Neave twins
Well we finally made it to the Excel London Motorcycle Show, despite Tim and I doing our level best last month to completely cripple ourselves. And what an event it was. We were there to do a flat-track style riding display and it was bloody brilliant fun. They split us into two teams; we were The Young Guns with Rich Cooper and Lee Jackson, and we were up against The Old Timers who were Carl Fogarty, Jamie Whitham, Ruben Xaus, Neil Hodgson and Chris Walker. The guys running it did say that we should take it in turns to let each other win… like that was ever going to happen. There was a big banked up corner and you could carry so much speed around it, but there was a rule that if you were in the lead you had to use the slower inside line, so that kept it all really close and exciting.
In one of the last races, Walker took me out (he knew he wasn't going to be able to beat me, probably) and my shoulder, the knackered state of which you might have read about in last month’s column, jumped out of its socket. Luckily there was a guy in the audience who offered to help and it turned out he was fairly handy when it came to that sort of thing. He grabbed my arm with both hands, gave it a yank and clicked it back into place. I’m not sure if he was a doctor or anything but I was really grateful for his help because after spending far too much time in A&E last month, the last thing that I wanted to see this month was the inside of another hospital waiting room. That’s why when they told me last month that they could operate on it or just strap it up I went for the latter.
Unfortunately, though, just before my strap arrived I had a small accident on the farm quad (I was working very hard at the time and definitely not doing doughnuts in the snow while my dad wasn’t watching) and my shoulder popped out once again. This time right out. At this point I knew a strap wasn’t going work anyway, so I figured I'’d need an operation to see it right. I went to a guy called Lennard Funk, who as well as having a brilliant name is a top shoulder surgeon. Neil Hodgson had told me about him – apparently he has worked on loads of racers’ shoulders. Anyway, Funky booked me in for the op; I was in and out within the day and my shoulder feels great now. It does look like I’m going to miss the first round though as the doc said it’s going to be a little while until the muscles are strong enough to hold everything in place. I’m absolutely gutted about missing the first round but I’d rather wait and be fully fit than risk causing any more damage as, given my track record so far this year, it’s not likely to be long before I have another off.
Missing round one does give us a little bit more time to get the GSX-R1000 ready. It’s nearly there but there are still a few bits to do. I’ve not ridden it yet but my mate Phil Crowe from Crowe Performance has got an identical one that he let me have a spin on at Cartagena which was ace fun. It was the first time I’d ridden a ’thou, and I loved every minute of it. Obviously they are so much faster than the 600s that I’m used to but I know I’ll be able to get to grips with it, I just can’t wait to ride my own now.
Tim’s R6 is ready to go now, in fact he was out riding it the other week at Mallory. His day didn’t exactly go to plan though; ending up in hospital with a broken wrist. I don’t think it’s a bad break and I’m sure he will still make the first round, but I’ll let Tim tell you all about his weak bones next month.
For now, we are both looking forward to being fit again and working hard on the farm. It’s busy here right now because it’s calving season so we are helping out loads with that... or as best as two physically impaired motorcyclists can. It’s quite funny because there are calves running around everywhere, which really unnerves Tim. I think he’s a bit scared of them... and throttles. In other news, we’re working on a racing project with someone you may have heard of so hopefully next month we will have the bikes all ready for our grand announcement. Watch this space…