Kielder K2 Rally 2012
Words: Mike Wells
Latest: Still awaiting official results but in Rally Class Mike was 2nd and possibly 3rd overall with Ian 5th, 42 seconds behind.
Mike Wells traveled north for 6 hours up to Bellingham, Northumberland, close to Hadrian's Wall for the 2012 Kielder K2 Rally which was held over the weekend of June 8th / 9th.
This was round 2 of the UK Big Bike Rally Challenge for bikes over 575cc, singles or multi-cylinder. Mike teamed up with Ian Pritchard from Neath to share expenses which also meant a spare driver was always at hand, very useful in case of injuries etc. They arrived in Bellingham mid afternoon on the Friday to set up the camping kit in torrential rain, which sort of set the tone for the 2 days weather ahead.
The rally consisted of two 65 mile laps per day with 1 special test per lap. Mike rode his KTM 690 enduro to a day one win in his class and 3rd overall when including the smaller capacity enduro class. He went one better on day 2 by again winning the big bike class and moving up to 2nd overall out of the 180 competitors. The overall rally winner on both days was Lyndon Poskitt (aka Pyndon) who is a Dakar entrant this year, riding his Factory KTM 450 rally bike. For an interesting read see his web page tracking his Dakar 2013 build up. Pyndon is seeking sponsors for the Dakar, anything from £5 to corporate, if interested go to lyndonposkittracing.com. Lyndon managed to beat Mike by a total of 52 seconds over the 4 special tests spanning approximately 23 minutes. Mike was 14 seconds clear of the 3rd placed rider over the 4 tests. The liaison sections on this rally were fairly easy but the special tests were wet, slippery and dangerous, especially as the first run on day 1 was timed but no sighting lap was allowed, 80 mph into blind unfamiliar corners is a bit risky, Mike speaks from experience after last year's Beacons rally and a high speed get off!
Overall a great weekend for Mike, 2 rounds of the UK BBRC completed and 2 wins on the score sheet. This was not the case for many of the multi-cylinder riders, a handful crashed out carrying too much corner entry speed and unable to make the bends....ooops!
There are 4 more rounds of the championship, the Ryedale, Beacons, Hafren and Cambrian. The Ryedale is fully booked, the Beacons is open now, the latter 2 are yet to open. Go to www.bigbikerallychallenge.co.uk for more info. The rallies are open to all off road enduro and trail type bikes but you need a 575cc or above to race in the big bike rally challenge.
Just how fast do you have to go to beat Mike? Here is the winner Lyndon's helmet cam footage.
Now, is that scary or is that....hang on a minute... Mike wasn't far behind!