Saturday 14th - Sunday 15th October 2017
Last weekend we went down to Santa Pod Raceway as the sponsors of the British Stunt Championships to see the UKs best motorcycle stunt riders battle it out to become the 2017 champion at the final of this years 3 round event.
Like with everything we do at LDMotorcycles.co.uk we stand out, so it made sense to get involved in the best up and coming motorcycle sport out there. Stunt riding is more than just being able to pull a wheelie and all the riders at the BSC showed off tricks that most people can't even imagine is possible with a 200+ KG sports bike.
The atmosphere was a laid back one with practice sessions starting in the morning open to anyone with a helmet and a bike who wants to try out some stunting in a safe environment. Then at 12 noon the area was cleared out and ready for competitors to lay down some serious rubber in their Freestyle runs; where they got a few minutes to finesse all their best stunts for the judges.
After all the crazy performances by all riders they moved on to the next stage of the competition - Longest Stoppie (sponsored by LDMotorcycles.co.uk). Now if you've ever hit your front brake out of desperation on your bike then you'll know what nearly going over the handlebars feels like... but apparently that doesn't class as a stoppie for all us non-stunters.
The riders lined up for a sprint of about 35 metres to reach a foul line where their back wheels had to be up off the ground or else the run didn't count. It obviously takes a lot of lever control to flick the back up without going over the bars and rolling to a stop over 40 metres away; which is what a few of the competitors managed. But with that in mind these guys made it look effortless even with a couple of spills along the way.
With another practice session in between there were over 20 bikes out on the tarmac showing off and providing more stunting entertainment than you'd get at a major live motorcycle show.
Finally came the 'Challenge' stage which was kept secret by former stunt rider and organiser, Terry Cooper until the day of the event. The Challenge at this round came in the form of the slowest wheelie, which if it doesn't sound hard enough try rolling on a push bike at slower than walking pace then imagine doing that on the back wheel with a lot more weight to control.
While the judges scores were being totalled everyone hit the tarmac again for one final blow out of wheelies, stoppies and drifting with a couple of tyres blowing out at the same time.
To round off the weekend the awards for Round 3 winners plus overall winners were presented (standings can be seen below) with Lee Bowers, who you might have seen at live stunt performances at Motorcycle Live) taking home a few trophies & prizes including our gift voucher and winners t-shirt for his 60 metre stoppie!
As a day out for any biker either with your friends or family, the British Stunt Championship is definitely worth checking out especially with the back drop of Santa Pod and all the other adrenaline fuelled events going on there.
To find out when the first round of 2018 is taking a place visit their website here
To view our full gallery from the day Click Here
