Schumacher MX Bike Challenge

The UK’s first MX Bike meeting was held at CMCC Baginton, who kindly donated all proceeds to their regular charity the Air Ambulance, so we had some fun and raised some worthwhile funds in the process. With the backing of Schumacher we attracted a hard core of the bike fans keen to find out just how these Anderson M5 Cross bikes would fair in competition. A simple track layout included the main features of the grass track including a table top in the centre, the triple jump off to the left and the far table top with pre-kicker. The long straights before each jump promoted good gyro speed to keep the bikes stable over the rough stuff and the machines stunned all who saw them in action.

The Stock bikes running the RTR Kit Anderson 28,000rpm brushed motor were very close, with Dave Richards pipping Dez Chand for pole position, while Robin Schumacher himself fought with Dave Brown and Martin Hutchinson for the runner up spot. Andy Carless and Steve Newey fought Dave Andrew and Graham Clarke with their much modified machines in the open class. The speed of the brushless bikes was stunning and promoted not just clean triple jumps but getting good air over the back and landing beyond the main table top occasionally. Dave Andrew fought for Pole but it was taken by Graham once he finished building and fitting his option front forks having seen the benefits they offer on Dave’s bike which was more than obvious, what a lovely bit of kit they are! Steve and Andy’s fairly stock machines were holding their own in the open class.

In the finals a very narrow win in leg one was enough to steal the overall win away from the more consistent Dave Richards who scored another second place in leg two,  after Dave Brown finally fitted a steel spur gear option and showed his true potential, demoting Dave to 2^nd and Dez to 3^rd in a dominant display.

Typical lap times for the Stock front runners were the low 30’s though Dave Brown sneaked in a 29.59 secs to secure fastest lap of the day which earned him the Stock class award of a Core Charger donated by Schumacher racing and presented by Robin himself.

In the Open Finals it was a pair of wins for the outrageous green mean machine of Dave Andrew who was having a great dice with Graham until he jammed a steering damper and threw away a certain second overall, instead pipped to the podium by Andy Carless and Steve Newey. Considering how much faster they were, the front runners in the Open class were just two seconds per lap faster than the stock bikes, and Dave Andrew set the fastest lap of the day with a stunning 27.84 secs to claim the Open Class prize of a selection of Graphic Weave style option parts from the Anderson range, again presented by Robin himself.

Many thanks to Robin Schumacher for not only supporting and encouraging the event but for also turning up and taking part himself. Thanks to CMCC Baginton for the excellent track facility on one of their rare available calendar vacancies. Thanks to Steve Newey in Race Control who also brought the Formby Models spares back up to keep us on track.

Many thanks to all the pilots who brought their MX bikes and entertained those that came just to watch! Perhaps we are looking at an Off Road Bike GP for 2010, watch this space! But for now we have the Cotswolds GP to look forward to where the off road bikes will be in action on tarmac in a Super Motard style, October 17^th and 18^th along with regular road classes for 1/8^th and 1/5^th solos plus sidecars too. See the BRCA Bike Section web site for more details www.brca.org and links to regular bike forums, supporters and help sections.

More photo's can be found here - http://s101.photobucket.com/albums/m43/Moto5/Dez82/baginton/MX%20Challenge/