Sideburn 34: Out Now

We venture into the deserts of California, Mexico and South Africa to test the mettle of our contributors. Old bikes are ridden not hidden, and inappropriate machinery is raced through 1000 miles of wilderness  proving the adage that it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.

SB34 also features McQueen's very own Huskie; a new regular column from Death Spray Custom, an interview with the toughest woman in flat track; follows a group of female high school students building a budget race bike and serves up an LSD-fueled report from Wheels and Waves El Rollo race. Yes, really.

BUY SIDEBURN 34

COVER: Hayden Roberts and his Triumph TR6 desert sled
BIKES: Triumph TR6 desert sled; Harley Sportster 883 Baja racer; Steve McQueen's On Any Sunday Husqvarna 400 Cross; High School project Honda CB160 flat tracker; Survivor Customs CCM Rotax racers;
PEOPLE: Sandriana Shipman; John Harrison; Chuck Joyner
INTERVIEW: Johnny Lewis
HOW TO: Build Your Own Flat Track
BLUEPRINT: Jawa 500 DT Type 890
SHOP: Rebels Alliance
EVENTS: X Games; Wheels and Waves; Sons of Speed banked oval racing; Vancouver Flat Track, Pemberton, BC;
ADVENTURE: 1000 miles through Baja on a Sportster; deep into South Africa on Royal Enfield 500s;
PAGES: 116

BUY SIDEBURN 34

BUY SIDEBURN 34

Hubert & the Husqvarna Shirt

In the post below Hubert Bastie mentioned the very few items that his racing father kept after he stopped competing. One of the items was a Husqvarna race shirt. Hubert wore the shirt to race in the the DTRA and in French motocross on his own vintage Husqvarna two-stroke. Lad above, Dad below, same shirt over 30 years apart. G

Bastie Racing Heritage

Sideburn's French ambassador, Hubert Bastie sent tells this great story about his family background...

Many of us, DTRA riders, are from a family of racers. The same for me.

My dad was born in 1950 in Paris. He rode Husqvarna, Ossa and Bultacos from 1973 to 1983. But I never saw him riding, not e even once (but last year he competed in a Super veteran race, after 33 years of not racing). Why? Because he just stopped everything when my brother came to the world.

What did he leave us from his racing years? Tons of bikes? Cool riding gear? Did he take us ride as youngsters? NO! Nothing!

He was just ok to help me to buy a trials bike, a Gas Gas 125, at 16, but I'd been focussed on a 1985 YZ since I was 12! For him motocross is baaaad and dangerous. That's so strange for a man who finished the seventh at first edition of Le Touquet, who won races in the French Enduro Championship.

Here is what he left:
3 helmets in the Garage, that became nice bird's nest.
One single Husqvarna Jersey.
Some trophies And a used Trelleborg tyre and tooooons of pictures...

 1981 Husqvarna 250

  1981 Husqvarna 250

 1982 Husqvarna

                                                                    1982 Husqvarna

 The one on the left became my mum 

 Ossa Trials

 The shirt I wore in DTRA

 Broken shock at Le Touquet in 1981

 The helmet cemetery today

With his road bike a Z1, one of the first in France

Introducing Hubert Bastie

Joining Travis and John Harrison as new blog contributors, is Frenchman Hubert Bastie. Hubert is a nurse/paramedic, a racer, a wildman, a DTRA and Dirt Quake regular (Super Mario, Marge Simpson, Ninja Turtle), even though he lives and works in Paris, France. He loves two-strokes and competes in various different types of amateur competition, and also rides on the road. Here's what he says about a recent race...

Two month ago my old mate Oliver told me about a race close to Paris (for once) called Ultracross. A mix between motocross and supercross. He was so enthusiastic to race it because there was a Enduro class. Yeah maybe... I looked at the website. Whaaaaat! There is a Vintage Class! I filled in my entry form in one second.

- Me: Oliver, I'm gonna race with you mate!

- Oliver: Sorry, I forgot that I have a job interview this day.

- Me: Ok. I'm gonna make it on my own.

Two weeks before the Ultracross - Driiiiing driiiiing 

-Me: Hello?

-a Girl: Hello Mister Bastié?

-Me: Yes.

- the girl: I call you about the Ultracross. Unfortunately we must cancel the Vintage Class cause you are the only one to enter, so do you have a modern bike?

-Me: Yes, but I want the ride my Husky, so let me ride with the fuel-injected ones.

