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I hadn't taken part in a rally since March 2013, so I was a bit rusty. On top of that I had sold my old faithful 2007 CRF450X to Davy Patterson. This meant I was going to be out on a new bike. As usual we had planned to have the bike built, ready, tested in the Uk before we took it anywhere near a rally. We all know how that ended up. I'm sitting at the start of the short prologue on a new bike which has moved about 5kms. Not smart. The bike looks fantastic and has been prepared by Martin Wittering of Torque Racing. I know it is going to be ok. The Serres Rally is set in the Northern hills of Greece not far from Bulgaria. The flights and bike delivery all ran smoothly. This rally is only in its forth year and is already being dominated by the Italians. They are very noisy, it is clear they think they are in charge. The hotel is great, and the organisation make signing on and scrutineering as easy as is humanly possible. There are about 70 entrants mostly made up of Italians followed by the Dutch, the Brits and then a sprinkling of everything else... Fins, Portugese, Aussies, Americans, Slovaks... This is International! After I do the 17km prologue I realise that I am genuinely rusty on my navigation and that my new bike doesn't feel as nice as the old one... Even with new Ohlins forks, to be honest I'm a wee bit disappointed. On the Monday Morning we head out to do three special timed stages totalling over 300kms. The weather is lovely, the roadbook is spot on but at the end of the day I feel like I've gone 3 rounds with Mike Tyson. The bike is way to hard to race for 8 hours and my bum is in a terrible state... Cream was needed. Martin, his usual calm self, tells me that he has sorted it, tomorrow will be fine. Let's hope so, we have one timed special stage of about 280kms after a 70km liaison. We are also going to stay in the hills tonight and not our cosy hotel rooms. If you haven't raced in a rally using a roadbook it is hard to explain how tiring it is to ride as fast as you can for nearly 8 hours, navigate every turn from a roll of paper adjusted by your thumb. However when it all comes together it is the best feeling you can have on a motorcycle. Everything lines up and you become totally immersed in the track in hand. I knew I was doing ok. I had passed a few of the people in front of me and the navigation was coming to me fairly easily now. Even better my bike wasn't destroying me, it all felt good. By the time we got to the ski lodge I was 12th home. It was a good day. The Italians all left to go back to the hotel 50 minutes away while the Brits and Dutch had a party. It rained a lot and the ouzo flowed. The next morning we only had a simple 48kms run back to the hotel and a relatively easy day. I somehow managed to mess up my navigation and fall off on a concrete river crossing. Felt like an idiot after having such a good day the day before. We were advised to rest as the next day was going to be another marathon stage with lots of rocks. We had been warned about some tricky navigation across a rock field early on in the stage. Take your time and look out for the red dots Demitrius told us. I was starting quite far back due to the days stage starting in the order that you finished the previous day. I had passed plenty of people by the time that we got to the rocks. Then i made a classic error, followed tracks and other riders instead of my road book. Silly boy.. I ended up in a big dip with hills all around. Getting out of there was horrible, i bashed the crap out of my bike and just felt stupid. I was blowing it out of my arse by the time i got back on track. The throttle of my bike was jammed and my road book wasn't working. I was in such a state I even ignored the shouts of my team mate for help. Not good, now I felt guilty as well as rubbish. I knew in about 30 kms we had a 10 minute neutralised fuel stop. This fortunately allowed me to get my breath and fix my bike. I was back on it and moving again. Fortunately I got back, finished in an ok time and was able to have Martin fix my bike. Apologies were made. The Friday was going to be 2 fast and flowing easily navigated 110 km stages. We were stopped and warned to make sure we had waterproofs as rain was coming. The Greeks found it strange that someone from Northern Ireland wasn't worried about a bit of warm rain! The first stage was absolutely fantastic, I think I was about 7 minutes slower than Robert Van Der Pelt, the Yamaha factory Dakar rider, Martin wondered why I got back so early! The second stage was a bit different! Firstly it rained and the puddles became bike deep very quickly but more importantly my handlebars started coming off in my hands and I didn't have the correct socket to tighten the bolts. I spent 60kms working out how i would eject myself if they came off in my hands. Fortunately I got to the end just as Roger Hawkins caught me and all was well. The final stage was described as a 90kms enduro stage. That would normally mean markers, but no, this was enduro on a road book. Some of the navigation was tricky and meant having to take time with some difficult climbs and rock sections. I got mixed up in a group of 3 other riders who were all riding and navigating at a similar pace to myself so we all gave each other a good tow along. This resulted in an 11th finish for the day which I was more than happy with. Overall I finished 14th and top UK rider, I couldn't have wished for better! The event was well run by friendly people who knew what they were doing.
I really enjoyed Greece, the food, the scenery and the trails. I had a great
time and the crack was good. Yet again I have made new friends and love how
Rally Raid can bring people so close together. Graham Lovell is a legend!
Thanks to Martin and Donna at Torque racing for looking after me and
allowing to feel like a proper racer once a year! Share |
My
Serres Rally 2014