BEC 2009 club team title holders announce ISDE team for 2009
Our team will comprise of 3 time gold medalist Russell Milward riding a Road and Track KTM250 exc, Mike Turner on a Road and Track KTM300 exc and Karl Greenall on a D3 KTM250 excf. All 3 riders are vastly experienced with Russ having ridden for the British team on numerous occasions, Mike having ridden the ISDE for the Isle of Man 2 times prior and Karl who rode for the club last year in Greece and who this year finished 5th in the European Enduro Championship Veteran class. We feel that despite the riders being a bit older than most of the others our team can gain a good solid finish with all 3 at least bringing home silver medals.
The team has been helped by quite a few supporters, Minimix Concrete Isle of Man, West Coast 4x4, MPA hire, Kendal Quality Carpets, SMCC, AJR Northwest Ltd., Race FX, D3 KTM, Road and Track Mcs, MBX Graffix, Castletown Auto sales and Badgers Manchester Ltd. We would like to thank all our supporters and hope we can repay your investment with good results.
We would also like to give special thanks to the Knight Lund fund on the Isle of Man for their very generous dontaion to the team.
Team Photo (Bob Mullins)
Mike Turner Russ Milward Karl Greenall
BEC FINAL ROUND
Team REME Natterjack Enduro.
Sheep Skull Enduro riders capture the Golden Fleece....... BEC Club team Champions.
We only had 5 riders entered in this event due to many things, Ady was still struggling with his back, Dave was flying someplace Mike was digging a hole with his digger, Karl had only just got back from the UEM in Italy and Leo was helping the team leader David Knight.
Starting with David as you will all have read he had troubles with his clutch and basically tried 3 different set ups on Saturday, He kept riding to try to bottom the problem to the dislike of some but with the 6 days in mind and the understanding of the ACU he continuted to circulate and make sure the clutch issue was fixed. On day 2 the KX was fitted with a 2010 clutch assembly kindly lent to us by K4 Offroad and as usual David was riding with no limits just like his hero George Shuttleworth.
In the expert class our 3 intrepid souls all fought hard but with the ISDE in mind both Russell and Mike did not want to injure themselves despite this they both attained top 20 finishes and Ben our usual star turn had a but of a poor ride compared to his usual results. He still managed to become E3 champion though in the expert class.
Our top clubman rider Robbie Turner was also up for the championship win but he had trouble with some gimp Bertie Rooster holding him up on the test, The bloke would just not let him past despite Robbies shouting and being obviously faster. On day 2 Robbie was well fast and has decided next year he will be fighting with Ben in the expert class as there will be no slow losers in the way on the test and he is more than capable of staying on the faster schedule as he does in the Expert class back home on thew Island. Robbie ended up second in the e3 title race but when the overall clubman class is taken into consideration he is considerably higher up than the bloke who won the title. Robbie was a bit gutted but "what does not kill you will only make you stronger"....
The IOM also had 1 more competitor at the Natterjack, Young Will Duggan in the Quad class, Will won the quads easily cos he is fast and with it the first ever British Quad Enduro title. If only we had know he was riding we could have drafted him into our team instead of the guy on the Kawi!!
Sheep Skull Enduro Riders BEC round 3
Dyfi 2 day
Firstly I feel I must appologise to all our avid fans for the lateness of this report. As some of you may know Leo the acting team principal of the Sheep Skull Enduro riders and assistant scribe has got a new job working for our team leader Mr David Knight and as he only has access to the codes for the website you my friends have had to wait for this update. As you all read this he is off accross Europe in the Kawasaki wagon to get some full factory pipes made for David at Akrapovic, its a hard life. Also so we got no piccies yet as I forgot to ask our wonderful photo sponsor at MX247.
How did the team do you all scream? Well bussiness as usual after the scare after the Knighton where due to the new rules we dropped to 3rd place in the club team championships. We are back on top thanks to 3 sterling performances by the racers selected to ride the Dyfi in our colours. We had lots of riders again entered in the Dyfi and we welcomed back Karl Greenall to the sheep fold as he has been asked to represent us again in the ISDE so we thought we would give him a run out at the Dyfi. The other riders were Ben Begbie, Robbie Turner, Mike Turner, Russell Millward and Leo's new boss who won the event outright yet again, all good preperation for the upcoming Greek and French world rounds. 2 of our usual suspects were not riding, Leo due to still suffering with the broken collar bone sustained at the Welsh 2 Day as well as working for David and Ady Townson who hurt his back at work just prior to the event. All I can say is if you are hungry you need to go to Deli West diner in Clitheroe if the plates of food are that big you hurt your back lifiting them! but maybe Ady was helping his dad next door in the garage!
Like i said before out team inspiration David Knight won the event by a county mile and half. Ben Begbie riding the ex David Knight semi factory fully tuned for power KTM525 in the expert class was an out standing 7th overall on the big machine just to prove that good results can be obtained on a 4 stroke E3 bike in the Uk against many smaller E2 and E1 machines. No doubt Bens result would have been even better but he and Mike crashed together on a fire road on day 2 which sent them both spinning off into the undergrowth! Mike had a good steady ride in the expert E3 class to get him ready for the ISDE and ISDE team mate Russell did well in the very competitve E2 expert class despite running out of fuel on the test on 1 lap and not getting going for about 5 minutes and only then due to the downhill he pushed to! The Ex British ISDE trophy team rider was very dissapointed to drop 1 minute on day 2. He said its not easy being a vet and riding expert pace! God only knows how Paul Eddy manages championship!
