Witness sought to fatal A1 crash

Police are seeking witnesses to a fatal crash on the A1 (M) near the Blind Lane interchange at Chester-le-Street at around 7pm yesterday.

The Highways Agency were attending a report of a broken down vehicle on the hard shoulder of the southbound carriageway when a man appeared from the side of the road.
The man, who was not connected with the broken down vehicle, ran across both carriageways a number of times before being involved in a collision with an articulated lorry travelling south. He suffered serious injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The lorry was slightly damaged and the driver was reported to be suffering from shock but did not need medical treatment.

The man who died is believed to be from the Newcastle on Tyne area but is not being named at this time.

A number of motorists reported seeing a man running across both carriageways and the hard shoulder. Any witnesses who have not already done so are asked to ring Durham Police on 101 and ask for the Collision Investigation Unit.

Photo’s online from the Xmas meeting

Photo’s are now online from Saturdays meeting of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club.
Many Thanks to all who attended and to all the hard work that went into making the bikes and riders have a ‘festive’ look.
Thanks once again to all the marshals and others who help with the running of the club, for all the food & cakes that were brought along on the day & to John Attle for taking the photo’s
Here’s hoping that ‘Santa’ is feeling in a good mood as he passes over the North East as from what I heard on the day his sleigh might be getting pulled by Mini Moto’s until he gets here and then the reindeers will have to take over again 
Next meeting is next year…. Sunday 5th January 2013 at QC Space and an email will be sent out beforehand.
If you have a bit of time over the festive season and are wanting something to do, then visit the website and have a look at our new World Superbike and Moto GP albums from 2012.

Last time you’ll see Max Biaggi & Casey Stoner  racing, Valentino Rossi on a Ducati, James Ellison in Moto GP, Ben Spies on a Yamaha and lots more and it’ll give you the chance to check out the different styles of riders.Who knows… one day it could be you……

Moto GP 2012

BWMBC : 15th December 2012

WSB 2012

Next Meeting of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club (The Xmas One…)

The next meeting of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club will be at QC Space, Peterlee this Saturday, 15th November.
Usual start time of 1030hrs with signing on from 1000hrs.

All the riders please remember that this is our Christmas meeting and whilst we’ll sort the tree out at headquarters, Xmas decorations on your bike (and yourself) are appreciated by all the ‘oldies’, who stand around and watch you having fun on your bikes.

So start looking for some tinsel etc and give your bike and yourself that festive ‘look’. See you all tomorrow.

We will not be able to train any new starters indoors as we do not have the space.

BWMBC Maintenance session : CANCELLED

Apologies about this and the short notice we're giving you but after looking at the forecast for this evening and the problems that occurred on local roads last night, we are having to cancel this evenings maintenance session.

If you know of any members who were intending to go please can you give them a ring and advise them that it's cancelled.

We will reschedule this session once the weather improves.

Emails have been sent to all club members and the notification has been put on the BWMBC Facebook page.

BikeWise in the USA

BikeWise Mini Bike Club ‘lost’ one of it’s riders this year when club member, Osian Guest, moved to America in August with his family as dad, Simon, had to relocate with his work with Cummins Engineering.

Osian’s mini moto was boxed up and taken to America  and Simon has been trying to find a club where Osian could ride but unfortunately has not been able to find anything.

Osian and Simon have a keen interest in motorcycles and they both went to the Moto GP at Indianapolis (The Brickyard) where Osian proudly wore his BikeWise T-shirt and they spoke to a motorcycle policeman at the circuit about the philosophy of BikeWise.

Simon has continued to enquire about what motorcycle sport Osian can take part in and the options he has come up with are Enduro or Moto X. As a result Osian is now the proud owner of a KTM 65 and is now in the process of learning to ride a bike with gears with a view to taking part in a youth moto x championship in Southern Indiana or Kentucky next year.

