Big Bike Rally Championship 2012

Beacons, Kielder,

BBRC Championship

We've had an exciting year with Mike Wells riding all the BBRC Championship rounds, crossing fingers that he keeps it upright and pointing the right way. We all know he can do it and with enough years under his belt to know you have to finish for a result and get to work on Monday to pay for the next round. So waiting for results to be posted or Mike to limp or stride into club meetings was nerve racking.

How it went for Mike:

At the end of the 6 round UK Big Bike Rally Champoinship Mike finished 2nd overall in the over 575cc singles class aboard his KTM 690 enduro, finishing just 3 points behind eventual winner and Dakar finisher Steve Hague.

Mike won round 1 at the Sweet Lamb rally sprint, won round 2 at the Kielder Forest in Northumberland and dropped a round at the Ryedale rally due to a family holiday.

Mike led the championship up until the end of round 4 but fell behind following a dissapointing Beacons and Hafren rally, finishing 4th and 5th respectively. Going into the last round at the Cambrian rally Mike was 1 point behind Hague. Being a 2 day event the Cambrian result was cumulative over the 2 days. Mike beat Hague by 7 seconds on day 1 and came within 3 seconds of Craig Bounds on test 1 (overall rally winner and international rally racer on his brand spanking new KTM 690R) but lost out by 29 seconds on day 2, leaving Mike 22 seconds adrift at the end of the weekend. This was enough to hand Steve Hague the championship title.

In the big bike multi cylinder class local rider from Cheltenham, Jonny Morris, on his KTM 950 secured a solid championship 2nd place behind Dave Watson.

Of course, most of the series' riders would love to be able to compete in the World's premier Bike Rally 'The Dakar', but this British series has made it possible for an incredible range of riding abilities and possible with a British economic climate to have some of the challenge.

What's it like out there? Here is the Kielder winner Lyndon's helmet cam footage.

Two names to look out for at this year's Dakar Rally are Craig Bounds and Lyndon Poskitt, both riding 450cc full KTM factory rally spec bikes, priced at £30,000 euros each. Both have been competing in the BBRC series this year, but Craig did not compete in all of the rounds, hence he has not featured strongly in the championship and Lyndon broke his ankle last month, but he is sure he will be fit for the Dakar. Tim Forman will also be at the Dakar. Tim rode at the Hafren rally on board his KTM 450 rally bike, and took an easy win in the sport bike class up to 450cc. So if you like your Dakar on the TV and interweb then these will be our GB representatives. Stan Watt may also be there again. Have a look at each riders personal Dakar web sites, lots of interesting stuff, and they are all looking for your sponsorship money.

BBRC Class Changes for next year

The UK rally series next year will be open to all sizes of bikes. Classes are likely to be - under 300cc enduro and trail bikes, over 300cc but under 575cc enduro and trail bikes, and over 575cc trail or rally bikes, single or multi cylinders. The organisers are likely to run the championships under the ACU banner. This will include a 3 day rally based in Carlisle to celebrate 100 years of the ISDT/ISDE (Ben get the Bulto ready, and maybe Jules should think about that superb Enfield!).

At this moment Mike is thinking of stepping down to a KTM 500 EXC (tiddler class!) for an easy life, but things may change if the KTM factory come knocking on his door.........yeah right!