Wednesday #4Drizzling afternoon so son Scott made the decision to go to Ardmore. I looked up their website www.amamx.co.nz and it was down or gone. Also had a look at Botany Honda but could only find out-of-date info under; Events – Wildman.
I had not been there for years, last time I had seen the Cobbs was at MXoN in France in 2011. Ardmore is where Scott learned to ride some 10 years ago on his DRZ before a succession of YZ85s.
Got there about 5:00pm and John Cobb’s kids at the gate - $15 a ride – last time I saw Ryan he was a cheeky little #$@% and now he’s a hairy legged high schooler!!
They had had 2.5hours of good rain so the track was very muddy. Nothing's changed - lots of riders and place overgrown.
Once those riders had done lots of laps the tight corners were changing ruts and berms - as good as you get anywhere.
I went looking for John but only saw him as we were leaving at 7:45pm . They have had neighbour/legal/resource consent issues for quite some time and I wanted to get an update as I heard ‘they’ had been resolved.
Photo exponent Phil Smith sent me this last night;
"Thought I'd let the greater community of Kiwi Bikers know how it went at the environment court hearing. It's all good, we have 25 Sundays, 40 Wednesdays, 10 rider training days, 40 mini trail days (peewees, mini 4 strokes, xr/crfs etc) i.e. no mx bikes allowed of any size. The noise issue is still there, along with dust but we can work with that. John and the team would like to thank the riders for supporting them during the long fight to keep the track open. All we need now is rain to fill the dams as they are very low.”
Surprise sighting was Blake Gillard, who last rode at the Auckland Champs on 18 Nov 2012. His hand had been operated on after constant problems with a detached Scaphoid (thumb) where they took new ligaments from his leg. Blake only did two Motos at the Champs as the thumb was giving him grief. Maybe it was too soon for the hand so it was back to the Surgeon who told him his lay-off still had another 3 months to run!
He was working at TMG Yamaha and had a new YZ250 2-stroke.Yamaha (Peter Payne who is now in Sydney) generously allowed him to hold onto the bike so dad Wayne gave it a port & polish – at Ardmore it sounded very ‘crisp’.
Three months later TMG has gone and Blake is back as a Postie. Fit and a 77kgs lean. He said that if he can get enough hours on the bike he will enter MX2 at Round 3– Harrisville on 10 March.
Back to Ardmore, lots of very average riders but that's where you learn. Also some very fast guys such as Sean O'Connor, Campbell Bailey and of course Blake. Two guys on pit-bikes with no safety gear, apart from helmets, were absolute menaces and continuously getting roosted in mud - no goggles either.
Blake Gillard courtesy of Phil Smith:
More of Phil and daughter daughter Sophie's Ardmore pics on: http://clmintiepix.photoshelter.com/gallery/Ardmore-Practice-2013/G000069N9EvAr4Bs/
Meg, as she’s better known, remains undefeated on Australian soil, claiming every Female Australian title since 2008! She will then join a Kawasaki team in Germany.
MR Motorcycles Wairamarama Trail Ride last Sunday. 640 riders turned out for the Round 3 of their 22nd Annual Charity Series. Good news about the 13 year old girl that was air lifted out. Dr Rosie reports that she had not one broken bone and she's looking foward to the next trail ride at Waikaretu.
What happened to Chad Reed at San Diego?
TwoTwo Motorsports Chad Reed was left rueing what could have been, after going down while dicing for the race lead. Third in his heat race, he was quick off the start, moving past Broc Tickle into 2nd on the opening lap of the race. Over the ensuing laps, Reed closed in on race leader Davi Millsaps, but dropped to 7th after going down on Lap 10.
Reed: "There are definitely some positives to take away from the race tonight. I was up there challenging for the race lead but lost the front while trying to find a way around Davi. We are making gains, I am up there battling the guys at the front, now I just need a little luck to go my way.”
TwoTwo Motorsports head back to their Florida base to prepare for the first of the East Coast rounds at Texas Cowboys Stadium on Saturday 16th February.
Monster Energy Supercross 450SX Top 10 1. Davi Millsaps, Murrieta, Calif., Suzuki, 132 2. Ryan Dungey, Belle Plaine, Minn., KTM, 113 3. Ryan Villopoto, Poulsbo, Wash., Kawasaki, 105 4. Trey Canard, Shawnee, Okla., Honda, 105 5. Chad Reed, Australia, Honda, 97 6. Justin Barcia, Ochlocknee, Ga., Honda, 83 7. Andrew Short, Smithville, Texas, Honda, 83 8. James Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Suzuki, 74 9. Justin Brayton, Fort Dodge, Iowa, Yamaha, 67 10. Broc Tickle, Holly, Mich., Suzuki, 57
Timaru's Round 1 of the NZ MX Nats. Lachie Columb (yes Scott's bro from www.offroad.co.nz) wrote a release on NZMoto.
Great comment in this extract. : "MX1 Moto2 … Hard charging Todd Waters (KTM) won a legion of new New Zealand fans when he rode almost the entire race standing up after his subframe became bolt-less before he was eventually FORCED to retire with his bike suffering terminal mechanical damage (Spoilt brats take note here as he didn’t drop his bike in a tantrum but rather ran, pushing his bike back to his mechanics to ensure it was ready for moto3).
Moto-Media comment: The flapping seat actually severed wires causing the stoppage
 Great recent pic of Katherine Prumm and her Fiancee Graham Oberlin-Brown. They were attending Graham's Brother's wedding. They plan to marry next year.
On ilabb’s Facebook page. 
Titled: "creatively creating creativeness in the ilabbstudio treehouse."
Raglan Motorcycle Club posted this - Edward Hayes takes a swim on a Honda TRX420.
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Scott Wilkins from 
