies the prices of these jewels of engineering that appeal to a niche market made up of very demanding customers. They can in fact purchase a standard product with which to race in high level competition. All the rest is recent history and the advent of 4-stroke engines has certainly not taken TM unawares, having worked hard and in a short period been able to expand its range with three new 4-stroke cylinder capacities 250/400/530 cc. In addition, great attention has been paid to development of the new 450cc and 250cc machines, which have replaced the original 4 stroke engines, more due to market trends however than for reasons of trying to increase the performance of the already powerful engines fuel injection has now made its way onto the scene, the new 450Fi fuel injected machine has recently powered TM to its second consecutive World Supermotard Championship title and with 747 Motorsports other rider finishing in the runner-up spot, taking TM to 1st and 2nd in the 2010 World Championship and winning TM Racing the 2010 constructors Championship, a great testament to this new engine.

...and The Story will go on...

K2 RALLY 2011

  23/24^th July - THE KIELDER K2 RALLY two days of fantastic riding using a 70 mile lap of trails and hard based tracks around the mighty kielder forest and northumberland national park , starting from the tourist town of bellingham then entering the famous kielder forestry complex, working its way through smailsmouth, the bower pundershaw, wark, , then heading north  before turning towards falstone and the run home to bellingham ,with 3 special test per day and optional harder routes for the rider that want a bit more of a challenge.

The club has arranged a free refueling service around the route, camping starts from thursday  for those that want to take advantage of the beautifull surroundings and the nothumberland national park you can enter this event online visit www.dirtbike-action.co.uk  or visit the neec site phone 07792485622 classes for rally bikes to enduro bikes including side cars enter early online and save ££££

THE ROCK OIL K2 RALLY 9/10 JUNE 2012

THE K2 RALLY THE THIRD EDITION             

Dirtbike-action  are pleased to announce that after long negotiations with the forestry commission we have finally got the date for the third edition of the K2 rally the date is 9^th/10^thof June 2012.

 We have a new sponsor Rock oil the British based oil manufacturer  will take the title to the event THE ROCK OIL K2 RALLY, we aim to make some subtle changes to what has already become a firm favourite on the rally scene, with its unique 65 mile lap comprising of gravel roads and forest trails ideal for those big rally bikes , for the smaller enduro and trail bikes we have enduro loops to keep you occupied add this to the excellent green field start area on the edge of the tourist town of Bellingham  set in the Northumberland National park gives this rally the X factor!!

Entries for this event will soon be open with its new June date we expect the rally to fill quickly, as usual the rally forms part of the growing Big Bike Rally Challenge which through rider demand will run a separate championship for smaller capacity bikes, If you find time card enduro to hard but want something different to XC events this is the answer , got a big rally bike that hasn’t been used in anger well now is your chance , keep checking back on www.dirtbike-action.co.uk  discounted online entries will be open  very soon . If you would like more information on this event phone 07557665647 or Email krwnmt@aol.com, in the meantime  enjoy the festivities and we will see you all in June .