| ERZBERG RODEO 2008
Things went to plan
for the first 180 miles of the 2600 mile round trip, THEN we ran out of fuel, luckily we
free wheeled into a tractor garage, jerry can later and away we went to Dover for the
Ferry. Arriving into
France that night, we parked up and slept, hitting the motorway on the Tuesday morning,
only to run out of fuel again. So out came
the jerry can, Poor Gavin got the short straw, picked up by an Albanian bloke and dropped
at the nearest garage for more fuel, driven back by a kind Spanish truck driver. That night we made
it to Berg in Germany, Great little Town, out in the pub till 2.00am, and then staggered
back to the Motor home for some sleep. Wednesday
went past with not problems, arriving in Erzberg at 7.00pm. WHAT A DIRT
BIKE PLAYGROUND! The place is massive. Met up with Gordon and Mark Jackson of EUROTEK KTM (01765 608209). Gordon and mark had sorted out late entries and
special parking for us so we set up camp and had a look about.
Thursday we started
building up bikes, rejet for altitude, out for some practice on the mountain and hills in
the quarry. Back change from MX
tyres to trail tyres and out again to check the trials tyres on the quarry climbs, then
the discussion started on tyres. There were
more tyre changes than a F1 Practice day. The
MX tyres were fine for the quarry but not so good out of the quarry as 90% of the race in
on rocks and roots. So it was all
change again for Friday’s prologue, 18Ks flat out u the quarry roads, 500 riders go
through to the big race on Sunday. Les and Gavin both
got in on Fridays blast, but still had to do it all again on the Saturday. Saturday came and the blast was on 9.00am, Les and
Gavin had to wait until 10.00pm to see if they were in, it was a bit nervous at times.
Never mind they got in but were in row 9 & 10, with 450 other riders to pass Bikes regeared, that’s when Gavin found out
his bike was not a 6 speed 250 Exc. Back to talk on
tyres for Sunday. Mark & Gordon had 10
guys with them so there was plenty to talk about. Anyway
the Trials tyres were fitted, and then of to watch the Enduro Super Cross, won buy some
guy called Taddy. Then up to the beer tent
for some well earnt refreshments, well its thirsty work talking about tyres. SUNDAY THE
BIG DAY. It started sunny and hot.
The start is at
12.00 noon, but all the riders started to line up 1½ hours before, so it was quite hot
sitting in the bottom of the quarry. 12.00 noon arrives
and the riders are in line of 50. The top 50
have a 5 minute start right away, so by the time Les & Gavin got off they were a good
20 minutes down. The climbs in the quarry are
real steep but not impossible however, once you have 50-60 bikes stuck on the climbs there
are not a lot of lines to take. Both Les and Gavin got out of the quarry, quite easy with
some help from the spectators. Both refuelled
out of the quarry and on they went where their trials tyres came into play, passing bikes
stuck on rocks and roots. The next problem
you come up against is the track being blocked by the riders who were fast in the flat out
blast on the Friday and Saturday. Having the
trials skill to climb hills strewn with rocks and roots, no flat out stuff here. So you
have to wait while the spectators pull the bikes up with rope and don’t forget the
clock is ticking by and soon the cut of time will be upon you. Les and Gavin are now passing guys for the second
and third row but the blocked climbs were against them.
Les was 1 of 3 all day that rode up the pipe climb, the rest were pulled up,
It’s not just
the climbs that were scary, some of the 20ft drop off with boulders everywhere,
that’s when it’s time to get off and use the bike as a sledge. Les got to check 12
and Gavin got to check 13 out of 15 before the horn went and it was all over for them. Gavin came across a
group of Germans riding together, they were unable to go any further and would not let
Gavin through, with this Gavin ran out of time. He
was not happy when he got back to the pits. Mark Jackson
finished in the top 10. Erzberg 2008 was
won by Taddy Blazusiak. Les and Gavin were quite happy with how they got on from so far back. Next
time they’ll have to get into the fourth row. Well it was all over, and good time was had by all, it was time to pack up and head for home and yes we did make it without running out of fuel. Report by Brian Hill
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