After the success of round 1 Leo was looking forward to Hungary. After much considering of how to get to Hungary with 15 UK riders all wanting to go it was decided that The Purple Helmets would hire their truck and a driver to the British contingent, Robbo owner of said truck and Helmet member drove the wagon along with Leo to Tokod in Hungary.
We arrived Wednesday morning and had a quick look round waiting for the rest of the lads to arrive. Leo and Robbo went for a sightseeing day out with a trip up the basilica at Esztergom, there is a rickety walkway around the dome about 200 feet up and Leo not to keen of heights did not fancy it. Robbo ran out like Spiderman but Leo was left clinging to the grab rail and after about 50 feet returned to the safety of the indoors! The lads had a night out in town (no beer) and were surprised to find fish in the tiny town centre waterfall. The tests were walked and all that kind of stuff and the bikes were tested and scrutinized. All that was left to do was the riding.
The basilica at Esztergom and people on the walkway.
The first lap went ok, the bike was working well but it was quite dusty and the terrain was very hard, not technical but baked dry and very whooped out in places. The marking was not up to usual UK standard and the dust meant lots of riders going wrong and to-ing and fro-ing on the going. All was going OK but on the final check of the second lap leo unfortunately hit a tree stump in the dust and after 3 lock to lockers he was launched over the front to land like a sack of sh!te.
Martin Pichl did well to get a photo of Leo mashing up the berms!
He suffered a slight concussion but whilst he lay on the floor he realised if he did not get up pretty quick his bike would be hit by following riders in the dust. Leo had hurt his head ribs and side. On returning back to the paddock he went to the ambulance on site and they took him to hospital. He then faced over 3 hours there. Fortunately young Tom Braddock was also in the ambulance as he had over jumped a tabletop and landed on the next ramp and cut his chin open on the triple clamps so at least we could talk! Our visit to the hospital made 1 person very happy Matt (Arthur Check) Ridgeway had been there all day with no one to talk to and was getting fed up especially after they left him with on old woman who kept throwing up right next to him!
The prognosis after a brain scan nothing was found, from there on to about 50 x-rays but not one of them on the rear left where most of the pain was coming from! Leo was then tested with one of those things they look at babies at on pregnant women. Leo is not pregnant! The doctor could see no definite breaks in the ribs but they wanted Leo to stay overnight to monitor him. Leo made a decision that the Hotel was the place to be as the Hospital looked a bit of a scary place!
Thanks to Kurt for straightening up Leos bent bike in case he was fit enough to ride Sunday and thanks to all the helpers from UK Gareth, Julian, Phil, Kay, Lorraine, 0010, Alan and Richard who all went out there. Thanks to our Rep John Collins for keeping us all informed of the latest rule changes an stuff And big thanks to Robbo for hiring us the wagon so all the lads could go to the event at a reasonable cost and save them all from having nearly 2 weeks off work.
So that’s it dropped from number 1 to number 6 and then a road trip back in the wagon with sore ribs and stuff. It was great.
1st Place Veteran class Leo Cordingley, Midwest Husaberg FE450
Before I start Leo would like to make a comment and say Thanks to David and Ollie Moyce, Kurt Pringle and Midwest Husaberg without them this dream result would never have happened….
Merde il pleut…
Leo was off to race in France at the opening UEM round, It was decided to share the travelling expense with young Tom Braddock and his father from Norwich. Unfortunately it looked as tho Leo would not be riding but at the last minute David Moyce offered Leo a 450 Husaberg, one of Ollie's practice bikes to ride in the event as Ollie had hurt his shoulder the weekend prior and upon arrival in France decided he was not fit enough to ride.
Having never seen the proposed race bike Leo was unsure of how it would perform especially as it was set up for Ollie's 11 stone frame opposed to Leo's considerably larger one! The bike was tried round the test track and 1 or 2 minor adjustments made and that was it, ready to race! Tests were walked in the glorious sun and everything was set for a nice ride out in the sunshine. Talk was of how good it would be to use 1 pair of tinted lens goggles all weekend… how wrong they were to be.
