New leathers

Not quite like Nicky's but I like them. From Hein Gericke. They come with straight legs for the essential over the boot look. They were designed by EuroTrash cool cat, Bjorn Gericke of G-Lab. I think you can still buy them.
I had PB and Skooter Farm patches stitched on, my number on the back and Sideburn on the ass. All by Joyda Leathers of Wigan. Big thanks to Michael W at Hein Gericke UK.

Complete wash-out

Drove 170 miles to Middlesbrough to race and it got rained off. Complete was of time and diesel.
Could've been worse. Marco Belli flew in from Italy to race the cool new CCM (photos in the future) and his fellow countryman Jacapo Monti and his brother drove from Northern Italy for the race! Poor buggers. In Europe diesel is £1.17 per litre. For Americans that is an incredible 8.84 bucks a gallon. And they will have driven over 2000 miles by the time they got home. For nothing!
I was so p*ssed off I didn't even get my camera out of my bag and there are some smart new bikes on the UK scene.

Oversuit customisation

A day before the first proper championship race of the UK season (Scunthorpe was just a pre-season warm-up) and the weather report looks bad. Best be prepared.

Hayden scoop

Our friends - Jess and Jeremy at Alpinestars fed us this scoop on the Sunday of the Jerez GP. It's Nicky Hayden (star of SB issue 1) and his new dirt track-lovin' leathers.

Jeremy from Alpinestars says "Attached are images of Nicky and Earl (with Earl in an ‘Earl’s Racing Team T-shirt), a couple of images we took of Nicky in his suit here at Jerez.

I spoke to Earl about the origins of ‘Earl’s Racing Team’ and in case you do not have the background, here is a brief summary that Earl gave me.

The idea came to Earl when he was racing in Enduro competitions in the mid-sixties. He started supporting members of the Hayden family who were primarily dirt track racing. Hence, the logo centres around a 750cc Harley Davidson. Earl’s Racing Team became truly significant when his three boys, Nicky, Roger-Lee and Tommy got into racing, as did his two daughter’s, Jennifer and Kathleen, for a short period. The logo was then adapted to include the boys names and Nicky has incorporated the bike and rider with his own ‘Kentucky Kid’ signature logo which, since Qatar this season, has been carried on the seat of his suit.

A short postscript to this summary, which Earl was very keen to point out was that Earl’s Racing Team, which has supported so many members of the Hayden fraternity over the years is still recruiting and bring on young riding talent. The latest recruit is 12 year old Jake Lewis from Princeton, KY who is continuing the dynasty and showing speed on the local dirt tracks."

Dig the new breed

Saw this mutant kiddie grasstracker at Scunthorpe. Tuned two-stroke in a Brit frame (Antig?), with front and rear suspension. Ben likes the kid's Mighty Boosh kevlar suit best.

Omar

Shots of a couple of Champions sent to us by Phil at Omar's Dirt Track.

Silverware

How can pride be a sin?

The Glamour

Well, it's a little bit after the event, but I seem to have taken Boastie's damning critique of my racing on board and won my first ever race. I think that deserves an exclamation mark. I won my first race! At a cold, foggy and miserable Scunthorpe (in the North of England), I was racing in the B class for racers who hadn't made a UK final, with 11 others. I came third overall. Silverware, oh yes.
I had the support of the other Skooter Farm team members. We were all using this Scunthorpe race as a warm-up for the Short Track UK season.
The biggest help was my mate Jimmy who I sometimes work with. He's a former road racer and understands suspension. He sorted mine right out. The preload, rebound, compression and static sag. It made a big difference. And so did being braver.
Can't wait for the next race.

First race of the season

I've spent all day getting my twin shock Wood Rotax ready for tomorrow's race at Scunthorpe. The short track racers are guests of the Lancashire Junior Grass Track Racing Club. Oh yes, I've hit the big time.
This is my third season. I'm starting to experiment with suspension. I've gone extreme on the rear WP shocks. They're virtually vertical. And I've backed off all the compression on the Yamaha R6 forks. It's a pre-season race so I'm trying stuff out, see if I can tell the difference.
Also, one of the best racers in Europe, Peter Boast, followed me for a few laps when I rode his CRF at a test in King's Lynn. How was I? I asked. Good coming off the turn, apparently, not bad mid-corner, but 'Dead slow' going in. 'Be braver,' he said. I thought I was.
This is what my bike looked like before I bought it. It came with no front end.

Blog morons

We are blog morons. Up until ten minutes ago we were all about the printed page. We didn't even realise that if you clicked the picture of the bike it got bigger. If you didn't either, click the Aermacchi and check it out.

Sideburn blog lives!

As if we didn't have enough to do we've decided to start a Sideburn blog. People are sending us good stuff all the time and we're up to no good ourselves most days. We can't save it all for the next issue, so we're going to feed stuff up here.

Like this bike. Sideburn reader Garrett B's 1976 Harley/ Aermacchi SX250.

Ring-ding! And nearly finished.