Cloverdale Indoor Flat Track

Great footage of scrambling and indoor short track from 1960s Canada. Watch the wild lines and berm riding on the indoors.
Thanks to Norm for the link. G

Travis Triumphant

Travis Newbold, Sideburn's very own moto poet, roadtripped the 1250 miles from Denver, Colorado to Portland, Oregon to check out The One Motorcycle Show and take part in the Salem indoor dirt track races the organisers had put on this year.
The laidback motorcycle shop owner won the vintage class and came second in the Hooligan class racing one of Roland Sands Indian Scout hooligan racers.
He's a class act.

Travis updates his blog from time to time and I like it a lot - 747rider.blogspot.com

Photo: Nevin Pontius (another class act)

The One Show AND The One Pro 2016

Thor and the See See crew are gearing up for another One Motorcycle Show next month. If you can possibly get to it, do. It's a great show. Every year they try to raise the game (and they always do). This year they're combining flat track, an hour away in Salem, with the show. Go race or spectate. Here's what they say...

THE ONE PRO FLAT TRACK MOTORCYCLE RACING! New to this years show, we will host a pro flat track event Sunday Feb. 14th from 12-5pm. Shuttle buses will be leaving the One Motorcycle Show and heading down to Salem Indoor Speedway around 11 am. To sign up and race or buy a $10 spectator ticket go HERE. 

Salem Racing Today

From Thor at See See Motorcycles, who are doing a lot for promoting grassroots racing and so much more, in the Pacific North West. We're happy to sponsor this indoor series. This is what he says...

Hope everyone's holiday was wonderful. Saturday we have the first race of the year. This season's attendance has been bigger than any other season. It's due in part to your support. Thank you so much for supporting local racing. Thor

Salem: Tomorrow Night

Find out more at http://salemindoorspeedway.proboards.com/
If you can't be at the Superprestigio, you may as well race your own indoor short track. G

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

Salem: Tonight

This sounds like such a great scene, that we're happy to sponsor. Get along if you're in the Pacific North West. G

Superhooligan!

Next Saturday in Vegas!
This will be the ultimate fistfight in a phone booth at the indoor arena at the Orleans Hotel, Las Vegas.

Friday night is the finale of the 2015 GNC series. Jared Mees has to be favourite to take the title. He's 7 points clear of Bryan Smith and has had better short track results for the last few years, but Smith's first ever national win was on a short track (though now he is the undisputed mile master - five wins this season, to Mees' one win). And anything can happen on a track like this.

Then on Saturday night is the first Superprestigio of the Americas. It's not attracting the calibre of names that the Spanish one has, and the support race was supposed to the the Roland Sands Designs/ Indian Motorcycles Superhooligan, but I think most people are going to be looking forward to the nuts on the modified street bikes more than the pros on the 450s.

Sideburn's own poet, Travis Newbold, is going to representing Sideburn on an 2015 Indian. It's going to be wild. Americans! Get out there if you can.

And if you can't, everyone can watch it livestreaming on fanschoice.tv G

Artwork by Adi Gilbert/99 Secs

Salem Indoor is BACK!

 

Indoor dirt track returns to the Pacific North West THIS Saturday.
Classes for all kind of bikes. Great sponsors lining up and the added benefit of See See Motorcycles throwing their enthusiasm behind this grassroots series for another season.
You might even see Sammy Halbert or Brad Baker racing prior to the Superprestigio.
Get along to watch or race.

Below is the opening spread from Sideburn 17 that featured this great scene. G

Yamaha Silver Cup, Long Beach, CA

Great old clip, posted by Superbike Planet, of early-1970s indoor short track on concrete. Nixon, Mashburn and Brelsford are all interviewed. The track looks like ice, definitely no Coke syrup down to make that more tacky. I'm pretty sure it's 1971, or late 1970. A bit of digging showed that Jim Odom won it (the rider from the Trophy Queen page of Sideburn 10).

As the presenter explains, the series also went to the famous Madison Square Gardens for the NY round in January 1971. A reported 17,000 turned up, on a Monday night!, the iconic venue sold out and spectators were turned away, according to an AMA report from the time. I wonder how many will go to the first US Superprestigio in Vegas on November 20-21? Two who will be there are Ben and me. Travis the poet too! Whose coming?

Click the 'Carpet Shoes' label below for more post about indoor concrete short track, or the 'indoors' label for more indoor short track in general.

Thanks to Roger for bringing it to our attention. G

Salem: This Saturday

This scene is really growing. Loads of spectators making it out.
Get along if you can. Cheap to race. Cheap to spectate. G

Salem Indoors: This Weekend

The indoor series that See See Motorcycles are promoting is still on-going. Just $10 to spectate and not much more to race.

Salem Saturday Night

The indoor series continues at Salem, WA. Get there if you can! G

Watch Superprestigio LIVE

The Superprestigio goes off tomorrow evening in Barcelona, Spain. It's arguably the most hotly anticipated dirt track race of the 21st century, and Fanschoice TV, the same great service that has brought live casts and YouTube recordings of every GNC race this year,  is offering a live feed.

