SMCC NEWSLETTER

10 July 2008

Hi All

Sorry its taken this long to email you all and let you know how its all going but I was waiting for my luck to change and things to pick up but ill let you know whats been happening.

I arrived about a month ago and the first weekend I was here I raced down at Rye house.  I had just picked my bikes up that week and hadnt had much time to prepare or change anything.  In my first two heats I went straight through the tapes due to what we later discovered was a counter shaft beering which had come loose.  I then jumped on my spare bike which wasnt set up correct.  We then went into the pits but with lacking the right sprockets and chain peices I was unable to get the perfect set up so only picked up the one point from the meeting.  I then rode for Poole in the second half where i was in second place and locked up and the rider behind me went straight into me sending us both crashing out.

The next meeting was the next saturday night.   It was at Weymouth which was a 5 and a half hour drive.  I only had one bike for this meeting as we had developed an engine problem with the other bike during a second half during the week, and also found a crack in the frame.  Weymouth is a tiny 220m track with plenty of dirt on it which I struggled with and ended up crashing heavily in my 2nd heat.  I completed 3 heats and then my bike would not start for my forth heat so I was excluded.

I later found out that week that my stator had packed up and possibly the reason I struggled in the 3 heats that day and the bike was flat and hard to turn.

So after this meeting with a finger twice the normal size I set off for sittingbourne where is was due to ride the next day at 12 noon.  I set off from weymouth at about 10oclock, half an hour later the van started struggling and my lights started going out and van getting slower by the minute. I was within an hour of sittingbourne when my van broke down on the M25 (busiest motorway in uk that circles london).  This was about 12.30am so after about half an hour an AA tow truck picked me up and dropped me at a nearby garage in the nearby suburb.   He rang a mechanic to come and have a look so told me to wait.  this mechanic didnt arrive till about 2.30am, he then tested my battery and told me my alternator was faulty, he then rang for a tow truck to take me to a distenation of my choice, either home to ipswich or sittingbourne.  The tow truck driven by an african that looked fresh of the boat didnt arrive to about 4am, by then I was tired and fustrated so told the driver where to go exactly he agreed and told me he would wake me when we were close and I fell asleep in the back of the truck.  An hour and a half later he woke me to ask if he was close only to discover he had driven to brighton which was an hour and a half in the opposite direction.  I told him why didnt he use the GPS on his windscreen if he didnt know where to go but he didnt know how to use it...moron!.

We finally made it to the track in daylight at about 7.30am where the driver couldnt take me an extra 500m to the pit park because he ran out of diesal.  I then got 2 hours sleep in the back of the van before having to build a working bike for the race meeting 2hours away. after working right up to the start time i went out for my first heat where my bike crapped out off the line, we then changed some other things around and rode 3 more heats picking up just 2 points.  I charged my battery while racing and it was enough for me to get back home on.

I havent raced since then but done a few second halves but still working to get the bikes right, one of those tracks I have been riding second halves on is Ipswich where I have been riding every thursday. While riding there on the thursday just been my van got broken into and my GPS and wallet got stolen which was quite fustrating because i now have no idea where im going.  They smashed my drivers window and got quoted £90 for a second hand one, so have picked up a peice of perspex from the hardware store and made my own which is doing the job.

The van which Will be driven straight to the scrap yard after the season is a mitsi l300 which i picked up for £250.  Its luckey to be still in one peice, Mick the guy im living with is forever fixing something on it the last being the alternator, window and an exhaust that was about to fall off but i have faith in her to keep going.

The Couple im staying with are very nice, we live on a farm about half an hour out of ipswich, i have my own living quarters above my working in a refurbished barn.  They are also very good friends of Scotty nicholls who only lives 5minutes up the road so I have met him a few times and his old mechanic is starting to help me out with my bikes abit which is good.  So with a few more second halves and meetings things should start picking up a bit and will start scoring a few more points.

I was suppose to be racing today against redcar at sittingbourne but has been rained out so next meeting will be next sunday against boston at sittingbourne.

Sorry if my punchuation and spelling is incorrect but I am now tired of typing, hope all is well at home and the winters not to hard on you all.

Bye for now, Alex.  +44  07592431301