Saturday morning came all too early and it was pouring it down, it never stopped for the next 48 hours. The race was very hard for all and the number of finishers in the Veteran class mirrored this. After approximately 2 miles of the going it became evident this event would be survival of the fittest and not necessarily the rider with the best right hand would win. It would be down to hearts and minds. The extreme test was so hard they decided not to time it on the initial lap and altered it every lap The Veterans have to ride the same time schedules as the young stars in the European rounds unlike at home where we ride the much slower clubman pace. On day 1 Leo managed a creditable 4th place in class on a bike he had only ever seen the day before! He could see plenty of places for improvement like by not falling off or getting stuck on every special test. Extreme test day 1 Day 2 dawned dull and rainy and most expected the event to be cut to just 1 lap, it wasn't! The extreme test was altered again and to be honest it was the easiest test to negotiate on the lap! Leo set off tired and weary after the relentless punishment of day1. Determined to get a good result for Husaberg and Midwest who came to his help at short notice. Leo set off the day with a 2nd place on the first extreme test. After the first check he was some 8 minutes late, bearing in mind the over 40's have to keep pace with the best young riders in Europe it was not bad going. After the second loop Leo had dropped 12 minutes. He cleaned the final check on the first lap. He set off on lap 2 knowing that he had 18 minutes allowance before he was excluded. He knew the first check would be hard as there was a muddy climb in the woods that was nearly impossible last lap but there had been another 300 bikes up since the previous lap. It was on this climb and subsequent rock laden path that Leo saw the only other Veteran who was still in the running as he caught Leo up. The Husaberg performed flawlessly in these extreme conditions with its smooth enduro focussed power providing just what was needed. Whilst some parts of the course were very hard it was interspaced with easier parts to allow you a bit of a rest, you still had to ride them flat out tho! Leo managed to catch and pass the other vet on the remainder of the check and rode as fast as his old body would allow him! He managed to reach the time control with 3 minutes to spare. The second loop he knew he could clean the check despite losing 4 minutes last lap when he had wasted time at the test and by stopping to wee!
The awesome power of the 450 Berg on the first near vertical climb on the extreme test. Leo managed to get back to the check with time to spare and clocked in early, later this was to prove to make the difference. As he set off on the last loop he kind of knew if he could get back in time he might win as he had seen no other Vets for over 2 hours! Only the final cross test to do! Teeth gritted and with some help from fellow Brits up there pointing out the best lines managed to get back round despite feeling like death warmed up. As he approached the paddock he glanced across the main road and saw top spanner man Kurt giving him the hurry up to get to the time check, he made his way quickly through the paddock, Brit team manager Dusty rugby tackled a woman and 2 kids to the floor as Leo would have mown them down! He checked in and then the long wait for the results, he kind of knew he was the only Vet still circulating near time but was he too late? Leo checks into the final check on the Midwest Husaberg after two 7 hour days of rain mud and rocks as big as portable tellies! And not flat screen ones! At the end of the day the results were posted and Leo had won and was the only Vet to stay within the 30 minute exclusion period because he had checked in early he gave himself more time to complete. A position on top of the podium and nice trophy followed, and you can tell how often riders from the U.K. must have won as the organiser took ages to find a copy of God Save the Queen to play! Travel buddy Tom ended up 20th overall after the 2 days on E1J, he had some good tests and some bad luck with his bike. He was 1 of only 2 regular expert class riders from the UK to finish the other being Craig Reynolds in E2J. Tom using his trials skills on the Extreme test. Tom and Leo would like to thank all the British helpers out in France including Bill, Dusty, Alan, Bob, Jim, Dot and Debbie Harvey for finding our haunted house to stay in. Not forgetting our ACU Jury man John Collins, finally and most of all Ollie, Dave, Marilyn, Kurt and Midwest Husaberg as without their help none of this would have happened! Oh and everyone else who helped. Photos from Please visit.
