TMX Says: Red, white & blue all over
By TMX Archives on 28th Sep 16
Bad wind and a very real danger of being blown off meant Dougie Lampkin MBE was unable to follow through on his promise of delivering a 37.7 mile wheelie around the Isle of Man TT course on Saturday afternoon.
Fortunately, the forecast for tea time on Sunday proved much kinder and after a 24 hour delay, the 12-time world champion was able to skilfully massage – and at times manhandle – his modified Vertigo all the way around the Mountain Course on just one wheel. That's the back ‘un for those of you who aren't wheelie experts.
Having being unkindly described as ‘just a wheelie' and ‘like riding a Segway', the look on Dougie's face as he reached the end of the lap – and ultimately the climax of this particular project – showed just how long and hard a journey it had been and to ultimately satiate the beast was a huge load off his mind. So congratulations to Dougie and his team for pulling it off.
Somebody else with something on their mind on Sunday afternoon – a Honda CRF250R as it goes – was Team USA's Jason Anderson. After winning the MX2 + Open moto at the Motocross of Nations El Hombre had his victory celebrations cut short when one of Team Japan's kamikaze pilots landed right on top of his noggin. Fortunately, there was no lasting injury although Anderson had to sit out the deciding final moto with a concussion.
Despite Anderson's demise the US still held the overall team advantage until Cooper Webb crashed with two laps to go in race three handing the ‘virtual win' to the Dutch. But, Romain Febvre changed all that on the very final lap when a pass on Tommy Searle snatched a bona fide victory for the red, white and blue of the French from the red, white n' blue of Team Holland while the red, white n' blue of America slipped to third overall. Meanwhile, the red, white n' blue of the Brits ended up seventh overall.
Stepping away from the most current of current affairs for a moment and it seems that last week's column struck a chord with certain members of the TMX readership – the subject being my fantasy solutions for making the Maxxis British Motocross Championship, supported by Pro Clean, even better!
Chris Sprawson agreed that bringing back Chris Sprawson to take control of the Waiting Zone was a cracking idea while David Thorne thought it'd be helpful to have an all-in 250cc class for four-poppers and two-strokes. Both those ideas make total sense to me and the latter would certainly add a bit of smokey flavour to the already ludicrously tasty MX2 division.
Other suggestions included a 125cc Rookies cup for Under-21s to run in the MX2 class, the Youth Nationals to run alongside the main series, sidecar supports and my all-time favourite ‘shut up man and leave it alone – you're such an idiot, jeez'. Okay then...
And finally I'd just like to say a big ‘Ay Up' to Roy who on a totally unrelated note wrote in to renew his subscription and tell us – I'm hoping tongue in cheek – that ‘I am alarmed at yet another bill to pay. Never mind, I am posting my last few quid on my way to the food bank. I am 80 now. No need for a sympathy card, just keep sending my weekly fix'.
Will do, Roy, will do...
