MARCH 2004 NEWS ARCHIVE

News articles from March 2004 are archived below, latest nearest the top of the page. Click "back" on your web browser to return to previous page.

29th March 2004

HERE WE GO AGAIN!

As you can see from the picture below, it's back in pieces again! This evening I removed the frame diamond so I can take it to Stan Bradbury to have the crack repaired. Just to give you some idea of the type of thing you should be looking for when inspecting your chassis, I've tried to take a digital picture of the crack itself. I had to get so close for the camera to even see it, it's a little out of focus. Click on each picture for a larger image and then click "back" on your browser to return to this page.

28th March 2004

CSRA MEETING

The CSRA meeting held at Tony Altmeyer's house last night was good with some constructive comments and discussions. Turnout was not too bad but we would like to see more faces involved, even if it's only for a couple of meetings a year. It does seem to be the same old faces over and over.

One main point of concern was the lack of membership renewals seen so far. Please send your renewals to Duncan Luke as soon as possible. I think he is going to publish something regarding this in the upcoming newsletter. The usual exceptions are extended to our friends from Michigan who, because of convenience, will once again be able to submit their remittance at the first race of the season.

One encouraging thing was the input from relatively new member Mark Priebe (I hope I've gotten the spelling correct)! As promised at the last meeting, he brought a sample of a riders plaque which was received with interest by the members.

Thanks must also go out to Bryan Long who has taken the initiative and had some really nice colour posters produced with the purpose of advertising Paris Speedway. A very special thanks is also due to Graham Wale's wife who had spent many hours herself producing a design proposal for a similar poster. Great job!

Regarding my broken bike frame, I had the chance to speak with Stan Bradbury last night at the meeting and he informed me that to TIG weld the repair (as suggested in my last news article) is not the best course of action. The chrome molybdenum tubing that the frame is constructed from would go extremely brittle either side of a weld and it would just cause another break. Stan has offered to take my frame and insert a sleeve in the offending tube and properly braze and re-heat treat the repaired area. Many thanks to Stan who has provided this and many other services to Canadian Speedway Riders over the years. Sadly, he informs me that this will probably be his last repair job as he has been told to lead a more steady lifestyle by his doctor. Rest assured, Stan will be just about everywhere there is a speedway meeting in Ontario and he is always willing to offer advice from his unrivalled wealth of knowledge. Thanks Stan!

So, all in all, another good meeting and thanks to Tony for hosting. Read about everything discussed in Duncan's upcoming newsletter, and don't forget those memberships!

27th March 2004

BE VIGILANT, INSPECT THOSE MACHINES!

Just when I thought I was done preparing my bike for the coming season, I made a shocking discovery today. After fitting my new covers (see pictures below) I was doing a close inspection of the rolling chassis when I noticed a hairline crack in my frame on the left front downtube close to one of the motor mounts. It is almost invisible but extends three quarters of the way around the circumference of the frame tube. This now means that I will have to completely strip the bike again, remove the frame "diamond" and get it TIG welded. What a bind!

I strongly urge anyone who rides speedway to microscopically inspect their chassis and components. Imagine if that crack went undiscovered and then let go at full speed. The results could be catastrophic! Speedway bike frames are designed to flex and stretch to a certain degree. This is what effectively gives us our rear "suspension". However, years of this flexing action can result in metal fatigue similar to what I have found on my bike.

Riders cannot just expect to drag the old machine out of the garage after the winter and go racing without close inspection. Don't rely on tech inspection at the meetings to find this stuff. The referees or inspectors there don't have the time to examine every machine in extreme detail. We, as riders or mechanics should be vigilant and have a responsibility to make sure our machines are totally raceworthy. Anything short of perfect represents a potential danger to ourselves or others and this, I'm afraid, is unacceptable.

So please, go out to the garage now the weather is milder and ensure your machines are ready for the season, now before it's too late!

As promised, here are a couple of pictures of the bike in the process of having the new covers fitted. The next stage is to get my sponsors names printed on them. I guess I can get that done whilst I strip the bike down again!

