The season starts here!

Stand by your beds, the season starts here... 

 

It's been a long time coming but the weekend just gone has to be the first one to see a full calendar of domestic events completed in 2013. 

 

Joy of joys we had Maxxis British MX Champs, British Trials Champs, Sprint Enduro Champs, AMCA MX Champs and a load of other champs – plus a shed load of lower tier events from club status upward that are actually every bit as important to you – and to us – as a British or World series.

 

And as an aside there was a full Sunday programme of bikes on the box as MotoGP and British Superbikes ensured there was a run on electricity, as SkyPlus sets kicked-in when Rossi and co got underway, while off-roaders were returning home or unloading the debris from wherever they'd been. 

 

I've often poked fun at the weather forecasters as being somewhat confused regarding the terms flood and drought – but truth truly is stranger than fiction. 

 

The BSB round from Brands showed that, when a bike crashed it resulted in a plume of dust. 

 

Yet just two weeks previously the Maxxis British MX champs at Canada Heights, not a million miles away (about five miles actually) was cancelled as the site was awash and a tractor up to its axles in liquid mud.

 

I was shocked to see that at the British Sprint Enduro champs thieves struck and made off with four expensive machines. Details are on page 2.

 

What always makes me angry about thefts like this is that they must be perpetrated by people we know – and therefore trust.

 

As much as we love it, the fact is that off-road is very much a minority sport and it really is a small world we inhabit.

 

I'd like to think that we would be on our guard and alert if there were strangers sneaking around the paddock. But it isn't like that. 

 

So logic tells us that there is actually an enemy within and while we may not know who has taken the bikes, the chances are that at least some of us know the thieves personally – possibly even count them as friends.

 

How bad is that?

 

And how do they dispose of the bikes? Are they shipped abroad? Broken for spares? Or do they hide them for a while and then try and slide them out on line?

 

All I would like to ask is that if anyone does know anything at all regarding these thefts that they contact the police or ring the number printed on the page 2 story.

 

Let's nail them!The season starts here!

 

Woo! Woo! Or words to that effect.

 

Stand by your beds, the season starts here... 

 

It's been a long time coming but the weekend just gone has to be the first one to see a full calendar of domestic events completed in 2013. 

 

Joy of joys we had Maxxis British MX Champs, British 

Trials Champs, Sprint Enduro Champs, AMCA MX Champs and a load of other champs – plus a shed load of lower tier events from club status upward that are actually every bit as important to you – and to us – as a British or World series.

 

And as an aside there was a full Sunday 

programme of bikes on the box as MotoGP and British Superbikes ensured there was a run on electricity, as SkyPlus sets kicked-in when Rossi and co got underway, while off-roaders were returning home or unloading the debris from wherever they'd been. 

 

I've often poked fun at the weather forecasters as being somewhat confused regarding the terms flood and drought – but truth truly is stranger than fiction. 

 

The BSB round from Brands showed that, when a bike crashed it resulted in a plume of dust. 

 

Yet just two weeks previously the Maxxis British MX champs at Canada Heights, not a million miles away (about five miles actually) was cancelled as the site was awash and a tractor up to its axles in liquid mud.

 

I was shocked to see that at the British Sprint Enduro champs thieves struck and made off with four expensive machines. Details are on page 2.

 

What always makes me angry about thefts like this is that they must be perpetrated by people we know – and therefore trust.

 

As much as we love it, the fact is that off-road is very much a minority sport and it really is a small world we inhabit.

 

I'd like to think that we would be on our guard and alert if there were strangers sneaking around the paddock. But it isn't like that. 

 

So logic tells us that there is actually an enemy within and while we may not know who has taken the bikes, the chances are that at least some of us know the thieves personally – possibly even count them as friends.

 

How bad is that?

 

And how do they dispose of the bikes? Are they shipped abroad? 

Broken for spares? Or do they hide them for a while and then try and slide them out on line?

 

All I would like to ask is that if anyone does know anything at all regarding these thefts that they contact the police or ring the number printed on the page 2 story.

 

Let's nail them!