Fratelli d'Italia

Boastie a small cuddly crocodile wont save you from all those naked arms and legs.

Round 6 of the International Mefo Sport Flattrack Cup 2010 which was run in the fantastic Kellerholz arena of the legendary MC Bergring Teterow, Germany. Expert results:

1. #6 Marco Belli, Varese(I), Zaeta
2. #7x Ben Baker, Skegness(UK), Honda
3. #1 Pete Boast, Market Rasen(UK), team Suzuki
4. #28x Halbe Scheper, Emmer-Compascuum(NL)
5. #98 Richard Mason, Ashbourne(UK), Honda
6. #15 Jan-Willem Jansen, Adetswil(CH), HD500R
7. #70 Stefan Gatzenmeier, Ruhpolding(D), KTM
8. #16 Mick Jansen, Utrecht(NL), HD500R
9. #61x Kevin Armstrong, Boston(UK), Suzuki
10. #473x Jarno Möri, Aarberg(CH), J&M-Yamaha
11. #45r Geoff Cain, Oxon(UK), Co-Built Rotax
12. #44 Ronald Shamier, Hoorn(NL), Co-Built Rotax

more details at the Dutch-Brothers site

Am I mad?

I love silicone sealant. OK, I hate using it, and by the end of an intense session I tend to look like I've taken moneyshots from the entire sixth form in some bizarre public school initiation. However, it's useful stuff and just lately I've become attached to having a small tube of the gunk in my toolbox. At first, I bought a little tube and immediately regretted forking out stupid money compared to when you buy one of those big, trigger-operated do-the-bathroom jobs.

So... in these days of plastic toothpaste tubes, it seemed to make sense to wash out an empty one, give it a few days to dry, roll it up to get rid of the air, then, like some weird insemination process (of which I honestly have only limited experience), I used a big trigger-tube to fill the little 'un. Tool box joy and more money to spend on electro-shock therapy. MP

A Miracle

Oh, they happen. Sideburn's Hauler, the ex-Post Office LDV Pilot, passed its MoT yesterday. Another 12 month's happy hauling and I still haven't stopped smiling. I even treated it to a new alternator belt. GI

Netley Marsh Autojumble

This Friday-Saturday, off the A336, near Southampton. Patrick and (?) Fred who built his AJS, will be coming over from Paris with a stand, so say Hello. Happy rumaging. BPLovely model 90 Sunbeam, photo from 2007 sunbeamsidevalve.com

Sodium Distortion update

From Jason who is back in Washington after a week on the Salt. He's been having fun on the Supercharged Buell-powered Sodium Distortion and is sporting Sideburn's latest design, the Race Bike shirt.

'Hi Gary, Got the latest issue, Awesome! Bonneville was a great success, set two records and reached a top speed of 150.151 mph. Jason'

Springfield Mile Photos

Great shot that shows exactly where riders take one hand off the bars for drafting down the straights. Johnny Lewis (10) has two hands on while Jake Johnson (5) is reaching for the fork leg. It's right there, give or take a few bike lengths.

Nope, that's not Steve Red Max leading them out, but Willie McCoy who came 4th in the Main. There were 17 finishers (Brandon Robinson was a DNF). The fastest lap of all 17 riders was a 34-something second lap. How close is that?
Werner, Smith and Springsteen get the winning habit. I wonder how much it hurts Harley to see their old boys winning with a green machine.
Big crowd, beautiful grandstand.
Michael Toon, Pro Singles winner.
Zakk Palmer (81c), Toon (22L), Michael LaBelle (20T), Brad Baker behind.
Mees and Carr.
95C is JD Beach who jumped from the Pro Singles to the Expert twins this weekend and made the Main at the first attempt. Classy. 65 is Cory Texter (Shayna Texter's brother). Condolences to the Texter family for the untimely death of Randy Lee.
Mees and Carr again.
JD Beach, two-hand tuck. New PM front, old PM rear.
Carr, Mees and Johnson.
Joe Kopp and Sammy Halbert. Kopp scored a few points back on Sammy, finishing one place in front. Uncharacteristically, neither of them made the Dash for Cash.

Photos: AMA Pro Racing

SB#6 now at the ABC Amsterdam

The shelves of the American Book Center on the Spui have now been charged with fresh copies of SB#6. BP

The Bryan and Chris Show

The second Springfield weekend of the year saw Bryan Smith win Kawasaki's second ever National Mile after he won last weekend at Indy. Kawasaki had a great weekend as Wiles won the Singles short track the night before. Chris Carr is showing there is life in the old (er) dog yet. He won the Dash for Cash (for the six fastest qualifiers) just like he did last weekend and came second to Smith, missing the win by less than 5/100s of a second. Mees was third. More on Springfield later. G

Photos: AMA Pro Racing.

Cow Foot Racing

Not really. Ridley Street Market in Dalston, east London, is set in a cultural, ecconomic, social and graphic time warp. Jews, Asians, Greeks, Turks, West Indians and shaven headed east end barrow boys muscle in together. Hackney council are threatening to chuck some money at it to sanitize it, which would be a shame (if that's not too patronizing a reaction?).
If they did have their own racing team this is what their number boards would look like. BP

Wendy House

With SB#6 out the door, my computer dead, my bike on blocks; but the sun out, I was forced into the garden. The Daddy kit shed I ordered months ago was finally delivered on a flatbed truck that blocked the whole street for 2 hours while it was off loaded, until it transpired it was the wrong one. So all reved up with my wife screaming 'How much bloody longer do your tools have to litter the kitchen!?' I set to on building a shed for the kids by chopping up the old and mostly rotten potting shed that lay demolished in the rhubarb forest.

After a week of annoying the neighbours with dawn till dusk noise and dust, it dawned to all present that I was being as obsessive-compulsive building a Wendy house (albeit in the style of a Japanese tea house) as I am producing Sideburn with Gary.

Multi-tasking is not an option to a Pitbulll that has it's fangs sunken into a postman's leg. Once my jaws close in on a project I just wont let it go until I've drained the life blood out of it. Maybe it's not entirely healthy character trait to have, but I go to bed a proud man (with my hair full of fibreglass resin and splinters burried deep in my fingers).

The roof is now so bomb-proof I reckon it could be up-turned and used as a boat. BP