23rd March 2004

CSRA MEETING REMINDER

Just a quick reminder that the CSRA is holding it's next meeting this coming Saturday at Tony Altmeyer's home, 2360 Arnold Crescent, Burlington. Start time is 7:30pm. See the last CSRA newsletter for directions on how to get there. Let's see if we can get a good turnout like last time. It's the perfect opportunity for those wishing to renew their memberships to see Duncan Luke and part with their hard earned cash! See you there!

21st March 2004

FOLLOWING IN HIS FOOTSTEPS

It is Sunday evening and my family and I have just returned from a weekend stay with our great friends, Norma and Rob Dixon. Rob is fellow Canadian Speedway Rider #5 and since our move to Canada in 2000, the Dixons have welcomed us into their home on many occasions and have become our very best friends.

I had a chance to view Rob's equipment for the upcoming 2004 season and I have to say it is exceptional. Rob is a master of machine preparation and like myself, refuses to have anyone but himself work on his own machinery.

But that's not all we have in common. We both have very supportive wives who allow us to do this crazy sport and we spend all of our time together as friends discussing areas of improvement we need to focus on and how we plan to do it. Rob has been a great help to me in bouncing ideas off as to how we could improve. We've even bounced off each other on the track on occasion! Fortunately thus far without damaging ourselves or our friendship!

I've titled this article "Following in his footsteps" because that is exactly what has occurred with our speedway racing careers so far. I now use Rob's previous season's sucsesses in the sport, as my goals for the following season. Rob started riding speedway exactly one year before me, and everything he has achieved, I have managed to emulate the following season. I hope I can keep this up as last year Rob was able to show he could ride competitively with the rest of Division 1, looking especially impressive at his preferred larger tracks. If I can master the speed of Welland this season, as Rob did last I will be very happy with my progress.

I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Norma and Rob for all their friendship and support. It has certainly made our immigration to Canada so much easier. I look forward to racing against Rob this coming season and hopefully, on occasion I can give him a run for his money! Don't forget to check out Rob's rider profile on the CSRA web site (see my "links" page), and as a final message to my buddy, Rob, watch out for that #21 GM!

Rob Dixon

16th March 2004

RACERS OFF TO A WINNING START!

A perfect start to what looks like being a very promising season for my "home" team the Euphony Reading Racers. A good first home performace of the season saw them race to a 56 - 38 win over the Kings Lynn Stars. I'm delighted.

Other results of interest to regular visitors to my site are Sheffield Tigers lifting the "Yorkshire Cup". This is a two legged challenge between Hull Vikings and Sheffield. The Tigers lost by a slender two point margin away to Hull, but in the return leg the next day beat Hull 52 - 43 to take the silverware. I know "Tiger" Tom Marriott will be happy with this news.

Poole Pirates don't race until tomorrow evening, but some interesting news is they have signed Reading Racers skipper Phil Morris in a number 9 "double up" role. This means as well as skippering the Racers in the Premier League he will be available to cover for Poole in the Elite League. On the Racers website it says he has signed to ride in eight meetings with Poole this season. Interesting to see how he fairs in the tougher competition. Mr Hensby and Mr Wale, glad we could help you add some quality to your team LOL!

More news as soon as anything interesting comes along!

12th March 2004

THE UK RUMBLES!

Whilst us poor souls here in Canada are still enduring snow and sub-zero temperatures, this weekend sees the start of the UK speedway season proper. This just serves as a reminder to all you fans out there to check your team's websites (and mine of course) on a regular basis from now on, to keep on top of the early season performances.

The early season usually sees a number of unfortunate injuries as riders come out cold, but keen and sometimes over enthusiastic. This can often change the shape of the team planned and built over the winter months so carefully by each teams respective management.

A good example of this was the 2003 campaign of my "home" team the Reading Racers. The team was decimated by injury early on in the season and for the most part they were lucky if they had three out of their seven regular riders in the team at any one time. The frequent use of "guests" is not any way to endure a season, and the teams results showed that. It was nothing short of disastrous.

Let's hope all the teams get through those shaky first few meetings and my best wishes go out to each and every rider that straddles a machine for the coming season. For us Canadian fans far removed from the UK terraces, it's time to eagerly await our respective teams results each week via the internet.

