I’ve seen some pretty crazy stuff on the internet this week including a sidecar backflip, some bone-crunching crashes and even on-track violence that escalated between F&H Kawasaki team/room-mates Henry Jacobi and Adam Sterry.
It takes something special to top two blokes on a three-wheeler doing a loop-da-loop but Jacobi pulled it off when he slapped Sterry’s helmet and not in the playful way that he may, or may not, do when they’re at home.
Seriously though, how stupid do you have to be to strike an Arai with a flimsily-gloved hand? There’s only gonna be one victor in that battle and it ain’t the pen holder that’s attached to the end of your arm.
I’m no scientist but having unofficially tested many Arais out over the years without picking up any lasting damage to my noggin, I have broken plenty of digits by hitting posts, trees and the floor.
In fact, my most recent ‘break’ came when I tripped over the dog’s bed one night and whacked my outstretched pinkie into something immovable. It was really gross looking and all stuck out to the side and stuff. The only positive about the whole deal was that my tea-drinking game was totally on-point.
Adding to the madness of the Stecobi (that’s got a nice ring to it I feel) incident is the fact that Henry had already decked Adam during the race in an epic battle over ninth position. That was before he went hands-on as they discussed the incident after the chequered flag had flown.
Whether Youthstream – or the team – feel the need to sanction Jacobi remains to be seen but I hear that relations between the two parties remain icy and things haven’t been this tense in their flat since the night when Adam wanted to watch Love Island after Henry had already tuned into Mord mit Aussicht. You can’t beat a good old murder mystery…
Jacobi’s since apologised on Instagram – it’s how the kids communicate these days apparently – and promised to do the washing up for a week, while Adam took the high road which has garnered him plenty of respect from around the globe.
AMA supercross champion Cooper Webb even showed his support although let’s be honest, it’s not unheard of for the Americans to side with us Brits when there’s conflict involving the Germans.
Speaking of the good old US of A, did anyone catch the Jacksonville National at the weekend? This round of the AMA Motocross series provided a fair few spills and thrills of its own on Saturday as the US elite battled sandy going and oppressive heat down in Florida.
I love the extra measures the teams go to for an ‘extreme’ race such as this with plenty of trickery on show in the pits as technicians tried to figure out a way to keep their riders’ bikes going until the end. The bigger fuel tanks and cooling fans seemed to do the trick and even if they weren’t totally necessary still looked amazing.
The TrialGP crew had a sand race at the weekend too as Holland hosted a world trials round for the first time in 40 years. Unsurprisingly the sections were all man-made affairs but looked far less annoying than I’d expected them to as the purpose-built facility that the event was held at was actually pretty damn decent and made spectating a breeze.
Could this be the future for TrialGP? I mean, there’s little in the series that couldn’t be recreated in most car parks and by running the series this way you could bring the sport to the population rather than trying to entice the population to the sport.
Of course, I can think of nothing worse than such sanitised ‘progression’ but if the TrialGP series is gonna utilise concrete blocks in a purpose-built trials park then, well, where’s the harm?
Finally, I’d like to say a huge well done to all the 56 youth competitors who took on the Mintex time and observation trial at the weekend. Events like that – and the Scott – are true tests of man and machine and if the sport of trials were to progress in any direction I’d love for this to be it.
But maybe that’s just me…
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