Simon & Osian still receive emails from the club and it is hoped that we will be able to keep you informed of how Osian does in the coming months /years – we’ll have to make sure that we send some BikeWise stickers and a bigger T-shirt so that he can ‘fly’ the BikeWise ‘flag’ across ‘the pond’,  in the future

The Scottish Minimoto Championship2012

 

The Final round of the championship has now been run and below are the names of the winners of the respective championship classes

Junior A : 1 - Shay Simpson  (BWMBC),  2 – Cameron McPherson, 3 – Declan Connell

Junior B : 1 - Lewis Paterson, 2 – Rishon Hickey (BWMBC), 3 – Jack Hoy (BWMBC)

Junior C : 1 - Lewis Rollo, 2 – James Alderson (BWMBC), 3 – Andrew Thornton (BWMBC)

Feathers : 1 -Rishon Hickey (BWMBC), 2 - Lewis Paterson, 3 – Jack Hoy (BWMBC)

Lights : 1 - Lewis Rollo, 2 – James Alderson (BWMBC), 3 – Andrew Thornton (BWMBC)

Middle : 1 - James Turner, 2 – Kai Simpson (BWMBC), 3 – Sam Munro

Heavy : 1 - James Williamson, 2 – Gary Dick, 3 – Steven Paterson

Open : 1 - Lewis Rollo, 2 – Kai Simpson (BWMBC), 3 - James Turner

Some fantastic results for all our riders with top three finishes in all the championships they competed in.

Final standings in the championships are shown below and it is really good to see so many names of riders from the BWMBC

Photo’s online from yesterdays meeting of the BWMBC

Photo’s are now online on the BikeWise Mini Bike Club website from yesterdays meeting at QC Space, Peterlee.

This was our first indoor meeting of 2012 and whilst cold it was great to be able to run a meeting without worrying about the weather.

Some fantastic riding by our riders on a slippery surface which last year saw quite a few finding out how powerful these mini motos are !!

This year our riders showed some great throttle control and kept their bikes on two wheels

MANY THANKS to all who attended and to those who come along to help marshal, etc even though they have no family members riding at the event.

 

To view the photo’s CLICK HERE and then click on the relevant thumbnail image for the 17th November 2012

The next Mini Moto Meet will be at Karting NE, Warden Law on Monday 26^th November 2012.

(This will be the last meeting of 2012 at Karting NE)

The BikeWise 'team' would like to express their thanks for all the help and support of NE Karting for the Mini BIke Club and look forward to next year

Support the BikeWise Mini Bike Club when shopping online

If you use the internet to shop online then please help support the BikeWise Mini Bike Club by reading below

 

 

How it works

easyfundraising.org.uk helps charities, schools, sports clubs, community groups, and other good causes to raise money when their supporters shop online. So far they've raised over £3 million for causes throughout the UK.
It works in a similar way to many other loyalty shopping sites, but instead of earning points when you shop,you raise a donation for your cause instead. It's as simple as that!
You can shop with over 2,000 well known stores and each will donate up to 15% of what you spend. For example, John Lewis will donate 1%, Amazon 2.5%, The Body Shop 6%, some insurance retailers will even donate up to £30 simply for taking out a policy with them!

It doesn't cost you a penny more

The great thing is it won't cost you any more, plus they've got lots of voucher codes and special discounts so you can actually save money while you help your good cause. There is no cost for the good cause either – their service is totally free.

How to generate donations
It's very simple - once you've registered with easyfundraising, when you shop with one of their retailers, their system makes a note of your purchase, collects the donation from the retailer and passes it to your chosen good cause. That's it! No hassle for you, they do all the hard work while you shop as your normally would.

Get started

It's really easy to get started (they don't call it easyfundraising for nothing!)
If you would like to support a cause:

1. Click on ‘Find a cause’ and select the cause you wish to support.  (BikeWise Mini Bike Club)
2. Fill out the quick form to register your details.
3. Find the retailer you want to shop with.
4. Click to visit the retailer, then shop as you normally would.
5. Your donation will be shown in your easyfundraising account within 30 days.

www.easyfundraising.org.uk

BikeWise Mini Bike Club

The BikeWise Mini Bike Club has been running since the beginning of 2007 and is ran by volunteers and funded by donations.

Easyfundraising is a great way for the club to receive donations at no cost to yourself.

It’s FREE to register and use, and only takes a few seconds to go into the easyfundraising site before you do your shopping online, there are 2000 well known stores including the likes of Amazon, EBay, Argos, Boots, M & S, John Lewis,  etc, so you’ll have a good chance of finding your store of and you’ll be making a donation to the club almost every time you shop online. It’s like tipping your loose change out of your pockets and into the BWMBC.