And before we know it, we'll be basking in 90 degrees of heat and enjoying our own fantastic 2004 Canadian speedway season. Wherever you are in the world, enjoy!

10th March 2004

COMMIT TO THE TURN, THAT'S THE KEY!

Many people say a speedway race is won or lost at the gate. In other words, whoever gets out of the gate first wins. I have to admit, there are a fair number of races where that seems to hold true. A speedway race is so short that there simply isn't enough time to work out how you are going to pass the rider in front of you, let alone actually make the move.

So we have established that the gate is very important in the likely outcome of the race, and that's certainly an area of my riding which needs improvement. However there is another part of riding a speedway race which is even more important than the gate. It's also much more difficult to get right! I'm talking about the transition from straightaway to corner. This is by far and without doubt what separates a good speedway rider from a bad one.

If you have the nerve (and ability) to hold the throttle on down the straightaway and commit to the slide into the turn without backing off the power before the rear wheel breaks loose, you hold the key to going quickly, and being able to pass others. I know this is the area I must improve dramatically on this coming season if I am going to survive as anything other than an "alsoran" in the highly competitive division 1.

The ability to do this better than others not only keeps your average speed around the track up, it allows you to close on riders in front of you as they themselves enter the turn. It's the only way I've found so far to set yourself up for a passing move. I'm speaking from limited experience in my Division 2 exploits last year, but it's something I felt "coming" and it felt right. I just need to improve on it.

So, I'm not really worthy to be giving advice or tips as I'm not top flight (yet), but I will say to anyone who is learning the art of riding a speedway bike, go quicker into the turn and see what happens!

One noticeable thing is that the youngsters seem to be able to achieve this much easier than those of us comparitively late entering the sport. The truth is, it's 75% down to nerve and 25% down to ability! (I was going to say it was 75% down to "balls"... but I must remember our female riders too)! The youngsters know no fear. I do.

7th March 2004

NEW LEATHERS FOR 2004!

Well, I figured it was about time I dragged myself into the modern era of speedway racing, and for the 2004 season I hope to be sporting a clean new set of leathers (I guess modern era would really be Kevlars wouldn't it? But I am a firm believer in the durability and protection offered by a good quality leather suit cannot be surpassed). So, to cut a long story short, I took the tip recently given to me by fellow rider John Bennett, and I visited IM Leathers in Hamilton, Ontario. John had a real nice set of leathers made by these people last year, and on arriving at the store I found a whole wall full of speedway and dirt track racing pictures, all proud wearers of suits made by IM. Amongst them were John and Drew Kehoe. I have ordered a custom made suit and I have been working on the design for it. I hope they can reproduce something along the lines of the design below. I go for my first fitting next Saturday so I'll let you know how that went. Take a look at the suit design and feel free to e-mail me with any comments.

3rd March 2004

BIKE COVER DESIGN FINALIZED

I have recently been working together with my sponsors on the design for my 2004 bike covers. I am pleased to announce that agreement has been reached with both of my sponsors for the cover design as shown in the mock up picture below. The quality of the image is no too good as it is something I threw together myself (I'm no graphic designer, nor do I have the software) but hopefully it gives you some idea of what to expect. A huge thanks to NBL Consultant Services and to JIT Shop Supplies for their input on the design and once again for their most generous support for the coming season.

3rd March 2004

MY OLD BIKE FOR SALE!

The perfect opportunity to own your own speedway bike or upgrade from your old clunker. My old upright Jawa 897 is being sold by it's present owner David Hensby. Some of the pictures in the "Gallery" section of this web site show the machine as it was when I owned her. David has made very few changes except to the graphics and paintwork. I can tell you that this machine is very quick. I brought it over from the UK when I emigrated here three years ago and it has done very little work since. It has a very strong motor and will live with most modern laydowns. If you are interested, e-mail David and he'll let you know more. Click on the hyperlink below to e-mail him direct.

David's E-Mail

2nd March 2004

FEBRUARY'S NEWS ARTICLES ARCHIVED

So much news in February, what with the bike rebuild etc, I have moved the entire contents to the February News Archive. Click the "News Archive" button above to revisit those items.