Its all go at Dirt Bike Show
By John Dickinson on 11th Nov 11
Yes, it was International Dirt Bike Show time last week folks so you guessed it, thats the topic for this weeks editorial column
And so it was time to rise and shine and point the Mondeo south for the annual blast to the International Dirt Bike Show. Truth to tell it is not a trip that anyone from the north looks forward to all that much. Stoneleigh is the wrong side of Birmingham for us followed by also being the wrong side of Coventry!
But, fair's fair, and by a carefully judged start time we managed to avoid most of the daily jams en-route.
Like the M61 and M62 turnoffs, and the East Lancs Road, and round Stoke and Stafford... but then, thanks to £5.30p well-spent (what's the 30p all about?) on the M6 toll, which was virtually empty, all that was left was the expected snarl-up through Coventry - and even that wasn't too bad and suddenly the chequered flag dropped on the SatNav and the nice lady finally stopped nagging at me to "Turn round when possible!” I never do, it's her job to re-route me pronto!
I won't bore you too much with an Infants school-style essay entitled "My Day At The Show, mainly because it would take too long. I never, ever get to see all of it in a day as I spend far too long talking to all you good people on the way round. Anyway, (and whisper this) there are only so many helmets and pairs of boots I can look at in any six hours.
So, fast forward to getting on to home time when I was resting ‘me poor feet' on the TMX/DBR stand when Darren Hudson, the indefatigable driving force of Cumbria Twinshock happened along and soon we were chatting about the Bassenthwaite club's Whittas Park venue, at Bewaldeth, out in the wilds of the northern Lake District near Keswick, celebrating 50 years of service.
We went through a "Do you remember?” session in which we remembered lots of things, including Sammy Miller breaking his back whilst scrambling a 250 James at the venue - resulting in a lengthy stay at Keswick General, followed by no more scrambling for Sam - and a later mishap where a young Dave Thorpe crashed his Kawasaki and when the dust had settled the lad was nursing a broken leg. Darren reckoned that local legend had it that either the break or the crash at least was caused by David being hit by a pit-board being waved by a crew member on the start straight. I'd never heard this one before. But just as we were getting precisely nowhere who should walk past but Dave himself and Darren being Darren brought all conversation within a half mile radius to a halt by shouting, "Oi, Dave, over ‘ere mate!”
Dave being Dave obliged with pleasure and having been supplied with the question proceeded to put us right. "Nothing to do with a pit-board, it was all my fault,” he quoted with his usual honesty. "There was an awkward dip in that start straight and I just hit it all wrong and crashed at speed. The bike landed hard on my riding boot which had a metal plate riveted to the front, the plate creased and that's what broke my leg!”
Dave went on to say that Kawasaki "Ace Boss” Alec Wright bundled him into his car and drove him off down south to have the leg fixed. "I was really panicking as I was only a kid and didn't really know what was happening,” said Dave. The story continued that the op turned out to be a disaster, the break became infected and it was at that stage he was introduced to Dr Gordon Hadfield who had to dive in, clean it all-up and re-set it. The end result was that Dave wasn't to ride a motorcycle for 13 months and his career was almost all over before it really got going.
Of course, it all turned out well in the end, David went on to become one of Britain's finest ever motocross riders - and Gordon Hadfield went on to become the most respected doctor in the sport.
All of which came from a snatch of conversation at the end of the show...
I've spectated at Bass' many times over the years and my personal favourite Bassenthwaite story, which I witnessed with my own eyes - and which I've told before but it always bears repeating - concerned one of the inumerable battles between those legendary CCM sparring partners Norman Barrow and Bob Wright.
Following a race-long duel, which involved lots of shouting and even some hand to hand combat, Norman eventually built-up a handy lead on the last lap. But, on a supremely muddy track, Norm managed to drop the plot on the final, short, sharp, steep climb to the chequered flag. He did keep the big single running though and while he couldn't re-start before Bob was due he quickly got to his knees, revved it up and dropped the clutch - and launched the riderless CCM across the track at what he thought was Wrighty - only to absolutely T-bone a shocked Andy Ainsworth who was trundling past a lap down...
I know, I know: anyone who knows the laid-back, happily smiling character that is the
Norman Barrow of today will find that hard to believe but as I say...I saw it with my own eyes!
