Indoor enduro is Brazil nuts!
By John Dickinson on 11th Aug 10
The words of last week's column came true before the ink had dried and a fond look back at working for Eddie Crooks...
WELL, we didn't have long to wait, barely had the ink dried on my caustic comments last week regarding the FIM and their apparent inability to admit there is actually a global recession, coupled to their obsession allotting World Championship events to south and central America – which rarely come to fruition – when what should arrive but a communication regarding the 2011 World Indoor Enduro Championship.
A five round series with two events in Spain, one in Italy, one in Portugal and – you guessed it – one (allegedly) in Brazil.
The four Euro dates all have venues attached. Guess what – the Brazil date (January 15) has a large ‘TBC' accompanying it with the venue TBA. Surprise, surprise.
Why oh why? Once again in an ideal world the World Championship would of course take in all the countries on the planet. Once again, in the REAL world it ain't going to happen. The teams and individual riders likely to contest the series are ALL Euro based and struggling to make ends meet. Who's going to pay for riders, bikes, mechanics, etc, etc, to visit Brazil. If the FIM or the Brazilian organisers are picking-up the tab for everyone then fine... and I'll tell you all about it when the date and venue are confirmed. Meanwhile, I'll look out for all the hot Brazilian teams entering the European rounds...
On the positive side, I have to say that the World Indoor Enduro round staged in the San Jordi Stadium in Barcelona last year was one of the best motorcycling events I have ever attended – and at my own expense!
True, it also incorporated a round of the World Indoor Trials Champs in a spectacular double-header bill but had the event been solely an enduro I would still be the first to return.
So, with the event pencilled into the calendar (don't know about the trial yet) I would urge anyone who likes a trip abroad spiced-up with a spectacular motorcycle event to give it due consideration. And there's plenty in Barcelona to keep the wife or girlfriend entertained...
I HAD the bad news this week that Eddie Crooks of Crooks Suzuki sadly died last week aged 78.
Particularly sad for me as I spent three-years working for Ed back in the mid 1970s and without a doubt they were the happiest three-years of my working life. If there was a better boss than Eddie, I've yet to meet him.
I can't ever remember getting a rollicking from him and believe me, myself, Nigel Birkett and John Wren certainly gave him plenty of reasons to line us up and let go with both barrels. Mainly due to our frequent Saturday morning lethargy following some legendary nights out! But as long as the jobs got done Ed was happy. And we were happy in our work and frequently went the extra mile. Quite literally as Ed's directions for delivering or collecting bikes were often vague to say the least. "Just take the M5 to Bristol and then take a left at the lights – can't remember which set, third or fourth. You'll find it!”
I once spent two-hours driving cluelessly up and down a ten- mile road in Liverpool in a thunderstorm at midnight searching for an elusive left turn ( "its on the left”) – there must have been 50 of them! Luckily, I bumped into the one person in Liverpool who could take me to where I was going. Quite honestly, I'd still be there now if I hadn't been rescued!
We got our own back though. When the very first RM80 Suzuki's came out we fired one up and raced it up and down the back street – and they were really noisy little bleeders. So we persuaded Ed to screech it up and down a couple of times (it was great fun) and a nice lady, who had heard more than enough two-stroke revving for one afternoon thank you very much, stormed out of her back door with a broom and gave Ed – dressed as usual in suit and tie – a good ear-bashing while we laughed ourselves silly, peering round the workshop door like cartoon cats!
Ed was a classic rider-agent as such chaps were then known. He was a top class road-racer, with a Manx Grand Prix win to his credit, and a respectable trials and scrambles rider who opened a shop which was run off 100% enthusiasm.
Eddie, in his 60s, even made a one-off return ride in the Classic Manx Grand Prix – and finished a fantastic third in the 250cc race on a Suzuki TR250. It was a tremendous effort and all who knew him still respect him for that ride. I was in pitlane at the finish and Ed was so wrapped-up in the race that he sucked the life out of several ciggies before his eyes returned from out on sticks to something resembling normal.
On ‘retiring' to his native Isle of Man, leaving Crooks Suzuki in the capable hands of his son, Martin, Ed took up a new career as an extra in a burgeoning Isle of Man film industry. If you have ever watched the comedy ‘Waking Ned' (there's actually an Ed-based anagram in there!) and laughed openly at the naked rider of the two-stroke MZ – and then wondered who the intrepid rider was - I can tell you. It was Eddie Crooks! "I wasn't completely naked” Ed confided one day: "I still had my boots on!...