John Harrison 104R: UPDATE

I mistakenly called John 'Andrew' in a blog post last week, after meeting him at Rye House, and got this email...

Amazed to be included in today's blog (and Sunday's instagram) but really ...Andrew?!? 

I'm gratified that you and others realised I'm trying to keep the whole look as early '70s as possible. It's pathetic really, but I'm simply acting out my 'On Any Sunday' fantasies at last, 44 years after being mesmerized in The Regal, Eastleigh. Now if I can just find some old race boots that lace right up the shin. 

Due to pre-race nerves and chronic inarticulacy I fear I didn't express myself adequately when I blurted out that The World of Sideburn is a huge part of my life. What I should have expressed perhaps, is how checking your blog and instagram are part of my daily routine, and just how much I enjoy gems like the rubber boned sisters and Sam n' Dave's early 70's sartorial wonder etc as well as all the mo'sickle related stuff and things like your wonderfully understated Mablethorpe film. 

 I just wish I'd had the balls to join in years ago, when I first discovered Sideburn, and found that I wasn't the only Limey who got flat track. 

I was speaking in truth when I said that I wouldn't have been at Rye House and racing if it wasn't for Sideburn, but I expect you hear that a lot. I thank you deeply and sincerely for making it possible for an old fart like me feel enabled to have a go. Just don't call me Andrew please. I don't have anything against the name, I like several Andrews /Andys, but it's just not me. 

 To show there's no hard feelings, and because I'm unlikely to ever to be able to afford to use it to get to a DTRA meeting here's a pic of my other old kit, which I think you'll get. 
Cheers, John Harrison #104r

UPDATE: John sent a follow-up email of him racing his 1958 Dodge Coronet at a local hillclimb. It's impressive.

Read more about John's car at akinamedia.jp

My kind of dry cleaners - update

This never happens when I pop in to have the stains taken out of my velveteen loin cloths. Apologies for my continuing obsession with Monica Vitti, here paired with Claudia Cardinale in Qui Comincia l'Avventura (1975), released as Lucky Girls elsewhere. MP

Harley, you're right, and here's why:

Sideburn talks AMA GNC listens?

Back in early March, Michael Lock, a Brit who is the former CEO of Ducati North America and a big cheese at  Honda Europe, Triumph and Lamborghini North America, got in touch with me. He said he was consulting at AMA Pro Racing, or had just joined the organisation, and was looking at how to make flat track more successful. I was pretty surprised that he would talk to someone in the UK about American pro flat track, but we arranged a time he could call me. We spoke for 20 minutes and I gave him my enthusiastic fan's perspective, a perspective that has an ocean between the sport I love and where I live.

I'm sure Lock had the opportunity to speak to hundreds of people involved in the sport - riders, team owners, sponsors, plus thousands of people who have attended far more races and know far more about the GNC than me, but he clearly thought the view of someone who loves the sport, but sees it from a distance and doesn't have a vested interest, had some merit. So I told him what I thought, then  boiled it down to a blog post from March 30, not mentioning in the blog that I'd spoken to anyone at the the AMA. I have cut and pasted it below.

Then, earlier this week, I was checking instagram and saw a few posts from pro riders commenting on rules changes. Those in the screenshot at the top. And thought, perhaps someone did listen to what I thought...

This means the GNC1 riders (the elite) will only compete on one bikes, so if Brad Baker wins the title, he wins on a Harley, not a Harley and a Honda or KTM or whatever single he uses that year. It also means fans don't turn up and see MX bikes and riders in MX gear when they were expecting to see flat trackers.

People are complaining, people always complain, but the sport has been in decline for 30 years, playing to its strengths and USPs are crucial. G

DTX bikes* can produce good racing, and they're a good way for some into the sport, but the hope that killing framers** would bring more mainstream advertising and support into AMA Pro Flat Track has been proven not to work. Instead, the main thing it's done, from my fan's perspective, is lost some of flat track's unique identity. Imagine you were a motorbike enthusiast, travelling through the US on holiday and heard that a big flat track race was happening just up the road and you could get along to see it. 

You don't do any research; you don't know much about the sport, except what you've seen in On Any Sunday. So you just roll up and pay your money at the turnstiles and take a seat with a beer. But it's a short track race. And everyone looks like a motocrosser. No one is in the cool leathers you've seen photos of. And the bikes don't look like you expected. They all look like motocross guys. But they're not even doing jumps! Eventually you might get into the racing, because that's still good, but the whole experience is dulled. And sport has to be an experience if it's going to reach beyond the hardcore. 

 I don't blame the AMA for trying, but go back through the blog and you'll see we were never fans of the idea. And neither are we Luddites, kicking against progress and digging our heels in. But pro flat track isn't growing and no one is addressing this issue, yet. The aesthetic appeal of flat track bikes and flat track riders in their leathers is one of its great strengths.

Palmgren Brothers

Denny and Larry styling.

Taree MCC 1975 & 1984

Donna from Australia read our story about 1970s speedway rider Ian 'Tiddler' Turner in Sideburn 20 and got in touch with this email and great photos. They're from Taree, the town (and I assume the track) where Troy Bayliss runs his invitational dirt track meeting every year.

