rob lawton's stunning 1144cc laverda jota, the winning bike in the inaugural 2012 bear's series, look's the business with the suzuki wheel's, the massive wavy disc's, the japanese master cylinder and the 180 rear tyre, rob is a very good racer, watched most of the races this season and tried to compete in three, don't want to take anything away from rob, if i was riding his bike and he was riding mine he would still beat me, but, my bike was built within the rules, the rules laid down by the club, i think i might be missing something here, i decided to have a crack at this series because it was about people digging their old shonker's out of the shed and having a laugh thrashing around some of the best track's in merrye olde england,having some craic and a couple of beer's, i'm fifty-three, i'm never going to win, not even the local women's institute cake raffle, i read the rules, no japanese part's, no wheel's allowed that are a different size to the one's fitted to the original bike, only part's that were fitted to machines available to the cut-off date of 1986 to be used, cheap racing, affordable and open to everyone who has ever fancied having a crack at it, that's music to the ear's of us who have alway's fancied having a go at it, [we can placate our wives and partner's into thinking it's safe because everyones old and slow] so, where does that leave me and dangerous? well, i'm not prepared to shell out loads of hard-earned on the boxer until the bhr sort out the rules and eligibility so that means mothballing the boxer, i can't just get rid of it because i abided by the rulebook, here's what fellow racer and all round good bloke ben kingham sent me as a comment on the blog,'nice to see you on saturday tim, shame about race 22 which i was also waiting for, the jota took the championship, come to the agm in november to help make sure we are all running by the same rules for the bear's next season, they are also talking about making f2 up to 600cc, p.s. did you see the big guzzi with twin pot calipers and 2011/12 magnesium wheel's?, outrageous. keep up the good work, all the best, ben.' all comment's welcome as usual, [unless you are a spammer like danesh trying to sell car hire] appreciate your view's, just trying to open a discussion in the name of sportmanship, like i said, i'm never going to win anything, but, i feel for the blokes like ben kingham and ron maul who are racing within the rulebook......
Was the Jota the exception, or the norm? If everyone is just taking the piss, is there an alternative series you can enter? Do the bikes get scrutineered for elegibility for the series, as well as race spec?
ReplyDeleteYou know how I feel Lovey, if there are rules, you follow them, that fucking Jota is a beautiful Joka . . . go with Ben to the AGM mate, your ability to articulate what you want to say will be a boon and it sure as fuck looks like somebody needs to say something, a bloody ridiculous state of affairs. When I was involved in the first half of the nineties it was indeed just a bunch of blokes having a serious go on non Frankenstein bikes, lots of period go fast goodies, that's how it should be . . . wavy brakes . . . bah humbug !!!
ReplyDeleteDoes sound like the 'rules' need some scrutineerin'. That Jota should be running against similarly kitted bikes. On the west coast, here -there is a race series for 160/175 Hondas, that really is more about racing than who has the highest Dyno figures and trick suspension parts. Was just reading about some of the grumblings going on in the GNC flat track series here about Kawas running unrestricted against restricted HD's. Course, Sammy Halbert just picked up a win on his Harley this last weekend (Go Sammy! that makes 4 firsts...yeah I'm a big fan of his...).Like Whiteyman says, go to those meetings. Good luck on it and your bike still looks great, and you have the satisfaction of knowing it is legal to the rules.
ReplyDeleteRacing has always been about cheating to gain a advantage however unfair,just read any of the racers autobiography,s .If you try to stay on the BMW in that bears class it will wreck your head especially if you spend a bucket on the engine,maybe racing the wee Aermacchi is a plan and concentrate on the one class, its going to clean you out of cash next year anyways ,,,just a taught lad
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