Karl Greenall who is still riding under the Factory D3 banner was asked to ride in the team as we are sendng him to the ISDE, Karl seems to improve with every ride mainly due to going riding nearly everyday and leaving his brother Paul to run the carpet shop in Kendal finished 3rd overall in the hyper competive veteran class as result which would have been unbeliveable just last year and not just cos he was only 39 last season! He is really getting to grips with his 250 excf now a bike which suits him so well.
Our only clubman rider in this event Robbie Turner rode really well and was top E3 clubman but he did not have it all his own way as he managed to run out of fuel on day 1 on the test just like Russell but sadly for Robbie he did not have the luxury of a hill to bump the pie factory 300 Road and Track KTM off down and had to push to the finish round the last corner through the mud! He was gutted to learn he lost out on day 1 class win by 1 second after pushing for 2 or 3 minutes! Robbie pushed hard on day 2 to win and prove his arms were not as girly as the last report mocked after selling his 530KTM. If Robbie and Ben keep up their winning ways we could end up with 2 more British Championship winner tropies going halway back accross the Irish sea to the Isle of Man along with Davids.
Our overall team score was a miserly 11 points due to David Knight 1st Ben Begbie 7th and Karl Greenall 3rd. Well done 1 and all and we are all looking forward the the Final round of the series where hopefully we will win the trophy and all get to kiss Bob and spray his boobs with champers on the podium when he gives out the massive trophies! or maybe not.......Once agian a BIG THANK YOU to all our helpers supporters and sponsors.
Sheep Skull Enduro Riders BEC round 2
Knighton 2 day.
Sorry for the delay I have been changing ISP for 4 days! It would have been easier to ride the championship class, naked on a Go Ped with a flat tyre eating only broken glass than getting this ISP change done easily!
As some of you may know The Sheep Skull Enduro riders have again applied for a team in the ISDE in Portugal. With this in mind and the ACU guideline saying all riders who wish to compete in the ISDE must be Championship or Expert class 3 of our top veteran competitors decided to ride expert class, Well 2 decided and 1 was coerced into dong it, Leo being team manager was given the "If we do it Russell Milward and Mike Turner, will you do it?" ultimatum. Coming from the "do as I do not as I say" type management Leo said OK. Russell and Mike wish to ride the 6 days again Leo has no intention!
The team manager then had a hard decision picking the team for the next BEC round in Knighton, Rather than have 2 or 3 teams we give everyone a chance to be in the winning or losing team at the end of the year. We do not like to create divisions with A and B teams. The Sheep Skull riders to choose from were Robbie Turner Clubman E3, Dave Madrell Vet, Mike Alty Vet, Ady Townson Expert E1-4, Ben Begbie Expert E3 amongst others. With the team currently being number 1 club team in the British Championships and with Leo, Russ and Mike riding out of class in Experts and not expecting as good as results as in the Vets we decided to ask a new rider from the Isle of Man. He said he was on a Kawasaki, must be a KDX200 like Bobs we thought, would he like a chance to join the team? He said he had "well wicked skills, warpdrive fast to the power of sick" but the phone line was a bit crackerly and we were a bit worried as he said something like he had been racing BMX in Europe? But his results had been a bit poor, so we took a chance on him and he was in the team as long as we would buy him loads of burgers and chips? The team was, Ady Townson, Mike Alty and some new Kawasaki rider.
Leo and Russ both arrived at the event carrying injuries, Leo a half repaired collar bone from a crash at the Welsh 2 day and Russ a torn ligament in his wrist from a trials crash the previous weekend. Both riders only lasted a lap, Leo was seen riding the ruts with 1 hand and the other tucked into his body armour and Russ's wrist was to sore to hang on. Leo and Russ ended up manning a fuel check on day 2 with Faye and Danni after Sheep Skull satellite rider Tom Braddock crashed hard and 0010 had to medivac him back to Norfolk.
That's enough idle chit chat, On to the most competitive class in the BEC, the veteran class where Dave and Mike had good solid rides, Mike with his super long legs all the way up to his waist was seen using them to good ability to clear the sticks and roots from the floor of the Radnor forest and to stay clean on time both days and finish in a good 12th overall position, a good low score for the team. Some of Mike's test times were awesome and some of them were not very awesome at all but Mike's family and work commitments means he only gets to ride once a month and we all think he does very well considering. Dave who was not in the team this race lost a bit of time on Saturday but loved his new 300 Gas Gas, unfortunately found he could not go to sleep whilst driving like he does in the day job! He lost no time Sunday and was much happier with his ride as he sped his way up to 14th in class. Just goes to show 5 pints of Guinness, lasagne with garlic bread and sticky toffee pudding is all you need for a better result on day 2. None of your energy bar food crap!
Veteran Mad Mike Alty gets it whipped on the test.
