For the members of Castle Colchester MCC – The Golden Generation

April 2013 Edition

Apart from the usual stuff this month you can enjoy Dave Tye’s report from the recent motocross event near the

racecourse, Marks Tey. Now, most of us ride ACU and it so happens that this was an AMCA event but, as there

were Castle members out there, that’s ok by me! If you don’t agree send all protests - and your cheque for £50 - to

castleobserver@gmail.com. If your protest is upheld you’ll get a fiver back…..

Chris and I were out at the season’s first Pre 65 Club meeting on

Sunday the 3rd of March. The meeting saw a lineup of 14 sidecars

and was our first outing for 2013. Chris was on good form and,

having let the field go off the start in race one, rode exceptionally

well to battle back to 3rd place, making me work exceptionally

hard in the sidecar in the process! (More time needed in the gym).

The second race followed a similar pattern with us getting up to 5th

before the race was red flagged. Local crew and ex GP stars Shaun

Mallows/Colin Dunkley were absolutely flying and were easily

fastest on the day. Sadly for us race 2 was our last race of the day

as Chris aggravated a back injury, passing over a jump, and decided

not to risk the last races of the day.

Also in action was new club member Ade Maddock on his 250 Can-Am in

the clubman’s solo class. Returning from a year off and in only his second

season Ade showed real potential taking a good second in the first race of

the day. Some issues at the start of the second race slowed him and he

finished in 6th. The third race of the day was a brilliant display of overtaking,

with the Can-Am bogging down and stalling on the start straight, Ade was

left dead last but got the bike fired up and charged through the pack to take

6th, passing at least 14 people in one lap. (On board footage from his helmet

cam for this race is now on the Castle Club Facebook page). Race 4 saw

another good ride with a great 4 way battle for 2nd, Ade actually took the

position on the last lap but missed a gear and dropped back to 5th for the

line. His last race of the day saw another great battle for second with Ade

crossing the finish line 3rd and very happy!

Next outing for Ade is the Pre 65 Club meeting on Easter Sunday, whilst Chris and I are traveling to Frome in

Somerset to race in the British Clubman’s Sidecar Championship on Easter Monday. Also in action at the Frome

meeting should be new club member (I think he has joined, you may want to check with Neil!) Barry Lobb on his

700 Zabel / VMC outfit – Passenger to be determined!

The headline is a deliberate red herring, really, as TO doesn’t have any enduro news. I’d very much like to include

some updates on the Castle riders’ exploits but haven’t been able to find anything. The issue is both not knowing

where to find any and hardly knowing any of the riders, so this double-whammy effect makes it hard (or near

impossible) to gather any info. I’ll be very grateful for member input (fnur) or some pointers as to where the info is.

I’m very conscious of the Newsletter being trials based, and featuring a limited number of members, and want to avoid this if

at all possible. Hopefully, as the weather improves other disciplines will get going – and maybe we’ll have some road rides, too.

Pre 65 Club (AMCA) Marks Tey Motocross

Enduro News

Report from Dave Tye…….

See next page

March Round Up

T.O. isn’t sure if much happened in the first half of the month but the trials action got going

at Spansey’s Wood. This was due to be the 2nd round of the A&B Classes Championship

but, as I discovered when speaking to Stuart Penfold, for some reason this didn’t happen.

As a consequence, and due to the very wet conditions, only two routes were plotted.

The white route was nicely judged, I feel, but red/blue looked like very hard going to me.

Spanseys Wood – Braintree Club – 17th March. Expert Route: Tom put in another good ride to finish 2nd.

Red/Blue Route: Neil had his usual good ride and placed third on the day.

I believe Buck had a sizeable ‘off’ in section 7 and called it a day nursing an injured leg.

Richard Norman didn’t appear to be on top form and came home mid pack.

White route: Chris Eley’s yellow streak shone through as red/blue was abandoned.

The result was 2nd place in Inter B. Rich Eley had a good ride placing 3rd Novice.

Bramford – Ipswich – 24th March. Unfortunately, this event had to be cancelled due the rubbish weather we’ve experienced in recent weeks. Shame,

coz it’s a known fact that all the Castle riders were going to be brilliant on the day…… This day last year it was 20

degrees centigrade!

Blaxhall – Woodbridge Club – 29th March. We normally have a good turnout for this trial but most of the guys were riding in a two day twin-shock event in

Belgium. I’m hoping for a report to go in next month’s T.O. However, a quick look through the results shows our

lone entrant to be Richard Chamley who finished mid pack on the Inter route.

Quite A Lot To Do With Something Significant

IMHO

Occasionally I’ve caught coverage of World Trials on TV and found it to be fairly boring, especially the indoor

events. It occurs to me that if a died-in-the-wool trials fan is yawning can the general public be expected get

interested? For me, the big problem was the lack of continuous action caused by all the 30-second-long ‘balances’

between movements (if you’ll pardon that expression). The crowd seemed very quiet, too, but on one memorable

occasion went crazy when Adam Raga hit 4 obstacles in one flowing transition - and the place erupted.

The John Kendall Memorial Trial – 12th May 2013.

Our annual trial run at the splendid bit of ground that is Thorrington has gone

under the unassuming title of the ‘May Trial’ for the last I-don’t-know-how-many

years but that’s up for change this year. It has been renamed in memory of long

standing Castle member John Kendall which is a fitting tribute, you must agree.

JKMT Club Night – 16th April 2013.

It was mooted at the AGM that a monthly Club Night was too frequent and that

we may get a better turnout if they were held quarterly and/or before one of our

events. This has been put into practice with the cancellation of March Club Night

and the next one scheduled for Tuesday 16th April. Gee Dubbaya will be ‘in the

chair’ laying out the plan for working parties, observers etc for the JKMT.

Please DO come along: enjoy the company and offer your support.

Continued on next page

I think most people wondered what impact the No-Stop rules would have on World Trials when the FIM announced

that they would apply in 2013 to the outdoor scene, at least (not sure what the rules will be for indoor).

In an attempt to allay the fears of the trials public they’ve released a video to help get their message across.

It shows the kind of riding we can expect and, for my money, I think they’re on to a winner.

Follow the linkydink and see for yourselves: http://www.trialscentral.com/headline-stories/14585-fim-no-stop-video

Nothing To Do With Anything Much

I

CLUB NIGHT – 16th April 2013

Club Night is, well, going to be every now and then from now on. Keep an eye on The Observer for info.

JKMT meeting on 16th of April.

Live life in a moderately dangerous fashion…and come along to Club Night. The Bar, Stanway Rovers FC, New Farm Road, Colchester CO3 0PG

castleobserver@gmail.com www.castle-mcc.co.uk

May Newsletter: Mussels and frittes report from Liege, with a bit of luck.