Hi Fabulous Dudes at Sideburn,
I had to email and gush liberally about Issue 20, the speedway story you tempted me with was as nostalgic as promised, many thanks! I am so thrilled that I invested my money in a Sideburn subscription, as it is easily the most entertaining mag I read, and the highlight of the week when it arrives in my mailbox. Being the mega fusspot (and SEN teacher) I am, I do tend to have OCD and 'edit' everything I read, including mags and newspapers, and I have only ever found one or two typos in Sideburn, which, in my eyes at least, is perfectly acceptable, as you are writing about cool stuff after all! 
In all seriousness, guys, many thanks for a glorious read. I particularly love the variety of bikes and bike culture that you cover each issue, especially the speedway; it's f*****g brilliant, but I am biased in that view. Other bike mags I have read have shiny stuff in them, and yours does too, but you also celebrate the mongrels, the rusty and the bitzers, which, I must say, I prefer, as they have such cool stories and histories behind them. Totally awesome! 
The hot guys riding the bikes in each issue of Sideburn, too, certainly adds to the appeal of the mag, in my eyes at least. Lastly, Gary, the speedway story in Issue 20 brought back such wicked memories for me that I had to dig through my dad's old photos and I found a couple of gems of an old inter-club meeting from 1975 at a Taree (Mid North Coast, NSW, Australia) racetrack. My god, those leathers are...graphic! I think these snaps are testament to the brilliant times to be had on the back of a motorbike, bad taste in leathers notwithstanding! 
Ride on! 
Regards, (Probably Not Your Only Number 1 Sideburn Fan), 
Donna

Peaks Ride-Out Snaps

This was the only accident of the whole day. It was just topple during the coffee break when the sidestand pressed through the flapjack tarmac. The only damage was some earth deposit on the sidestand which didn't exactly warrant calling out the AA.

Dave on his newly acquired CB175

Max winner of 'Best Jacket' wearing Dave Aldana's old leathers from when he was a teenager.

Proper coffee in the middle of nowhere, served from the back of Motore's Piaggio Ape - How fantastic!

And the next day on the way home, I stopped by Derbyshire Aggregates out in Youlgrave for a few sacks of black Bassalt chips (not peculiar to the North of England) for my wannabe-Japanese garden. (I nearly gave myself a double hernia when I acquired the stone doorstep from a field next to the A53 when I was last in the Peak District). BP

Convergence

We put up a post about Albion BMX magazine here. And for the latest issue's cover they have used Nico Ornamental Conifer who painted our Royal Enfield. Small world. G

Short Track UK at Leicester Mega Post

Hanging out. Max, Drogo and Jason with my and Dave's bikes.

Last Sunday I left home at 8am, my lad, Max, sat next to me in the van, heading to Leicester. We were driving to the newest speedway oval in Britain, on a beautiful sunny morning. We returned home at 11.15pm, after a great day's racing.

For this year, Short Track UK (STUK) have changed things around. Instead of having the Club racing on one day and the GNC classes at another separate meeting, the Club championship runs during the day, the GNC from 7 in the evening. Lots of guys can, and do, race at both meetings, so it makes for a long day, but fun. STUK run on a shoestring, so they have to keep trying new methods of making it affordable to run the series.

I made the A Final in all the classes I was competing in and came sixth in the GNC Thunderbikes class, so I was well-pleased. Last year I kept missing out on the final. GI

Paul B's race hauler.

Jason's Racefit C&J Rotax. Beautiful bike.
Ex-Jacapo Monti Husky raced in the Novice class.
This bike turned up for the first time. I think it's Yam XT-based.
Neat SR500s. The yellow one flew with Neil Martin on board.
Drogo.
Hanging out 2. Dave Skooter Farm; me (in my favourite Motorcycho shirt); Wilky.
Adam Allott and Glyn Pocklington looked great on the Aprilia twins with their new Furygan leathers. The bikes need a bit more development, but sound great.
Sideburn 10 cover star Tim Neave was riding like a demon. He came third in the GNC, won both GNC and Club Thunderbike classes and the National Pro in the Club class.
Co-Built's Geoff came third in the Club Class Thunderbike.
Trophy hunters wear FTWCo.
Stu Avery debuted his XR in his...
...cool leathers.
Stu Lovell on his Suzuki-powered CCM.
Jamie.
Oli Brindley - this kid is so fast.
Vittorio Marzotto was one of two Italian riders who made the long trip. The other was Fabrizio Vesprini, who was challenging for the lead in GNC and Thunderbike classes on his Fasciani framers. This is the Vertematti-powered Thunderbike...

The TM-powered GNC framer (framers are legal in the UK GNC class. They're not allowed in the US GNC).

I love this photo of the pro singles class, taken by Anthony at DBA. Do you think they're trying hard?

The Skooter Farm evening team, dusty and creaky from a full day's racing already. Skooter Farm's Jason just raced the day Club meet.
Stu Lovell at Sunset.
Hanging it out. The GNC Class racing was the best I'd ever seen. Dirt Quake is going to have all the top UK racers competing because it's part of the GNC and Club championship. Plus all the nutcases in the special Sideburn classes.

Ade Collins, Tom Wooley, Tim and Tom Neave, Pete Boast, Darren Trapmore are all names to watch on the night, but there are a bunch of guys like Brindley Sr, Alan Birtwhistle and Richard Mason who can go for the podiums on the night. It's incredible racing.
Mr and soon to be Mrs Rocket (Mr Rocket is from the Hip Priests, who played Rollerburn) came to spectate.
Austin's Man Wolfs. All this for some shoes!?

Wilky sporting his Get Thee Behind Me Sideburn zip sweat.

Next race is King's Lynn, April 21, then Dirt Quake, May 19.

Entries for the Sideburn classes are going out today - entries are just £15 for three 4-lap heats on one of the best tracks in the UK. There are still a few places. Email us or leave a comment if you want to be involved.