Please give it a go.....    Thank You

Next Meeting of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club

The next meeting of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club will be at QC Space, Peterlee on Saturday 17th November.
Usual start time of 1030hrs with signing on from 1000hrs.
We will not be able to train any new starters indoors as we do not have the space and we will increase the charge as per last year (to £4) as we have to pay for electricity at the venue.
NE Karting at Warden Law will be hosting their last mini bike meeting of the year on Monday 26th November, they will start again with meetings in March / April of 2013. The BikeWise 'team' would like to express their Thanks to NE Karting for all the help and support of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club over the last year.

Dave Coates will be ‘Stoppying’ at BikeWise again

 

Once again our local Darlington based world record holder - Dave Coates will be performing at BikeWise 2013 on his Yamaha's.

This is Dave's 18^th consecutive BikeWise - a fantastic achievement and we are now seeing second and third generations of families enjoying the skills that Dave shows on two wheels - long may it continue.

Dave will be performing a couple of shows during the day ( times to be finalized and published later on this site ) and he will be available at his van throughout the day for autograph's, photo's and any questions you might like to put to him...

To learn more about Dave, visit his website at : http://www.davecoates.co.uk/

 

To read more about what's happening at BikeWise 2013 which is being held on Sunday 28^th July, please CLICK HERE

500 Miles….

A group of motorcyclists has received the blessing of pre-eminent folk duo The Proclaimers and now look set to launch one of the year’s most unlikely attempts at making the pop charts.

The Boundary 500 Motorcycle group has enlisted the help of North-East band The Happy Cats, fronted by ex-Lindisfarne vocalist Marty Craggs, in re-recording I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) – The Proclaimers’ signature song.

Sales of the song will raise money for two of the region’s best-loved charities, the Great North Air Ambulance Service and Zoë’s Place Baby Hospice.

The lyrics of the song have been changed to reflect the bikers’ dedication to the two causes, and the song itself has been given the new title I’m Gonna Ride (500 Miles).

The Boundary 500 was established to support GNAAS and takes its name from the approximate distance around the boundary area of the air ambulance charity. Every year, bikers from the group ride the 500 mile journey to boost fundraising. It has raised more than £300,000 for GNAAS and £100,000 for Zoë’s Place since it began.

In a statement, Charlie and Craig Reid, of the Proclaimers, said: “Our very best wishes to the Happy Cats’ fundraising campaign and to everyone participating in the 500 mile ride, well done to all.”

The song is available for 79p via iTunes and in CD and DVD format for £3 at www.greatnorthairambulance.co.uk/shop

Todays meeting of the BWMBC : CANCELLED

Todays Meetings of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club (Sunday 4th Nov) has been cancelled due to Frost & Fog at Carrville.

John Bowman has visited the site at 0845hrs and there is a heavy white frost covering the car park, thick fog ( with no sign of the sun burning through) and the temperature is –1c.

We have therefore had to cancel the meeting on safety grounds.

Next meeting will go ahead on Saturday 17th November – INDOOR at QC Space , Peterlee

