Moped Enduro Racing at BMF Tailend 2012

Written by: Mucka Jay Posted date: September 22, 2012 In: Gig Reviews

There was so much going on at this years BMF Tailend Party, but one thing I was really looking forward to seeing was the Moped Enduro as I, like many people, had no idea what this was.

I went down to the speedway track and got a hi-viz so that I could get into the centre and get a real feel for this unusual sport. Teaming up with the Velocity team and their spanner man “Mad Abbot“, I was told a few things about what to expect over the next 90 minutes.

The course was a basic oval speedway track but with some large tractor tyres set up as obstacles as well as a mud pit section just to make things more fun. I was told that all the bikes started out as restricted 30mph mopeds but many had been modified.

Usually there are around 70 riders but at this event there was only around 35 but still enough to cause havoc! The start is similar to Le Mans where the riders are one side of the track and once the flag is waved they run like hell in their fancy dress outfits to their mopeds which are being held up and revved by their team mates. The start is the funniest thing ever and I fell on the floor laughing as all 35 bikes took to the first tyre obstacle just 50 yards after the start. 35 mopeds squeezing into a section that had enough room for 2 at the most was the most crazy thing ever! In fact, whilst some of the riders were still trying to get through the first section, others had completed the first lap and were back into the fight.

Each team had 3-4 riders and have around 15 minutes on track before a rolling pit change where another rider is waiting to jump onto the bike and carry on. I wasn’t aware that I was stood right in the middle of the pit area at the start and bikes were flying in all over the place! I kept in touch with the Velocity team throughout the race and even had a chat with some of them as they got off their bikes.

One thing that amazed me was how serious people took this sport even though I was there crying with laughter at the mayhem that was going on around me. One of the other teams, about 5 feet away from me rode a moped in and had an engine change in under 2 minutes. I was totally blown away by the speed and professionalism to these teams.

As the teams sent out their last riders for the end, a lot of fumes could be smelt across the track. There are no restrictions on what you can put into the tank and the Velocity team put a mixture of methonol and 2 stroke which gives a very high octane fuel.

As the race came to an end after 1 1/2 hours of grueling mud battles all the riders came back together and were all very friendly even though for the last 90 minutes they were knocking the hell out of each other with their machines.It was so much fun to watch and I would recommend that next time you go to the BMF rallies, you MUST go and watch it, you will cry with laughter all the way through. Moped Enduro is nothing short of stock car racing on 2 wheels and a lot of respect has to go out to all the riders and their teams because it is a very tiring event. They complete around 180-220 laps between them in that 90 race.

- by MuckaJay
15.09.2012

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