Meet up point at Lymm
This year’s Thundersprint seemed to me to be one of the busiest Thundersprint events that I have been to.
The main sponsors this year were Knutsford Honda, and as they are heavily into supporting GoldWings we decided to assist with the GoldWing display that Eric Warburton asked for.
Accordingly at 8.30 am on Sunday morning Jan and I pulled into the car-park of the Lymm Truck Stop where it was arranged that members of GoldWings North West were meeting up for the short ride to Northwich and then into the Knutsford Honda stand.
The Knutsford Honda Stand
The security guy who stopped us at the entrance to the pedestrianised area came over and notified Stuart Ormerod that we would have to push the bikes to the stand. He was advised accordingly in no uncertain terms that if he thought that we were going to push 14 GoldWings about 200 yards he was on a loser. Shortly afterwards we rode majestically behind one of the marshals who was jogging ahead of us getting the pedestrians to move over for us.
We were soon parked up on the Knutsford Honda stand, much to the delight of Eric and his crew. Nigel, of course recorded the occasion for us.
GNWales Banner getting an airing
It was soon time for a walk around and have a look at the trade stands and the other stands that make up the Thundersprint. I saw that there were many bargains to be had if you were looking for clothing or new helmets. There were also plenty of other stands aside from those selling motorbike kit, and a few motorcycle dealers were present with a few of the latest batch of motorcycles.
There was also plenty of time to walk around the paddock and see the old racing motorcycles and some new ones, side by side. I was not so much interested in the racing bikes as I was in the other older cycles that seemed to be parked with them. Some of these were dream bikes from my youth. It was lovely to see them preserved and gleaming but also in use and not just museum pieces.
The girls were shopping and the boys were there to pay
The Knutsford Honda stand was located at the side of the access road for the racing circuit and all the riders had to queue right by us, pending their turn to enter the starting grid, this being due to the small queuing area by the grid.
We certainly had a great view of all the participating racers but as the day passed on, the sound of those racing cans and screaming two strokers began to wear us down.
Another walkabout was called for and I was able to walk around Northwich out of the town centre, where I saw many GoldWings parked up around the place.
By 3.30pm I had taken a full dose of Thundersprint and was ready to leave, along with some of the GoldWing riders from GNWest, but we were blocked in and couldn’t get out until the marshals said so, and they were talking of 5pm.
Start Line at the Action
This turned out to be the wrong thing to say to several GNWest riders who had some distance to travel and wanted to go. By 4.20 they were kitting up and were going to make a dash for freedom.
Luckily one of the marshals saw sense and made arrangements for the riders wishing to leave to be escorted by a runner again.
Hearing this Jan and I made the most of the opportunity to make a departure and joined the group who were leaving early, along with Nigel and Joanna.
At this point I became aware that Nigel had a problem and was looking for a garage with an airline as his rear tyre appeared to be low on pressure. We found a garage and as Nigel took measurements it became apparent that the valve was leaking air out. A check of the tyre showed no sign of nails in the tread, but when he went to put air in the valve was sticking and losing air again.
By judicious use of a penknife he eventually tricked the valve into working again and pumped it up to full pressure. We then took a slow journey home with Nigel leading with Jan and I following and keeping an eye on the tyre to see if it appeared to be deflating.
Luckily it held all the way home for Nigel and Joanna, and consequently the breakdown services were not required.
Photos of the event are available at the Thundersprint Bike Show album.
Dave T