|
Dave "Lippy" Lippett is a
legend of sorts. Residing in the UK, he and some close
friends traveled to the US to take part in the first
annual "Orange Rotor" race during the last
round of the SuperBikers2, LLC Supermoto Challenge.
Here is his story.....
Superbikers 2 Net tales pt1 Geting
there.
Article by Dave Lippet
"He's just like a fookin' baby 'im"....;o))
That'll be that Warren Steele bloke...We're about 5
hrs into our flight from Manchester (UK) out to Newark
on the US east coast and all the boy has done is eat,
sleep, and shit....It's to be a recurring theme throughout
the following 6 days of the trip...Sitting to the other
side are my other travelling partners..."Wild"
Bill Allen and Leighton "revved" Haigh.
We're eventually headed for Road America in the state
of Wisconsin and the supermotard race to be known as
Superbikers2..."The Orange Rotor"..............Well,
if the Frogs can have "The Golden handlebar".................
The original plan was for Warren, Leighton and current
British NORA supermoto champ Ady Smith to travel to
the States to take on the US motard hero-dudes on their
own soil...I was along for the ride as "Dad for
the
weekend", PR man, journo', team manager, driver,
go-between, general dogsbody,team bullshitter, head
beer-drinker, and piss-taker-in-chief....Sheesh, it
was a shoe in, I was easily bloody overqualified...;o)))
Things got ferked up slightly when Leighton messed
up his knee the week prior to departure on a sodding
jetskii...Will the boy never bloody learn....For the
3rd season running the unfortunate Scunthorpe native
had
removed himself from the UK title race with an injury...The
day before we left for the States, a doctors final examination
ruled him out of riding
completely with a knee the size of a football...Borrox!'..Still
he'd paid for his plane ticket so came along with his
#1 fan Wild Bill to take in the
action as a spectator.
Ady is following us across the Atlantic on a later
flight with his girlfriend Zoë, and the motley
Brit' crew was completed with the addition of Warren
"Bunny" Marshall, my long time pit gimp, tea
maker and supermoto fan/freak extraordinaire.
After about 12 hrs of travelling we're wazzing around
a beach on the shores of Lake Michigan...We appear to
be on two wheels in our huge 8-seater rental
Ford four-wheel-drive, and I'm carving some wicked berms
after the boys egged me on into some figure eights....Bwaaahahahahaa!...and
to think they
made me Dad for the weekend...;o)))
Ok, to the hotel grabs an hours kip and head out for
a big fat steak... Warren and I retire back to the hotel
after grub as Bill, Bunny and Leighton booze it up on
the hospitality of the steakhouse owner who's locked
them in after hours...Smithy is still on his way out
from the UK...
I wake early the next morning and go for a drive from
our base at Sheboygan along the shores of Lake Michigan
while the pissheads sleep their hangovers
off.
First impressions...Wisconsin really is a beautiful
state...I have to confess here...I love America, I've
worked there, I took my honeymoon there, I take my kids
on holiday there....but Wisconsin and the area that
we're in is really quite lovely, and as we were to find
out later, the local people are supremely hospitable...
I get back to the hotel at about 8.30 to find a tired
looking Ady and Zoë, a bit of a mix-up had resulted
in them spending 5 hours at Milwaukee airport waiting
to be picked up...;-(((( Glenn Curtiss of Superbikers2
had done the honours and picked them up....I go back
into placatory "Dad mode" and try to smooth
things out....I suggest that we spend a few hours chilling
out on the beach that's just a few minutes from our
hotel...
A short time later and we're all splashing around happily
in the cool waters of the Lake as the thermometer nudges
87 degrees... "Bugger" I say to Ady "I
could've been at work instead of getting tanned
here......"
The happy communal atmosphere is restored as we sit
wigging our toes in the sand and discussing tomorrow's
open practice day at the race circuit....Can't bloody
wait.....Back at the hotel we get a call from Glenn
and head out to meet him for the first time and take
a quick looksee at the stunning motorsports facility
known as Road America...
I only have two words to describe the huge 500+ acre
moto playground....Fookin' stunning...;-))))
We spend some time dribbling over the rich geezers
playing on the main in GT40's, Cobras, the odd Ferrari
and innumerable, implausibly cool sounding V8 sportscars.....If
you're a petrolhead this is the place to get a fix.
We go to take a look at the Briggs and Stratton raceway
where the motard track is, meeting up with Glenn's co-promoter,
(ex-pat Brit') Paul Brent of MotomasterUSA, and Steve
Claus, head honcho at www.thumpertalk.com . We take
a look at the track and the guys are happy to make a
couple of minor tweaks to the dirt section to extend
it very slightly...;-)))))
A couple of cold beers and an early(ish!) night and
we're revved up and ready for practice on Friday...
|
