It’s been a while since my last Revolting Racer column, so for those who do and don’t know me, rest assured, I am a racer, still. And not so much revolting in the septic tang sense, more in the Capitol-storming Septic Tank parlance of revolt. Although it’s not so much a revolution I’m going through, more of a reinvention; from a pro road-racer in a semi, to semi-pro flat tracker in a van.
These days, as a test rider, I still get paid to ride bikes, which means I now have the luxury of deciding what I want to race. Because back when I was racing for food, I needed to race what I knew and did best, which was road racing.
This freedom lead me to flat-track racing, both because I’d had a hankering ever since one fateful night in 1996, and also because it’s just such a low-fi, low-faff, no-bullshit form of racing. Chuck-a-bike-in-a-van-and-go suits my last-minute way of living. Still, it’s been tricky racing mostly in the UK, while living and working mostly in Spain.
It just so happens you can teach an old hound new tricks. A UK Twins Class title last year riding the factory Harris-framed Royal Enfield Twin. And now, after a ret-hot weekend on the Ammanford Half-Mile in Wales, I find myself running third overall in the UK National Pro Class championship after five of seven rounds.
Racing the Harris-RE flat tracker is a privilege and is also highly personal, having been involved in both the development of the production 650 twins and RE’s worldwide flat track program from its inception. It’s just three years since Royal Enfield’s AFT Pro rider Johnny Lewis and myself launched the first Royal Enfield Slide School at the Ridermania Festival in Goa, India. Now Slide Schools are popping up all over the planet, and more recently the Build, Train, Race programs where folks build up their own 650 twin, attend Slide School and then line up against each other on the track for real. Sure, it’s all about promoting the brand, but if it gets bums on bikes, that’s the kind of promotion our sport needs.
Although RE’s priority is the AFT and UK series’, I managed to persuade them to let me race in Barcelona on the same weekend as MotoGP, on the former Kenny Roberts Training Ranch track right next to the Circuito de Catalunya. As soon as I heard this event was happening I was keen as to race the twin – It was one big skid down memory lane I just couldn’t let escape.
You see, I raced a Harris-framed YZR500 in the 1996 500cc Catalan Grand Prix, and on the Saturday night witnessed USA-style flat track racing live for the first time. It was an exhibition race promoted by King Kenny himself, with some fast locals pitted against genuine legends of flat track from the USA, plus a few GP superstars thrown in for good measure.
The 2022 event was run over two nights, using the oval track on Friday and switching to a fast and flowing TT-style track on Saturday. The vibe in the paddock, the grandstand and at Rocco’s Salon – the bar which overlooks the oval – was buzzing. Riders, crew and officials from the MotoGP paddock turned up to add a dash of glitter to the dust – Quartararo even showed up on a school night.
Unfortunately for me, a sure podium in the Thunderbike Class after three strong races on the oval on Friday night ultimately came to nought. Sending it off the infield jump too many times, the shock collapsed and blew the spring right off the end of the thing. There was nothing left to do but retire to Rocco’s and to watch the rest of the action from the same spot I’d watched Jay Springsteen slaying it back in 1996.
As cool as it is to race the factory Harris Enfield, on an achievement level as a racer, it’s finishing as high up in the top level of UK flat track that motivates me the most. I’ve just switched to a Husky for the Pro Class, and we seem to be clicking. The goal? To finish the season in the top three. To do that I’ll need to beat a load of guys who are half my age, but have already been flat track racing three or four times longer than I have. Still, what’s life without a challenge and two wheels? Zip.
