The club decided to have an Annual Xmas Party with fun Awards. Jane M set a date, found a venue, collected 29 peoples deposits and the pictures below says the rest. Thanks to Jane for organising the event, Tony N for organising the Awards and Phil G (Tom’s dad) for the pictures. See forums for more details.

Photos

Fun awards for the evening.
as voted by the members

This years BEST NOVICE awards had four nominees… all of them had some blinding rides but only one could be winner. Unfortunately for Gavin, Frankly and David – Ian Westlake went and came second in the Derby Phoenix Steel Frame class and sealed his place as Go Star Novice of the Year.

Onto the Most Improved rider of 2003. With five contenders it seems we have some talent moving through the ranks of Go Star. Riders in the running were Barry Lukehurst, Ian Westlake, Franklyn Carter and Gavin Wheeler. But just like the previous award the winner is not with us this evening as he reckons Skiing is better than a good drink up with his racing buddies. The winner is Ade A.

Its all well and good us racers going out there week after week and doing what we love most….. (Except our ladies of course). But there is one thing that keeps us going and that’s the support we get from our travelling supporters. Most of the nominations were for our partners as they put up with all of our paddies, moaning and groaning and getting up on a cold brands morning at 6am to eat burnt butties. But this awards goes not to our partners but to a certain Chris Martin. It seems where ever a race meeting is Chris will be there……

It goes hand in hand that a racer will crash…. That’s part of what we do. So as a bit of a laugh we have the ‘Crasher’ award. This is in no way a reflection of the ability of the rider but more sign that they always push so hard that they a few more slip ups than the most of us. Barry Lukehurst didn’t get it, nor did John Hewitt, this awards goes to Frank.

Some of us have good seasons and some have bad seasons so we thought a ‘Piston Broke’ award for the most unfortunate racer was to be had. I was thinking more along the lines of riders suffering mechanical mayhem such as William or people who have had a few crashes such as Barry and Frank….. But no – you all voted for the person who was the unfortunate rider who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. That person was me (Tony N - ed). So I would like to dedicate my award to a certain Mr Goodings for if he wasn’t about I wouldn’t be balancing here collecting the award!

Being an Internet based club…. Well kinda….. It seems a lot of talking goes on via the web mail and the forums. So we thought it would be a laugh to have a ‘verbal Diarrhoea’ award for the person who talks the most crap on email. So I’m afraid Ian Porter and Sean wont be winning this award as they do it on the phone not email! The contenders were Sean, Ian Westlake, John Staples, and Ian porter. The winner was a certain Mr Wheeler and Stu!

As racers we all like a good blag….. Such as ‘no seriously, you can take it flat in fifth’ when they are talking about Mallory’s hairpin. Or ‘I held it up on my elbow and then saved it on my knee’ this years blag goes to someone who didn’t makes any big claims, didn’t big up his rides…… he just managed to blag someone else’s bike, ride it and not fall off. The bike in question was about half his size and made for a good laugh when we saw him throwing it around like a GP125. Tony Bryant – you are ‘Blagger of the year’. But you’re not alone in being the winner though….. there is also one other who equalled you in the votes. Its not often you get to go to a WSB race now…… its even less often you get to go on the Grid!!!! So to blag your way onto the GSE team at a WSB event in Assen has to be one of the best Blaggs!! So Michelle, come and join Big Tone.

Ok we’ve had ‘Crasher’ of the year….. This times its ‘Crash of the year’. I got one vote for my cadwell moments, Gavin got one for his Snetterton (I think) moment…. All the rest went to someone who thought it would be wise to bang in another gear with his quickshifter while going way to quick on the dirty part of the track…. The resulting low 2 high side and 10ft flight though the air not only resulted in a night in hospital and a serous concussion but also wrecked his newly bought and newly tricked up GSXR thou. Ian this won’t fix your bike but it’ll make you smile every time you look at it…..

Race bike are fickle little beasts, they more attention that your missus and if you get em right they will ride just as hard!?!? Having someone to help maintain them is always handy and to say thank you to the people that help us we have the Mechanic of the year award. Some of the nominees were Phil Seton of Seton Tuning, dale at DCE, Ian porter for managing to recycle his rubber gloves about 15 times…. But the winner is someone who travelling up and down the country supporting our racers, one in particular… Gavin wheeler was very thankful of his efforts after managing to repair his very second hand R6 after a clearways incident. Chris Martin come and get your award.

The last award before we all get drunk is Ride of the Year……. Most racers got at least one vote – even newbie Tom Gazzard was voted for an impressive rider round Brands on an aging Steel Frame CBR600. Barry Lukehurst was also voted for having dipped his toe in the MRO waters. Tony Bryant for an impressive ride on a borrowed SV650. Ian westlake for a superb run at cadwell. Chris Pipard was also voted for a good run at Lydenn – and hes not even a racer! Good on ya Chris. Once again we have joint winners….. one for a string of gutsy rides despite having a few offs, the other is for digging deep and not losing your head and being rewarded for the effort with a trophy. This years winners for ride of the year go to Franklyn Carter and Tony Norman.

Newsletters