Our only clubman rider was Robbie "Girlarms" (see note) Turner who decided to go E3 recently with the purchase of a mans bike 530 fire breather. After 3 or 4 outings Robbie decided he was far to fragile for such a monster and traded it for a 300exc. Robbie had a good ride with some impressive test times leading the class at times but unfortunately went a bit too fast into 1 of the huge puddles on the course and drowned his bike out losing time on the 1 tight check. He said he was like 15 minutes getting her fired up again so only 3 minutes lost was good. Robbie is only young and every event is a steep learning curve, we think It won't be long before Robbie is up in the Expert class dicing for the win with our E3 Expert championship leader Ben Begbie. Ben, with some parts from David Knights ex factory bikes was awesome on the huge E3 4 stroke KTM, riding the machine to an excellent 5th overall in the Expert class on Saturday. Most people struggled in the mud, sticks and ruts on a light 250 or 125 2 Stroke but Ben and his rippling muscles got the supersize KTM machine round easily. Unfortunately for Ben and to the good of his E3 expert competitors it is looking like he can't race the next BEC round due to stuff. It will be a pity if he does not claim the E3 title this season.
Robbie Turner looking focussed on the Enduro test
Ben Begbie ramping it, Robbie Maddison has nothing on him.
Our other Expert class riders ex Vet Mike Turner and Ady Townson both lost a bit of time on Saturday, Ady managed to get a stone in his front sprocket and ended up losing all his teeth (front sprocket not mouth) Thanks to Special Greg for the good sprocket deal allowing Ady to ride day 2. Ady had more drive train nightmares on day 2, when his chain guide parted company with the swing arm causing his chain to come off more times than ever. After fixing the guide he was running 40 down at the end of lap 1 but knew he could not retire as he was in the Sheep Skull team. He managed to loose no more time on lap 2 and finished bottom of the expert pile but saved the team from a retirement and the big penalty that brings, Well done Ady, that result for the team could make all the difference at the end of the year. Mike was flying, the ex Isle of Man champion who rides expert back across the water had 2 good laps but got a bit tired towards the end of lap 3 on day 1 he lost 19 minutes but kept smiling and saw it as good training for his venture to the ISDE later this year. Day 2 he rode like a demon, unfortunately that was a "mad crashing demon" as he fell off on nearly every test. Mike was happy tho and he even found his goggles he thought he had lost in the forest! £40 saved there!
Our last rider we knew nothing about, Some rider who had just walked out on BMX? Who had just got a Paul Bird Kawasaki superbike ride who said he was fast? Talk is cheap. It turned out he was not that fast as an old man and a Southerner beat him on day 1. After a stern talking to from team manager Leo on Saturday evening the rookie "David" picked up a clean pair of heels for day 2 "No place for old men!" he was heard to be chanting inside his helmet as he rode the final test on the awesome KXf450. The Southerner took himself out of the running by crashing hard on nearly every test, bad luck Si. The Saturday night threat of being dropped from the team and being replaced by long time Purple Helmet favourite Paul "old man" Edmondson was too much for David and he decided to keep the throttle open for so long on his Kawasaki 450 he made it look like the others really were all on BMX's and won day 2 well. Well done to Knighter on his second place overall for our team on his brand new bike and thanks for riding for us in our time of need. We still owe you the burgers and chips.
No its not Leo riding 1 handed its our new rider David pulling tear offs whilst cornering and still winning day 2.
So in the end after what was an excellent but hard event by the CWAC the Sheep Skull team of David Knight, Mike Alty and Ady Townson managed to maintain the lead in the British club championship for the Sheep Skull Enduro riders. Can I end by again thanking all our helpers in no particular order, Faye Alty, Dorothy and Stan Cordingley, 0010, Colin Townson and Danni from the wilderness of Jurby who had never seen a zebra until she went to an Enduro with Robbie, her boyfriend. Hope I forgot no body, We love you all I just forgot how much if I missed you out. Also none of this would be possible without the support we get from the following people, Race FX, Highwire, MBX Graffix, Westcoast 4x4, On Track Racing Suspension, Minimix Concrete IOM, MX247 for the images, go there dont be a tight wad and buy some photos they are ace. Road & Track motorcycles. and Midwest Husaberg. Oh and thanks to Paul Bird for getting David a bike he will win on. Full results go here Results Note 1 The term "Girlarms" was used in a non sexist manner, It is a well known scientific fact most girls have thinner and weaker arms than most men which makes then unable to hang onto Enduro bikes, Katrina Price and Ludavine Puy excepted. 
Welsh 2 day Enduro 2009.
With the weather looking bright and sunny the 5 Sheep Skull riders were looking forward the annual midweek Enduro holiday in central Wales. Entered this year were Sportsmen, Dave Gorman and Neil Ogden, Clubman Ryan Fallows, Veteran Leo Cordingley and Expert Ady Townson.
Dave and Neil were riding together mostly and enjoying the event, Neil now on a new KTM 200 rather than his old Kevin Milward YZ250 that Kevin rode in the Portugal ISDE. Neil was looking for a good result but the new bike let him down by not starting day one morning and cooking a plug and losing him 20 seconds and 2 places in the final results! He was reasonably happy tho with 10th in class and not dropping time. Once the new bike was going it was much better!
