UK XR / STREETRACKER MEET !

JUST BE THERE .

JUST BE THERE .

JUST BE THERE.

And bring your Streetrackers and get in Half price !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't wait , it's gonna be great . Full stop .

FREEZING FLORIDA FARCICAL FLATTRACK VACATION !

Actually we had a good coupla weeks away , but if you look at the facts ....... it don't look good !

BAD STUFF.

Plane arrived late and by the time we were at the hotel there was no hope of making our first race at Ocala (which was where the big twins were running .....

Next day , evening race at Volousia - so we got there at lunch just in case and to see a bit off practice ..... nowt going on ! rained the night before so called it off at 9am in sun and when we got there it was bone dry, but empty !

Next day over to Daytona to the new dirttrack course to watch Boastie Qualify , to be told he'd highsided out - poss cracked ribs etc . DOH .

Sat in the stands that night in biting wind watchin the frost come outta our mouths and wishing it would end ... which it did ... at about 11 or so ! only the AMA rug and sweatshirts we bought saved us from death . half the spectators went home .

Did 3 autojumbles in one day cos they were full of chrome shit for Baggers (touring Harleys).

Picked up a Ducati from Ducati Daytona (thanks guys) and realised it had a rear seat the size of a postage stamp , Rach not impressed . After 5 mins of riding in Florida , i was not impressed ! you're not allowed to filter thru the traffic !!! Wot !!!! F.K.N HELL . might as well have a harley then ! $%%^$%&&$ bollox , ruins riding that does , so i ignored it and rode up the middle and kicked the traffic outta the way like u should . They don't like it up em .

Went down Main st and parked it up amongst the hogs , locked our helmets on ... and left the keys in the seat ! came back n they were gone . FERC IT. Ran around a bit like a headless chicken , then saw the card in the ignition recess , read it and it was from the police - meet em at the corner of main and olive , nice ! they had the keys but i had to explain how an english guy in florida had a Ducati on California plates ... one lecture later i had em back !

Then i rode it 300 miles to Miami - on a dead straight road , kin torture . Here Miami Ducati have it back ! (great shop that one !) so if you wanna ride in the USA , go to California where u can filter !

Down in Miami we head out to the Keys (key largo) to Gilberts resort , which is ok till you get inside a room then it sucks big time being very run down for top money too ! that nite Rach says she want's to go home.... so i book us out and find another much nicer place for less money ... and it catches fire ! So at 3am we pack our car and move across the road as Floridas best fight the fire , by 7am we can move back in as only the resturant burnt down !

Still this week is all about Rach on the beach .... except there are no real beaches on the Keys ! yes those picture perfect beaches are all concrete covered in sand ( not so comfy!) Rach not impressed again , so it's off to Miami beach which as you all know is miles of real sand ... so we're driving up and down looking for a space or car park - and 3hrs later we still are ! A little thing called spring break has spoiled our fun , thousands of college kids got there first ! it was chocka block . so we went home . Rach . Tears .

GOOD STUFF .

No hire car for us , so they upgraded us to a Chevy MPV , leather n nice .

Volousia was a real nice sleepy town to visit , no tourism nice diner etc - good day spent exploring round the lakes there .

The racing at Daytona speedbowl was great watched the classics and twins races from the infield and saw Springer kick ass on the XR750 TT race bike , then got to meet him in the pits ! the pits were great (see our pics). We got invited by Ducati to watch the 200 race with them in Ducati hospitality which was great and we met some nice guys , who explained about filtering in the traffic , later we waved to them as we shot past up the middle of the traffic on our streetfighter - oh how we laughed !

At the track Boastie was in good spirits considering the long trip for nowt ! and Jan and Tom were buzzing around like they were on speed with excitement ! and the racing was great , tooth n nail stuff . Chriss Carr came over n said hi , after hearing the english voices ! He was looking good in the heats but they kicked his ass in the final , the smooth track not suiting many there.

A good facility though without a doubt and you've got to wonder how many new tracks are being built over there in the last ten years ?

We went to the bike auctions at Stetson university and there was a good bike show too , All classics , had to stop myself coming back with the Astro in the pics !

Found a XR chaincase for $20 in the swapmeet too !!.

We did 1000 miles in the hire chevy which was nice as it was new (200miles old!) and gas was nowt per liter .

We had a great day out at the Kennedy space center and saw the Shuttle out a few days before it's launch .

We went up a very tall light house and took out a boat for the day amongst the Mangrove swamps ! and saw a Man-o-war in the water - spooky but very delicate .

By the time we got to Miami the sun was properly with us , and when the hotel was crap the lady on the next table turned out to be the president of the Chamber of Commerce and she found us a much better one for $40 less per night ! Nice .