If that wasn't enough, our old mate Chris Carr is guest commentator.

The official press release (aimed at Americans, hence the Eastern Time - just google it to work out what time that is where you are) says:

The Superprestigio is set to begin at 12:00 noon ET (9:00 a.m. PT) on Saturday, Dec. 13 and all of the action will be broadcast live on www.FansChoice.tv, the official home for live streaming of all AMA Pro Flat Track events.

There is an incredible line-up of riders including:

SUPERPRESTIGIO CLASS
Marc Marquez - 2014 MotoGP WC
Tito Rabat - 2014 Moto2 WC
Alex Marquez - 2014 Moto3 WC
Scott Redding
Bradley Smith
Toni Elias - 2010 Moto2 WC
Troy Bayliss - 2001, 2006, 2008 WSB WC
Kenny Noyes - 2014 CEV SBK champ

OPEN CLASS
Brad Baker (2013 GNC Champ)
Jared Mees (2x GNC champ)
Shayna Texter
Joonas Kylmakorpi (4x long track WC, who is racing a Zaeta painted by Maxwell Paternoster!)
Thomas Chareyre (3x Supermoto WC - surely a dark horse)
Fabrizio Vesprini (2x FIM Euro flat track champ)
Francesco Cecchini (2014 FIM Euro flat track champ)
Ivan Cervantes (4x Enduro WC)
Taddy Blazusiak - (5x Superenduro WC)
Guy Martin

And from the DTRA in the Open Class

Tim Neave (2014 champ), Tom Neave, Aidan Collins (4x UK champ), Ollie Brindley, Alan Birtwistle

(WC = World Champion)

The winners of each class race each other in a grand final.

Below is a photos from the @marcmarquez93 instagram feed of him practicing yesterday at the Canudas track. Many of the top riders were there.

Salem Indoor Tomorrow Night

We're doing a little bit to support amateur racing in the Pacific Northwest sending a few prizes out to See See who are really doing all they can to get people racing.
It's a friendly scene and welcoming of no-nothing novices. Oh, and you get to watch one of the world's most bad ass racers, Brad Baker race sometimes too.

All photos Tom Stein/ Northwest Track Shots

Salem: Next Saturday

More indoor flat track in Oregon. Get along and race, even if you never have before. G

Lower Than a Snake's Belly in a Puddle

Kawasaki UK dirt track team rider Alan Birtwistle at last weekend's Dirt Bike Show. Co-Built made him the titanium bar end.
No, he didn't crash. G

Salem Indoor Flat Track

This weekend.
Just $30 to race.
See See are putting their shoulder behind it. G

Sang Froid Go To Salem

This came in from Patrick, of the Sang-Froid Riding Club in Portland, a few weeks ago. Patrick makes the Broken Bone patch we sell...

Travis, Andrew and I loaded up the van in the snow on Sunday, headed south to Salem on Sunday morning. The 45-mile drive took a couple of hours in the snow. Figured we'd be sliding all day so why not on the way down, too? 

We road race at OMRRA with Andy DiBrino (below), he's a young go-faster with a number of class championships already under his belt. Andy's recently started flattracking, and doing well. Andy decided to teach a flat track school so we signed up. Run-what-you-brung, there were eight of us on-track, a mix of supermotos, proper flat-trackers, minibikes, and knobbied motocrossers. 

Rode all day at Salem's small track, working on line selection, starts, head position, and more. Andy did a great job and we are hoping to get back down there soon. Had a blast for just a few bucks, and enjoyed watching Brad Baker and Sammy Halbert, who were alternating on-track sessions with us. 

Some photos from Thomas Tran, Keith DiBrino and us. Hope all is well on your end! 
Patrick

Remember, if you want to try flat track without all the expense of buying a race bike, you can compete at Dirt Quake in the UK or USA this summer. G

Slammin' Sammy v The Bullet

Three great videos of the same race 450 Expert Race.
This is Salem, Oregon, a short drive from Portland and where are friends from See See Motorcycles have been racing all winter. This is, clearly, a small, local race. The spectators are other racers, their families and friends. The race entry is about $40, anyone can turn up and race BUT two of the most exciting and combative riders in the flat track, one of whom is the GNC champ, just happened to turn up and compete. Brad Baker and Sammy Halbert go at it after two false starts. It's like going to a Thursday night football five-a-side match and being in the same sports hall as Rooney and Sturridge, but no one outside the four walls knows about it.

The video above shows how hard Halbert (#7) is pushing Baker (#1) with Davis Fisher (#67) just behind (then in front). The helmet-mounted Sammy cam below gives a rider's eye view but distorts how close the two are. The bottom film gives another perspective.

 Daytona is just around the corner. It's going to be wild.

Thanks to Courtney and Roger for sending these links in.