Ryan had a pretty good 2 days until the last tight check on Friday afternoon when he smashed his KTM200 front pipe to bits! He limped home disappointedly losing 2 minutes but enjoyed the event and the fact it only rained a bit unlike last year when it rained non stop! 36th in clubman was a bit lower than he had hoped for and a new front pipe was not something he was planning to buy. He was happy with his times on the tests and his general riding considering how few events he has ridden recently. He is now however also considering an ex Sheep Skull team bike from Karl Greenall who has just swapped his 200 to 250excf and is looking to sell the 2009 200!
On a foot note, Leo decided on Monday following the event after driving home and washing his bike etc, to go to the hospital as his left shoulder was still feeling a bit sore. He was diagnosed with a broken collar bone! He had ridden for three quarters of day 1 and all of day 2 with it broken. With that in mind he was very happy with the event result.
Ady, our fastest rider, currently in the Experts was going so quick on Thursday afternoon he failed to see a corner on the fire road in the dust and went flying off the edge into a ravine! Unfortunately for Ady it was the only tight check of the day for his class and he ended up losing time as the ravine was to steep to ride out of and he had to haul the bike out inch by inch, Many riders had seen Ady down the hole and some said had it not been a tight check they would have helped get the bike up. Had Ady not gone off the road he would have been 3rd in class which he was gutted about. Ady's test times have improved dramatically with his recent "controlled aggression training" which has seen himself and Leo at midweek MX races. Day 2 and Ady said "Today I rode well but for where it mattered, I rode sh!te on the tight check. I was pushing hard but made a stupid error and ended up stuck in a bog. It's my own entire fault I chose a poor line and my result suffered."
The team would like to thank its supporters, Race FX, Highwire, MBX Graffix, Westcoast 4x4, On Track Racing Suspension, Minimix Concrete IOM, MX247 for the images, and all helpers who stood out there for 2 days in the sunshine and a bit of rain, Dot and Stan Cordingley, Colin Townson, Jay at the Go cart track and codename 0010. Leo would also thank Simon and Midwest Husaberg for their support at the final check with filters and fuel etc.
Oh and well done to C90 rider Huw who managed to finish a day on a bike which Leo was assistant technical advisor on the build!
Sheep Skull Enduro Riders Muntjac Enduro 2009 British Enduro Championship.
Well what can I say, the Enduro team of the most famous Motorcycle Stunt Display team in the world storm to the top of the BEC club team Championship. It was looking a bit sad for the team at one point, 3 of our regular riders from last season Karl Greenall, Charlie Bregazzi and Mike Alty were not with us this year. Our Greek ISDE team rider Karl had been poached by D3 for their shop team, Charlie was suffering with a damaged hip than he broke back in 94 whilst practicing for the ISDE in USA that had come back to haunt him and Mike not being the most computer literate missed out on an entry.
Fortunately we still had 7 Sheep Skull riders entered in the first round Russell Millward, Ady Townson, Dave Maddrell, Ben Begbie, Leo Cordingley, Mike Turner and Rob Turner the last 3 were chosen to represent the team at this event. Expert E1 rider Ady had discounted himself before a wheel had turned by dislocating his shoulder for the 3rd time since the Welsh 2 day so failed to start but came to help out which was good. We try to operate a bit of a team rotation system with the lowest place team member being dropped in favour of another club member if they perform better. This helps give everyone a chance to be in the team and keeps riders fighting for their places! We don't want them to get complacent like £100,000 grand a week footballers! With Leo and Mike usually near the top of the Veteran class and Rob the current Isle of Man clubman champion the team were hoping for a good result.
Rob started well with reasonable test times but the going in Norfolk is much different than the Isle of Man. The forestry here is much drier, The Isle of Man is much more like your typical Welsh going, although Rob pointed out the trees were quite wide apart here as opposed to Ohio plantation, back home, where you have to steer at every tree just to get your bars through the gaps! All was going well until he noticed he had lost the pins in his rear brake calliper and the pads were starting to fall out. This caused him to loose a bit of time on the lat lap as he had to keep checking them. He was a bit disappointed and felt he had let us down a bit but Enduros are like that and being 18 it won't be to long before he is beating the Vets! He did find time to point out he had beaten his dad on the first test!
Leo and Mike both had very uneventful rides, They both set average test times which saw them hovering around the top 15, Both were again a bit disappointed but they also knew it was going to be won and lost on the going not on the test. Mike told Leo he had done the first lap in 48 minutes so they knew it was going to be tight to do the lap in 46 minutes for the elderly riders and being right at the back of the field the bumps are much bigger! With the first 2 slow laps out of the way the real race started, Mike held a good pace and easily stayed on time as did Leo who arrived 4 minutes to the good. There were some rather scary passing going on and Leo said he even scared himself overtaking someone on one the fast bumpy straights when the rider moved across a bit and Leo was nearly getting pulled off by the trees!
The final lap came and Leo knew Mike was a minute in front of so it was almost like a 46 minute MX race for the team mates. Leo managed to catch Mike just before the bumpy track next to the railway lines! After passing Mike, Leo had a bit of a rest only to be passed back! The race was on again! The pair kept together to the finish and both clocked in on 56 Leo lost 3 and Mike 4. Mike thanked Leo for the tow for the last few miles but Leo thanked Mike for pushing him on.