The Resurant that burnt down was well nice and we had a nice meal in there the night before !

We did some Rach stuff up n down the Keys the highlights of which were ... a Airboat ride across the everglades in a crocodile reserve , a dolphin show (and sealions , parrots etc ) Alligator wrestling ! and a hundred mile road trip across the Keys to Key west , only 70 miles from Cuba !

We got about four hundred pics out of it and some of em are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/redmaxspeedshop/sets/72157623870173206/

and there are some videos here

http://www.youtube.com/REDMAXSPEEDSHOP

The videos so far are , Airboat ride , Auctioneer , Daytona flattrack , and flat oot round the banking at night !

So it was good and bad , just how you want it if you like telling a good story ! or remembering it in the future !

FIRST SHORTTRACK RACE OF YEAR -KINGS LYNNE.

What a fab race meeting that was ! All the Scooter farm boys made the Final (except Jason of course - rekon he does it on purpose!) with Jon and Gary doing great and me n Dave battling it out till the end (dave getting me up the inside at the end , oh-er missus).

I wanna say right now I HAD A SECOND PLACE !!!!! one better than my previous best on the old girl (1977 vintage) and if i'da got traction orf the line maybe Stevie Coles would'nt have slipped thru into turn one ...... Nah - he'd a got me anyway . That boy flies , although i managed to hang onto him till the flag , he was always a bike length ahead . Nice to see his wife in the pits chattin to sideburn girl . Spotted Gary's wife to0 and the Lovely Louise , thanks for coming girls !

Had Paul Baleta in the shop before the weekend trying on some tanks/seats on his new thunderbike a KTM Duke and he was at the track giving it the beans everywhere , you should take a look at his Speed Therapy Blog , makes good reading , other bloggers present were Anthony Brown (DBA blog ) and of Course Gary Inman (Sideburn as if u did'nt know ) all these blogs are on my favorites here !

Another anomaly at this meeting were all the new leathers , my own were based on Triumph's own Gene Romero Jacket and Matching Arai lid with Metro racing suede gloves (very 70's beige!) then Jason had a lovely quality new skoota farm set , which he promptly covered up with a cow suit ! (see pics) that guy cracks me up ! Anthony Brown also sported a new set , finally escaping from his pizza/puke kevlar set , which i believe he's gonna make Geoff wear at his first race , our next round the BMF show !

Oh yea , other people were there racing and i believe it was the biggest turn out ever ! Thanks guys for making the effort . But if we're talking effort , well what about the Italians ? it's a fair old treck i'd say from anywhere in Italy to Kings-Lynne without bringing a bike and racing it , but that's what the Zaeta boys did Pauolo and Marco(Belli) bought along the Mk2 bike with the TM engine (much more suitable for a Italian bike than a Honda motor) and had a good go with it , although maybe the Suprmoto spec engine needs a bit of refining as they ran in the top 4 but , had no test time with it ! Great effort guys . Next Jacobo Monti was there to (from Italy)with his creature from the deep ! well modified Honda 450 , but it refused to go from the start and he borrowed a CRF to race from someone else (nice one whoever that was !) imagine coming all that way and have it not start . Bummer .

I tell you all the racing was great and the atmosphere in the pits was fantastic , nice to see some familiar faces appear and say hello (you know who you are ) i always enjoy showing the bike to interested spectators , particularly when i'm going well out there !

So these are a few pics and if you follow the link herehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/redmaxspeedshop/sets/72157623732477527/ - you can see all the pics Rach took and a video too ! i just load the lot onto Flickr warts n all !

Finally many thanks to all involved in the organisation of such a slick meeting cos it's a pleasure - and you make it so . THANKS GUYS n DOLLS .

Oh and i must mention our crazy commentator , cos he always makes me smile and without him it just would'nt be the same watching a race . THANKS MATE .

DEATHLY DAVE'S DESIGNER DOO -DELIGHTFULL !

Went up the smoke last night to Death Spray Custom's art show in the Exposure art gallery . And it was a great night out with some stunning pieces on display - including my old race bike with a fab paint job by the master himself (Dave) and with the bike in pride of place in the window , i was glowing with pride ! It's always nice to catch up with friends too and i had Sideburn girl (Rach) along for the ride so she was able to meet a few people to . Had i enough spare cash i could have bought a matching Axe and Fixie push bike , to go with my 1026cc Ducati - but i had my eye firly one the set of four DSC number ones that would have looked great in my shop on the wall ! Many thanks to Dave for a great evening and a great paintjob .

After it was all over we heade out for food with Anthony (co-built) and his mate Oz , and without a word of a lie had the best Thai meal ever , nice resteraunt , good service and fantastic food .

What a way to end the night !