From Mini Bike Club to Institute of Advanced Motorists

Congratulations from all the BikeWise ‘team’ to BikeWise Mini Bike Club Member : Dale Clement who passed his Institute of Advanced Motorists motorcycle test on Friday 26th October.
Dale who lives in Sherburn, is one of the original members of the mini bike club and the picture top left shows him riding at a club meeting on the parade square at Police HQ, Aykley Heads, Durham in March 2007 when he was twelve years old.
The picture on the right shows Dale meeting star HM Plant Honda riders Cal Crutchlow, Leon Haslam & Steve Brogan at Croft racing circuit in 2008 when the Mini Bike Club where invited to meet the stars by HM Plant chief executive Mr John Jones.
In June 2010  (picture left),  Dale took to the roads with his first bike,  courtesy of ACE motorcycle training proprietor Jim Rimmer who provided Dale with with a days CBT Training and Dale used his moped travelling to and from college for a  year before progressing onto his current Honda CBR 400 on which he passed his motorcycle test earlier this year. Dale is now studying IT at the University of Sunderland and regularly uses his motorcycle to travel there.
In May of this year Dale received the DCC Chairman's medal from Councillor Dennis Morgan on behalf of the BWMBC   : http://bit.ly/KBNBcX
Dale then undertook a days BikeWise Training before joining the Durham Advanced Motorcyclists group and completing his training with a test conducted by retired Motorcycle Sgt and IAM Examiner Bob Brown on Friday.
Bob said “ I am really proud of what Dale has achieved in such a short time. When we first started the Mini Bike Club in 2007 Dale was just a young 12 yr old who came along to our first meeting with his grandparents. Dale and his grandad Dave have attended virtually every meeting of the club to date and it has been a pleasure to watch him grow into a fine motorcyclist. The ‘dream’ when we started the mini bike club was to give young local riders the opportunity to ride motorcycles lawfully and watch them progress onto the roads of County Durham. Dale has now attained one of the highest standards a civilian motorcyclist can achieve and he is only eighteen…. Hopefully Dale will be the first of many from the club to progress to this level.  All this wouldn't have happened without the support of  Durham County Council (Albert Nugent & Dennis Morgan), Durham Police (Jon Stoddart, Mike Barton & Michael Banks) , DAAC , HM Plant Ltd , ACE Motorcycle Training and Durham Advanced Motorcyclists who all believed in the mini bike club from its early days in 2007. It gave me a real buzz to follow Dale around on Friday and see the standard he has achieved and to tell him that he’d passed his advanced riding test”

Next Meetings of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club

The next meeting of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club will be :

at Warden Law - NE Karting is still running Mini Moto night and will continue to do so until the weather becomes too bad, the next one is  Monday, 29th October.
If you need any more info please ring : 0191 521 4050  and speak to the staff at the circuit

We hope to be able to run an outdoor event at Carrville Park & Ride on Sunday 4th November - usual start time of 1030hrs with signing on from 1000hrs. If the weather is not good then we will have to cancel on safety grounds and would do this by 0900hrs on the day.

Please check the Mini Bike Club homepage where a notification will be posted before 0915hrs if the meeting has to be cancelled on safety grounds

If our outdoor meeting is cancelled due to the weather then we will be going back indoors again at QC Space, Peterlee on Saturday 17th November.

Once again we are indebted to the management of QC Space for allowing us the use of the premises over the winter months. enabling our riders to continue riding their bikes when us ‘older’ riders have mainly put their bikes ‘to bed’ over winter

(We will not be able to train any new starters once we go indoors as we do not have the space and we will increase the charge as per last year as we have to pay for electricity at the venue)

BikeWise Easter Egg Run 2013

BikeWise Easter Egg Run 2013 will be held on the 31st March 2013.

For further details please visit : http://www.bikewise.org.uk/easter-egg-run.php

Remember to register online so that we know you are coming and can keep you informed of the run.

Please click on either of the images below to download a Poster :

Photo’s online from the last meeting of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club

Photo’s are now online from the last meeting of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club, which was held on Sunday the 14^th October 2012 at Carrville.

Many Thanks to all who helped to prepare and take down the track, to all who helped marshal the event & to John Attle for taking the photo’s.

The meeting was interrupted by the rain and eventually had to be cancelled, but this did not put our young riders (or the marshals) off riding.

To view the photo’s PLEASE CLICK HERE to go to the gallery and then click on the thumbnail picture for that meeting.

The date for the next meeting has not been fixed but will be notified ASAP

Next Meeting of the BWMBC : This Sunday

The next meeting of the BikeWise Mini Bike Club will be on Sunday 14^th October 2012 at Carrville Park & Ride at Durham
(See Where we Meet on the website for location)

Signing on at 1000hrs for a 1030hrs safety brief/start

If there is any doubt about the weather conditions (Rain/Wet) then please check the Mini Bike Club homepage where a notification will be posted before 0915hrs if the meeting has to be cancelled on safety grounds

Another two British Championships for HM Plant

Local Hebburn based HM Plant who have been involved in sponsoring motorcycle race teams for many years, including riders such as James Toseland, Neil Hodgson, Cal Crutchlow, John McGuinness & many more , have come up tops again with two British Championships sealed this weekend via the KTM UK Motocross team

The final round of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship proved to be a fantastic day for the the local Hebburn based, HM Plant sponsored,  KTM UK race team as Kevin Strijbos secured the MX1 British Championship title while team-mate Elliott Banks-Browne turned a 16 point deficit into a five point advantage to take the MX2 title too making it a double celebration for Roger Magee’s hard working squad.