Of the other club riders in the event Russell Millward the ex ISDE British team rider rode well to finish in 10th place in the Vets in only his second BEC event since his 10 year break to go car rallying. Ben rode excellent in the expert class and was first home in the E3 division on the massive 4 stroke KTM. Dave Maddrell 27th Vet was flying just like his day job! (He is a pilot) Ha ha! But he ran out of energy on the last lap, you will need to bring a few in-flight meals out with you next time Dave! Its all well and good all these good results but it makes the team manager job of picking the team very hard!
We all knew it would be an excellent event as they always are down in East Anglia, Many thanks to Andy Walters and his team but we did not know we would be leaving the event 1st placed club team and 7th overall in the team competition. Just 4 more events to keep it up now boys.
Rob Turner 19th E2 Clubman Road & Track KTM 250 exc
Mike Turner 11th Vet Road & Track KTM 250 excf
Leo Cordingley 8th Vet
For Full Results click here. Diss MCC Muntjac 09
Sheep Skull enduro riders would like to thank all those who came to help, putting fuel in bikes whilst getting blamed for everything is not an easy job. We would also like to thank the following for their support with getting the team to the races. Race FX, Highwire safety engineering, G-it, MBX graphics, On track Racing Suspension, & Road & Track motorcycles. Oh and anyone else who I forgot because I usually do, It's not cos we hate you its cos I forgot. So thank you all for everything.
The club SMCC would also like to congratulate their other member who won the event outright, Mr David Knight.
Oh one more thing, we have no riding pictures because we are all riding! Any budding photographers want to get some exposure on our site?
Sheep Skull Enduro Riders take on the World Team Enduro Championships
Its been nearly a week now since the team got back from Greece, and if like me you have read the reports and the TMX news you would not even know there were any British club teams in the ISDE as none of us hardly got a mention. When will journalists realise most readers are not interested in how many seconds it took some foreigner you never really heard of to do a MX test they want to know how their mates did and the gossip that goes with it and maybe even wonder if one day they could do the ISDE. Myself and David (head of PR and promotion) drove the wagon all the way to and from Greece at 56 MPH. What can we say apart from slow.
We arrived in Greece at pretty much the same time to find the Hotel, us in the wagon were quite lucky, I knew the Welsh team had arrived the day before so thought I would ring Andrew Edwards to get directions. Andrew said he had just seen us drive past as he was stood on his balcony and guided us in! We arrived at the Hotel Galaxy I am not sure which Galaxy the Hotel was from but the I am pretty sure the Hotel must have fell from Uranus. No hot water, hard beds, noisy, no air con, ignorant staff, crap for breakfast, Leo and Mark had no light in their bathroom for 7 days and when told the staff just said "yeah...." even the telly spoke Greek. Also there was no where to park and most nights you had a 20 minute hike from the hire car.
Here we are resting in the sun after walking a test!
Mark, Diddygasm, David, Justin, JB, Lorraine and an arm and leg.
The paddock was ace the staff were extremely friendly and efficient. The weather was 40 degrees plus mostly, We got the wagon unloaded and did a few final checks on the bikes. Leo and JB fitted a new circlip to Andy's piston as there was a concern over the one fitted might be not right. Andy arrived on Wednesday after having to attend a friends wedding in Jockland and all was ready for scruteneering. The lads decided to go out for a spin and tour leader Justin took us out in the dust and we rode for an hour or 2. At this point we realised we did not have anywhere near enough air filters! Another 10 filters were purchased from KTM taking the toal to 23! We lined up for a team photo prior to the bikes going into Parc Ferme. 
Karl Greenall John Burrow Andy Walton
Next thing to do was the Parade, By now Mike Alty (Assistance rider) Ady Townson (MX Technical advisor) Paul Greenall (Fueler) had arrived and would join the parade.
Ady Townson Andy Walton Leo Cordingley John Burrow Paul Greenall Karl Greenall
The Purple Helmets did the show for the opening ceremony and its the best opening ceremony I have never seen, Usually its some dancing or crap like that. Unfortunately most of the riders missed the show as they were waiting in the car park to parade! Sunday was a day off so we walked the awesome MX test with Ady advising on MX techniques and "XC daddy" Wilson advising us on ramping the massive Red Bull jump. Later we went swimming and then to the presentation from Portugal regarding the ISDE next year where we had a syncronised sleeping team with David, Mike, Mark and P Diddy all nodding off at the exciting Portugese presentation.
Day1
Anyways all the rubbish over with and down to the racing. Day 1 set off bright and early. Karl was first away and despite the nerves set off and disappeared into the dust, next it was Andys turn to eat dust and finally JB.
JB prepares to disappear into 6 days of dust assisted by head of PR and promotions Mr David Roberts.
At the end of Day 1 nothing really to report, the lads were all saying how dusty the trails were and how hot it was. Andy fitted a new tyre and was "on it" despite fouling a plug on the very first test, at least he did better than 1 of the Britsh Army team who crashed his way into hospital on the very first check of the 6 days. The club team were 3rd British team and all were happy "ish".