Racing in France is a different thing. It's all about winning and having the biggest van with the biggest trailer and the biggest tent. Unfortunately I have no tent, no trailer and a small dirty van.

Nobody cares about my bike during tech inspection because they didn't understood how fun it is to ride a vintage compared to the modern ones.

Nobody cares about me till my first race. I start dead last. By the way, it is my first start on a real motocross starting gate. But I overtake 3 or 4 guys every lap. The commentator and the crowd start to focus on me. I became the little fun thing in a too serious race. Between the races I become the crowd favourite and people queue in line to ask me what year my bike is.

I make three strong races and got the 8th place out of 22. Overall. I was damn happy, but had nobody to share my happiness. Don't mess with a vintage bike!

On the way Back home I saw the Facebook page of the event. The report shows two photos : The first is the Pro Class winner and an other of me and my Husqvarna jumping the finish line.

Strange world.

HB89

Read about Hubert's Racewear, the kit he competes in, in Sideburn 25.

Skijoring Freaks

This came in from Karl in Austria, reacting to a post from last week.

The video from 1953 in Tyrol is great. 

I am from Upper-Austria. Skijöring has been very popular all around our area till the beginning of the 1970s. Safety was not that much in the forefront. It was more or less all about speed and giving gas. More and more laws and terms by the government, uncomprehending neighbours and also a lack of snow made it pretty difficult and expelled the Skijöring freaks. 
That's a really big pity. I have sent pictures of Skijöring in my area. 

Greetings from Vocklabruck. 
Karl

LAB2V

Still hobbling, but still buzzing with contentment.
LA (actually Palmdale) > Barstow > Las Vegas 32nd annual dual sport enduro was fantastic. Until doing the Sideburn Morocco tour in April, I only had limited green laning experience in Wiltshire and Wales. I figured if I could conquer the cathedral dunes of the Sahara, the Mojave would be a piece of piss. Too cocky too soon. It's 'only' two days as opposed to five on the trot, but up at 5am only to come to a crumbling halt at 5:30pm the days are much longer. The dust is a demon in its own right.

I'll write a longer piece in the next issue of the magazine, but this is primarily to say I survived, and a big Thank You to Julian of Deus Emporium LA for all he did to facilitate my ride.

Thank you Jaime Dempsey and the rest of the Deus road crew who kept us topped up. The brand new Husqvarna FE350 was amazeballs. (I thought I'd miss the extra 100cc I had with the the 450 KTM EXC in Morocco but I didn't).

Gary Pasquale, not your average ADV rider, home baked Yamaha XS650 crosser, Biltwell metal flake lid, army surplus kit, rode like a scalded wolverine.

decision time on the afternoon of the final day. Take the 'hard route' up Red Rock Canyon or not? (the road book lists alternative 'bale out' and 'easy route' short cut options for the flagging hearted). I'm knackered, my right foot is f*€kd, I'm under-dressed for the chillier mountain temperatures, and there is talk of Youtube featured perilous danger. I can't resist. BP

GNC Flat Track Finale Online

Finally, the finale. A real fistfight in a phone booth. Make time to watch the heat races.
It's over a week since the flat track finale took place in Las Vegas and fanschoice.tv have, at last, put the footage online to watch at your leisure.
We've specifically avoided spoilers on the site. I used to do event reports, but think it's better to watch it. Leave comments if you want to discuss the racing.
Background: Jared Mees went into this round leading from Bryan Smith with Kenny Coolbeth having an outside chance if the night went badly wrong for the other two and perfectly for him.
Click www.fanschoice.tv/ama-pro to watch.

Hopefully the Superprestigio of America and Superhooligan will follow soon. G

Joe Kopp raced this striking Husqvarna with carbon-fibre BST wheels.

Photos: Courtesty of AMA Pro Racing

Leon Foggitt

Evocative shots by Leon Foggitt of DTRA Vintage Class racing.

There's much talk of 'correct body position' being the corner-stone of racing but Anthony's sack-of-spuds poise seems produce results for him, and here, on Wliky's Triumph framer. Hot Chip.

Mobile emporium of metal flake funk. Guy Bon Zorro on his trusty street-legal Triumph.

Drogo on Co-Built Rotax with team manager Dickie Brown

Hot Frog / Ninja Turtle, Hubert Bastie not doing a wheelie for a change. On not very converted Husqvarna MX.

See these fellas juggle their metal and spuds TODAY!
Amman Valley, South Wales SA18 1UT