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Photo - Chris Birch:(File photo courtesy of Geoff Osborne:)
Most will be aware that Chris Birch, the current NZ Enduro champion, past NZ Trials Champion and Mountain Bike rider has made the major move to the UK to pursue his dreams.
Chris has a really great Website: that you may wish to bookmark.
Here is his latest report where he has the great news that he's been picked up by a team - and those positions are as plentiful as hen's teeth......
As some of you may have guessed it was Husqvarna that I tested with last week.
I have decided to go with the Husky team for next year. I will be riding a WR250 in the British National, Welsh and European enduro champs, the Fast Eddy series and whatever else takes our fancy!!!
Jumping straight in at the deep end I raced an '05 WR250 in the John Banks National enduro last weekend. This is not a National champs round but one of the big one-off enduro’s. There was a lot to get used to as I had only spent the three hours or so last weekend on the bog-stock Husky so I was looking at the event more as a way to get some top level race experience in the UK.
We arrived at the event about midday on the Saturday and boy was it cold! There was ice 5mm thick in the puddles and you could walk across the top of the boggy bits in shoes without getting dirty as the mud was frozen solid! (we’re not in kansas any more toto!) The Husky was looking pretty good though, it had sprouted a set of factory Marzocchi forks and a 2C go-faster exhaust during the week, as well as some nice detail work from Wyn the Husky team boss/coach/mechanic/pit crew. We walked the only test four times as it was right by the start and it was a good way to keep warm. It was pretty tight and twisty with two big open straights that would test out the new exhaust systems top end boost. The terrain was not too dissimilar to the going around Taupo area.
Thankfully it was a bit warmer on Sunday and the ice that everyone was stressing about wasn’t too much of a problem. The course was a loop of about sixteen miles of single track that we repeated six times, with the test done twice. In the first go through the test, I felt all over the show as it was very early on and I was still trying to get used to the new bike, new terrain and the hippy tires. I was pretty surprised to be second fastest! On the second time through the test I felt like I was hauling arse, I was having a good run until I stalled the motor in a corner, stressing, I slipped off the kick starter a couple of times, half kicked it a couple of times before calming down a bit and actually kicking it properly and getting on my way again. Suffice to say not a good test and it dropped me to fifth, gutted.
Full Results Here:
The rest of the day was all about staying on time as they cranked up the speed average and the track chopped out with the 250 odd riders blatting about. I stayed on time without too many drama’s but was pretty knackered afterwards, not being on a bike for a while hasn’t helped my fitness too much. I was a bit toasted on Monday as well, especially after a thirteen hour shift working on a stinking rotten dungery pussy old truck!!!!! (In case you haven’t noticed I’m pretty much over playing diesel mechanic).
The Husky team is a good set up and I’m really looking forward to when things start to kick into gear after Christmas. There is a very strong team atmosphere, we will train and practice together specifically for each event and in January are off on a week long trip to Spain for training (woo hoo!).
Hope everyone is enjoying the start of summer, by the way it snowed last week and it’s well dark by 4.30........
Bye for now
Chris
PS: Peter writes - that Chris may posssibly get a ride in the Scottish Six Days!