Day 2 The new way the ISDE starting order is worked out is based on the previous days finishing position. Allegedly the start times would be availablke at 7.30 but this proved to be not true and usually we were waking sleeping riders at 10.30 to tell them what time they were getting up the day after. For Andy this meant a late start as he fouled the plug, this new start order would eventually prove to be his downfall but more of that later. As it was Karl was off first follwed by JB and Andy last. JB over jumped a table top on the first test beause he was being cheered on! Again all went well. All 3 riders fitted new rear tyres. Andy was well on the pace now and moving up the results like a knife through butter. The track today was very rough as it was the second time it had been used so everyone was looking forward to a new track tomorrow.
Day 3 dawned as it does, riding the ISDE seems a worse idea than going to work now! The team all got away good and Andy was first away today, Still a lot faster tha the riders round him Andy was passing riders all the time. Karl was next and JB the last rider in our team away. The SMCC team were still 3rd best UK club team and were running 38th overall. Karl was running 50th in C1 Andy 46th and JB 63rd in C2. Good steady results considering the terrain was not much like the Island or even the Lake District where Karl and JB live! There was a small incident today in the paddock as David had been and washed out the cold storage buckets and filled them with nice cool water for keeping the riders drinks cool, As soon as Davids back was turned P Diddy (Justins sacked outrider extraordinare) had his feet in the nice cool water! Words were exchanged and P Diddy was seen cleaing out said buckets again!
Andy makes some adjustments on Day 4 morning.
Yet another day of riding, All the boys had new front tyres today so no more washing out in the corners! Karl changed his engine oil and re fitted his GIT sump guard which was excellent to remove and refit. Andy again was first away but was not first back to the paddock at the end of the lap 1. First in was Karl, he was down in spirits and worried about his team mate, he reported Andy had crashed and hurt himself. Karl was told to stop worrying and his bike was fueled and he was sent on his way! JB was next in and apparently Andy had been trying to pass a slow rider on the test and crashed in the dust After the test he was riding slow because he was a bit sore and fouled his spare plug so had to wait for JB to come to get a spare of his fellow KTM 2 stroke rider. JB was sent on his way just as Andy arrived. Andy said his chest was sore so his bike was fueled up and he was given some pain killers and sent on his way. Maybe we should have called it a day at that point but Andy had not gone all the way to Greece to retire becase he was a bit sore. Karl and JB reported back that evening and changed rear tyres. That was it now for tyre changes for the week and that made them very happy! Andy came in running about 20 minutes down, he was still very sore so decided not to change the tyre. It was decided to change his bar mounts as they were very bent in the crash. If only we knew what the real damage was we would not have bothered. Andy said he was OK but a bit sore so off we went to the Hotel. We had been borrowing keys off the Purple Helmets because our hotel was so crap and going there to shower and have a swim and all thats good. We took Andy there and then went for eats. Leo noticed Andy was shaking a bit and we decided to take him to the hospital to have a check. Leo hopefully just thought it might be a bit of shock or anexiety about maybe not finishing the ISDE! How wrong he was! X rays and CT scans were done, Not like at home where you wait like 4 months it was all done that evening. Andy had broken his Sternum, the doctor told us it was a very serious injury! Andy was not to move and they kept him in Hospital for 4 nights! Andy had been trying to pass a slower rider on a test, the rider paniced and moved accross in front of Andy and knocked him off, He got back on then had his big crash again in the slower riders dust as he caught him. Andy had hit his chest on the bars so hard he had PRO GRIP written backwards in a carpet burn style on his chest!
Day5 SMCC's pride was now left for JB and Karl to defend. They were noticeably down because of Andy not being there. We were still running 3rd British team tho. A brand new track today so less bumps and shallower ruts! Still tons of dust tho.
JB setting off day 5 nearly done now! After day 5 the team were down to 41st place overall due to losing a rider, We did say the only way to retire is either your bike snaps in half or you are kept in hospital. So Andy never let us down. We went to see Andy that night along with Justin and whilst Andy and Dylan Jones (next bed) were happy to see us they both were glad when we left as they both had chest injuries and it hurt when they laughed!
David doing his bit for Sheep Skull / Welsh relations feeding the young uns ice cream.
Day 6 JB and Karl were MX racers today! Both had done plenty of MX in their younger days, JB was happy with his result he was cleaing some of the smaller table tops but admitted he was very tired after the 6 day experiance. He asked to be removed from the e-mail list as he never wanted to ride the ISDE again! Karl was seen tweaking his suspension for the giant ramps on the final MX test. Much to the amusement of Tom Sagar and Ratboy. If only they had seen Karl grab the hole shot and lead for the entire race whipping it over the jumps and doing heel clickers they would be laughing on the other side of their faces. Unfortunatley Karl did not grab the holeshot, He came round in about 8th place only to drop it and end up near the back! He took back a few more places and then that was it the ISDE was over!
Karl gives a wary thumbs up prior to the MX final!
The final results were the SMCC team finaished in 44th place out of the 80 teams entered. Considering we lost a rider I think we did well. Karl finished on a Bronze medal in 49th place, Dissapointingly he was the first rider not to win a silver medal in his class. JB finished in 64th place for a well earned Bronze medal. Our adopted rider Justin Wilson managed a very creditable 22nd in class so well done to him.
