90 |JUNE 2017 http://www.adbmag.com.autapped the rearbrake, which wasn’t
actually working very well.
Istillmanagedtogetittostepout,
but I also found the front trying to go.
That tyre was certainlycominginto
play. Somehow Ikeptmyselffrom
washing the front and eating dirt.
Myfinal outingwas in the Street
Bikeclass. That’sright, streetbikes.
Tom w a nt edme to ridehis oldBSA,
“for the experience”. I’m not sure if
experiencewastherightwayto
describeit,but it was different.
Next to me was the Spidey-gang on
their scooters. Theylookedlikethey
meantbusiness, their expressionless,
masked faces staring me down.
Ilooked upand honed in on the
firstcorner.Ihadtobebeat the
Spidermen. This was my grand final.
The officialgave me the allclear and I
wasoff.TheBSAinitiallyseemed to
be movingprettywell.Itooka
moment to get used to the reverse
gears andbrakebut then it was all
sweet.Thatis,until I tried to shift
down a gear coming into the corner.
AsIappliedpressure to thegearlever, thebike made this horrible
grinding noise. It just wouldn’t go
down andseveraltimesIovershot the
corner. The thing was going tokill me.
The spidey-gangpassed me and I
watched in disappointment as they
rode off into thesunset.Whenthe
chequered flag came out, I wasted no
time inheadingbackto thepits. As I
cametoahalt,Ibreathed a sigh of
relief.I’dsurvived.
Butthebikewasalittleworsefor
wear with a heapof smokecoming
from the clutch. “Lookslikewemight
have fried the clutch,”saidTom,his
grin not waivering.“Nottoworry,my
oldmanwillgetitgoingagain.”
Dirt trackhas adifferent vibeto
motocross andenduro.It’sstill
super-competitive,but no one takes
themselves too seriously. It’s about
havingfun andbringingtogether
people of all ages and abilities.
While I didn’tbreakanyrecords,I
still had ablast and all going well; I’ll
bebacknextyear. I still have to have
thatracewithCrumpy and I’ve got a
year topractice.I felt the rear step out and
all of a sudden I was sliding,
if only for a moment
FUN DAY I SIDEWAYS SCRAMBLE, ACT
Dirt track
v speedway
SPEEDWAY:
- Purpose-built machines
- No brakes
- One gear
- Run on methanol
- 500cc maximum
- Single-cylinder, four-stroke
- Horizontal cylinder, like a postie bike
- Four-lap heats with four riders
DIRT TRACK:
- Modified motocross or road bikes
- Front and rear brakes
- Generally five or six gears
- Can run petrol or methanol (in Australia)
- 450cc most popular capacity for senior racing
- Single or twin-cylinder (mainly twins in
American Flat Track) - Four-stroke or two-stroke
- Upright engines
- More riders, longer races
Jason Crumpis the meat
in an Advancedclass
sandwich havingfun