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[Supermoto] Mettet '02 Let's get there...
by Dave Lippet
Thursday morning breakfast and we figure
out what to do...
Rich Linley and Biscuit Dave are assigned to collecting
parts from a Honda dealership in Brum, then collecting
Mark Miller from Phil Gee in Northampton, onto Uxbridge
to collect Emma Wheeler. They are in the turbo'd Zafira
people carrier whilst Casey, Steve, Metz, and my self
are off to Dover via Cambridge. The stop in Cambridge
is to pick up some tyre warmers
and visit Sol and Sue (who is a couple of days overdue
with her baby!)...We're travelling in my van towing
a large trailer which houses 5
bikes, spares, and riding kit. Top speed is about 65mph
except for downhill where we can pull 80 mph...;-))
Phil Gee is at work but the plan is to meet up with
Phil's motor home and Shagger Rich at Dover for the
23.15 boat...Phil has the rest of the Yanks including
Glenn Curtiss (promoter of Superbikers2) and Eric Pinson.
I've been hanging out with the Cali crew for a couple
of days and we're all dialled to each others sense of
remarkably similar humour. We spend the hours travelling
taking the piss, talking shite,and generally having
a laugh. A brief stop to gawp at Sol's RG500/Prilly
250 hybrid and then onto Dover. At the docks a phone
couple of calls and we decide that we can jump onto
the earlier 9.45 boat as we're the slowest moving vehicle
in the convoy, and the others can catch up on the other
side. The convoy chasing us down includes motard racers
Paul Rhodes, Warren Steele, Chippy, Phil and Rich...Fug
it, we're in pole position and we ain't giving it up
easily to anyone...;o))
As we move to the front of the loading queue a coach
load of German teenagers pulls up alongside us. They're
intrigued by the bike logos on the side of the trailer
and soon they're chattering away with us as we await
the
boat. Casey and I are surrounded by a huge group who
start talking about the X-Games...Casey says ever so
casually, "That's Mike Metzger right there"...
In a flash Casey and I are standing on our own and Mikey
is engulfed by a swarm of hyper German kids. He breaks
a bunch of posters out of the trailer
and signs autographs for everyone. The teenies are ecstatic
and when we do get to board the boat we are once again
surrounded...A couple of the 17 yr old girls are quite
forward and when we eventually dock in Calais it's all
we can do to lock the doors to the truck and encourage
them to get back on
their own coach... ;o))
We set off on the long haul to Mettet with a little
booze to keep us company...I have to refrain 'cos I'm
driving, Casey doesn't drink much and neither does Metz,
but Steve gets stuck in and we're soon pissing ourselves
with laughter as he regales us with drunken tales and
out of tune singing...Insisting that we carry on driving
at full tilt, Casey grabs
Steve's belt as he tries to take a pee out of the sliding
side door as we hurtle along the French autoroute! We
stop for diesel and to call the others and see where
they are...Miles back, but Rich has got it floored and
the
Zafira is making ground on us fast...
On through the night...At about 3.15am we get a call
from Rich..."Where are ya?" "Just turning
onto the R3 at Charleroi, about 30 min's from
Mettet"...OK we're about 20 miles behind ya...See
you later..."
5 seconds later... Whoooosh! WTF was that? The Zafira
passes up the hard shoulder of the deserted motorway
at about 120mph and showers us with Coca-cola and water...Bastards!
This means war. They slow down and we engage in a little
car/van combat, lobbing food and drink and generally
being twats...Hey, it's 3 am in the morning and Belgium
is deserted OK? ;o))
We pull up at the next lay-by and indulge in lots of
stupidity and tomfoolery (BTW This is a very slight
understatement to protect the
guilty...;o), and then travel the last few miles to
the track.
It's 4am in the morning but the Yanks have come a long
way so we walk the track in the moonlight...Steve is
still buzzing on Vodka and he's spectacularly funny
as we trek around the "Like totally gnarly circuit
dude...It's fuckin' radical maaan"...Running around
freaking like he's got a hyperactive wasp stuck in his
undies...
Eventually we decide to get a couple of hours shut
eye in the van and trailer while we wait for Belgium
to wake up so we can grab some
breakfast...
Continued in Pt 3
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