So that was it, End of ISDE 2008. Greece was an awesome place I would reccomend anyone to go there for a good time the bars were always buzzing, the streets were full to bursting and all the people were great but do not stay at the Galaxy hotel its not of this planet! The wagon was loaded back up and Leo and David drove home setting off at 4 am Sunday so we never even got a final night out on the beer! The drive was treacherous so it was decided to start off early with Gwyn and Grunt from MCC of Wales in case either of us got into trouble on the winding roads from Serres to Igoumenitsa. Only 5 more days and we would be back in England via Italy Austria Germany & Holland!
Here is a picture of our lovely boat that took us from Greece to Italy.
As team manager I must thank everyone who contributed to the team effort, All the team helpers Mike Alty(Assistance rider) David Roberts(Pr and Promotions) Mark Houson(Technical suport) Ady Townson (MX Technical advice) Paul Greenall (Fueler) Phil Fallows(Justins replacement Outrider) Andrew Robinson (Gofer, Hotel relocations manager and whipping boy). Thanks also to the MCC of Wales for their help in our paddock and setting up our special "A paddock" area away from team GB and all that goes with them. A big thanks to Sue Hockey for keeping David in cups of tea and feeding the riders their pasta teas! Also thanks to Justin for bringing back smiles to peoples faces when they are sick of motorbikes, dust, blisters, sore feet, me barking out orders and telling them how many minutes left.
Also a big thank you to all the people who helped with products and support Paul Irwin of Race FX for the gear we used and the Sinisalo riding kit, Mick Seward for SIS sports drinks, Jeff at Castletown Auto Sales for providing the bike Graphics, MPA hire and Kendal Quality Carpets for the plastic kits. LARS for the loan of the Wagon. The GIT sump guards were worth their weight in gold as the going was very rough and rocky and they saved the frames on the KTM machines. Also a thanks to Bob at Enduro news for helping us small fry get our racing stories out there into the public eye. Thanks to SMCC Derry, Brenda, Bear, Mike and the Committee.
A big thank you to JB Karl and Andy for giving it your all in the name of the SMCC and the Sheep Skull Enduro Riders.
And thats all folks roll on Portugal. Once again thanks to anyone I have missed.
Last night the wagon was loaded ready for the Greek ISDE, With lots of help from the team and fellow ISDE competitor Justin Wilson who is riding for our opponents the West of England team. All the team bikes were "graphikced" up and the GIT sump guards fitted, A must in the expected rocky terrain of Serres. A member of a top World Enduro team and British ISDE team nomminee commented on how "Professional" our bikes looked. Worth an extra 10 seconds faster a test.
As you can just see from this rather rubbish photo we just about got everything in the van but we had to employ Spiderman to fasten the last bike in! Driving the wagon to Serres are Mark Houson (Chief Technical liaison support) David Roberts (Head of PR and Promotions) and Leo Cordingley (Team Manager) They are setting of Friday evening and will arrive in Serres Monday.
More support rolls in for Sheep Skull Enduro riders Southern MCC team in ISDE 08
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Adventure Spec and Guard it Technology are genuinly proud to sponsor the Southern MCC Isle of Man ISDE Team and we thank them for their support.
We must say a big thank you to all the companies and concerns who have stepped in at the last minute to help our Isle of Man club team in Greece, There is still time to get on board if you want, so dont let the fact we have less than than 30 days to prepare to leave for the biggest Enduro in the world scare you away from helping the racing division of the World Famous Purple Helmets, the equally world famous Sheep Skull Enduro riders.
Mr Mark Boardman of MBX graffix and his wonderful assistant Will have designed and produced Sheep Skull team graphics with our supporters logos for the bikes as below, Mark is a specialist in personalised graphics kits for off road bikes as well as signing vans shops and any other thing you might want lettering on! See our kits below. If you or your team want Graphics for your bikes then get on the e-mail right away to Mark. Contact Mark here Unfortunately you cannot buy our Skull Graphics kits yet.
We must say a huge Thank you to the following for their support so far
- MPA Hire For all you groundworks, plant and driver hire needs E-mail
- D3 KTM KTM parts and acessories.
- Kendal Quality Carpets Carpets from a welcome matt to a complete hotel refit.
- L.A.R.S. Communications Mobile phone towers, installations and communication networks.
- XI training Country's leading name in Height Safety training.
- Wilson and Collins Structural steel, Steel Bulding erections cladding and stock holders. E-mail
- Castletown Auto Sales Top quality used vans cars and 4x4.
- Race FX Enduro & MX consumables, tyres, clothing and accesories.
The team applied to the ACU for a place but unfortunately there were only to be 4 club team places allocated for Great Britain, Late last week the ACU contacted us and asked if we were interested in being the 5th club team from GB some other contry had turned a place down or something. We jumped at the chance.
The team will consist of top Manx rider Andy Walton KTM 250exc E2, and 2 UK based Purple Helmet regulars John Burrow KTM 250exc E2 and Karl Greenall KTM 250excf E1. Andy will be competing in his 3rd 6 days and both John and Karl are 6 day virgins. The team manager is former British Expert Enduro Champion and ISDE medalist Leo Cordingley and the Purple Helmets are the official cheer leaders or should that be beer leaders! (if they get out of the Greek night clubs in time)
Due to the late confirmation of the team it has left us very little time to approach potential supporters / sponsors. If anyone wishes to help in any way please feel free to contact Leo on sserisde@yahoo.co.uk or via the contact page on this site. We have plenty of advertising space and as you all know we are World Famous.