Despite weather conditions being chilly the race action at the Little Silver circuit was red hot all day. Strijbos knew a fourth place in race one would secure the MX1 title and when he crossed the line in second the team were ready and waiting to shower him with champagne. Despite having already wrapped up the title Kevin rocketed to a race win in moto two before ending the day with a third as he rode shotgun for his MX2 team-mate in the season-closing mixed-capacity moto.

For Banks-Browne a first race win saw him take over the series lead as Mel Pocock had some mechanical issues which stopped him from scoring. However, a slip off in race two for EBB gave Pocock a one point advantage heading into the season finale. After a gate malfunction caused a half hour delay the final race of the championship finally kicked off with Elliott grabbing the holeshot , ahead of the field of MX1 and MX2 machinery.  Despite losing some time to the chasing pack and also slipping off on the last lap Elliott was able to slot home in second to take the overall win on the day as well as first in the final series standings which makes it two championship titles for the HM Plant KTM team.

Kevin Strijbos MX1 #22

“The whole year was pretty good for me. It was good that I could wrap up the title in the first race and not just for me but for the whole team too. This is my first national title in the MX1 class so I’m very happy. I want to thank everyone – the whole team, my mechanic, my girlfriend and also Harry Everts who has helped a lot throughout the year. I’m happy for everyone and it’s good we could pull it off.”

Elliott Banks-Browne MX2 #44

“Coming into the weekend I knew there was the possibility that I could win the championship but I never thought it would happen so I’m so happy! In the first race I crashed but came through again pretty easy and won. Then in the second race I was riding well and leading quite comfortable when I crashed twice and the second time the electric-start button got stuck so I lost a lot of time because I had to bump start the bike. In the last race I crashed on the start but luckily they red flagged it because some of the gates didn’t drop properly then on the restart I got the holeshot and was leading until I got a bit tight halfway through and Simpson came past. On the last lap I crashed and I was panicking but I didn’t lose any places and when I crossed the line I knew I was champion. I’m so happy but it hasn’t really sunk in yet.”

Roger Magee: HM Plant KTM UK Team Manager

“What more can I say? We’ve won two British championships, finished sixth in the MX1 world championship with Kevin Strijbos, second in the Women’s series with Natalie Kane and Elliott Banks-Browne also showed at Teutschenthal that he can mix it with the best and will be a force to be reckoned with in next year’s world championship.

“We came here looking to claim one championship today with Kevin in a very strong position and we knew Elliott had an outside chance too. After the first race it was game on and then he made a mistake in the second race before bouncing back to show some true grit in the last one despite having a hole in his arm from his race two crash and he brought it home to make it two British championship titles for the team.

“I’d just like to thank KTM, HM Plant and all the sponsors who’ve stuck with us through the years and will hopefully continue to support us into next year where we hope to at least match what we’ve achieved this year in the UK and on the world stage.”

MX1 Series standings

1 Kevin Strijbos 530 (HM Plant KTM UK), 2 Simpson 477, 3 Krestinov 363, 4 Matiss Karro 308, 5 Law 272, 6 Barr 261, 7 Whatley 240, 8 Snow 229, 9 Coutts 212, 10 Stephen Sword 198  

MX2 Series Standings

1.Elliott Banks-Browne (HM Plant KTM UK), 2 Pocock 442, 3 MacKenzie 343, 4 Irwin 335, 5 Bradshaw 334, 6 Lenoir 318, 7 Nico Aubin 269, 8 Edmonds 238, 9 Tombs 183, 10 James Cottrell 168…

Congratulations & thanks to HM Plant for their continued support of motorcycle racing / events from all the BikeWise ‘team’

And there’s more : BikeWise Trained…

Bob & Mick have been busy now that we’re having less rain !!

Alan Burberry	Alice Taylor	Andrew Gowans
Andrew Wharton	Chris Martin	Chris Wilson
Colin Caird	Darren Bate	Dawn Proctor
Graeme Stammers	Ian Briggs	Ian Middlemass
	Stuart Proctor

Congratulations to all the above, who have been keeping Bob & Mick extremely busy with BikeWise Training .

For further details about BikeWise Training please Click Here & to read what the riders thought of their Training Day, please Click Here