Andy Walton BEC expert rider 2nd, Manx centre championships. 2 time ISDE medalist
John Burrow Former NEEC champion & BEC Expert / Veteran. Odddly smiling for some reason after the Greythwaite. Most other riders, who were still alive, were crying!
Karl Greenall Local expert, BEC clubman, Trials rider and former AMCA MX Champion.
SSER British Championship results and reports
For full results see http://www.enduronews.com/
Round 1 Muntjac Enduro, Thetford
The first official outing of the 2008 Sheep Skull Enduro Riders team in the
The event went well for the team, Leo was semi on the pace and finished 7th in class, disappointed with his first test he went on to record a much better time the second time round. He was disappointed to lose a minute as there were 8 riders at the final control and by the time he got to the front the clock had changed and a minute lost, he should have ridden quicker the loser!
Charlie and Mike found it a bit of a tough comeback event as the tracks now are much rougher than 14 years ago, maybe we had it easy back then or maybe more land for new tracks was available with less green issues and environmental pressures etc. In the good old days in the Thetford forest we used to do 2 x 40 mile laps and the bumps were half as big! Importantly for the team they both finished well and the team were 12th in the
Our other rider in the event Karl Greenall riding in his first ever
The team seemed to have attracted some big name riders as Paul and Lee Eddy, Greg Evans, the Jones boys, Tom Sagar and various other riders were seen sporting the now legendary Sheep Skull headlight logo. We will have a hall of fame gallery soon featuring all the riders to wear our logo, Gio Sala used to stop on checks and demand we gave him our stickers!
Note 1 "6 Day Fever" This syndrome is where a rider attends the International 6 day enduro in some exotic location and watches riders the likes of David Knight, Paul Edmondson, Jonny Aubert and Mika Ahola make it look so easy. They decide it looks like fun to ride top level enduro events not realising it is really a living motorcycle hell. The sun never shines the tracks are never as fast and flowing and the ruts are 10 times deeper than when Eddy flies past in the sun on his back wheel at 70 mph!
Thankfully for most sufferes 6 day fever wears off as soon as you touch down back in the UK in chilly October or November it is raining. The ruts on your hot practice ground are 4 ft deep filled with water and even the grips on your bike are so cold you can't touch them. If all this fails to cure your "6 day fever" the only other option is to spend all the money you ever had on a new bike race all year and pretend to enjoy it. After 2 or 3 weeks riding in the snow and rain 6 day fever will have worn off and you realise its gonna be a long hard rut and whoop filled road to 6 day glory but never forget it is worth it 100%.
Round 2 Lossiemouth Enduro, Grampian Mcc.
Round 2 started with bad news for the team, Due to family commitments Mike Alty could not attend, his replacement and regular expert class rider Andy Walton from Ramsey Isle of Man had a disaster when the boat he was due to travel from the Island on was cancelled and any alternative boat was fully booked.
After a frantic phone call to Bob Mullins the team was finalised Friday morning! Mike Turner from Sulby was contracted in and being from the same village as Knighter great things were expected! So the team finally was Leo Chuck and Mike, 3 veteran riders with nearly 60 years enduro experience between them! Day 1 went well for all 3 Mike only losing 2 minutes and Leo losing 3, riding on his own on the first minute of vets he found it hard to know the pace! Leo's tests were fast and the time lost on the going whilst being annoying would not impact the result as much as expected. Charlie was riding well and putting in good solid times. Day 2 dawned and Leo was determined not to lose time today! The only tight check of the day was a minute faster than day 1 and Leo stayed clean after getting a bit of tow of expert rider Michael Reese who was having a nightmare day! Mike Turner lost a minute and said he could not have ridden much faster but he was happy. Charlie lost a bit more but again was happy on his first 2 day enduro for 14 years! With only the test, road ride and the relatively slack Monaughty check to ride everyone was home and dry, or so we thought. Leo went into the test and disaster struck when he snapped off his rear brake lever on about the 4th corner! A stump hit it from underneath and ping! A time some 20 odd seconds slower than the day before with 2 working brakes resulted, disappointed at the time but it was to be least of his worries! Fortunately due to the fantastic Husky design he was able to fashion a repair with a bolt, many thanks to the Husky team boys at the out check.
Leo first Vet on the road again went into the check with Michael Reese so a good tow was in order! 45 minutes in to the check disaster number 2 stuck when the awesome TE450 broke a chain. Leo struggled to repair the chain and eventually after some ingenious wiring and bodging managed to limp home nearly 40 minutes down! Very disappointed but happy to finish. Charlie lost a bit more time with a big crash on the Monaughty check resulting in the biggest bruise known to man, but late draft Mike from Knighters village aced it and was top team rider of the weekend. There must be something in the air up there in Sulby! You should bottle the air and sell it on e-bay! Those crazy Yanks would snap it up! Dude
The other team members, Karl Greenall and Robbie Turner, Mikes 18 year old lad riding in his first