What a brilliant motorcycle racing forum this is ! Just had to join ! My name is Paul Firth, born 1961 and first got intereted in this wonderful sport in 1975, age 14 when Barry Sheenes daytona accident hit the news headlines. At age 16 I bought a suzuki AP50 sports moped (not a FSIE, had to suzuki like baz!) the type with the pedals 55mph !!! on a good day, this was followed at 17 by a brand new Kawasaki KH250 triple acquired 2 weeks before my birthday so I ran it in down the local pit stacks !!
I attended the famous 'sheene v roberts' 1979 british gp where I was fortunate enough to sit on bazza's suzuki about an hour before the race (courtesy of ken fletcher), this meeting also featured some filming for the david essex 'silver dream racer' film and I think roger marshall was riding the 'silver dream barton phoenix' and mick grant famously crashed the 4 stroke nr500 honda at the first corner. The usual marriage & kids period put bikes on the back burner for a while but I never lost touch with the scene. I briefly raced a kawasaki KR1-S in 2003, have done loads of trackdays on loads of different bikes and this year, 2011 I have done my first race season with the CRMC starting the season on a yamaha TZ350 (baptism of fire !) changing to a kawasaki GPZ750 (finances) and finished the season on a yamaha LC !!! I have acquired a very quick and well sorted yamaha YPVS for next season, which I intend to compete on for the next 2 seasons before going back to a yamaha TZ350 for a couple of seasons before retirement !!! Yes, I know, the best laid plans ..............#~^"*% and all that !!!

hi paul, you cant beat a good kawa triple! did you fit allspeeds and have small dogs chase you also?

and silver dream racer, always remeber reg marshalls comments a few years later "do you know the film silver dream racer - thats where i got all my experience from"

how did you get on with the kr1s paul, i raced the kr1 a number of years ago.

Hi Paul, welcome glad you enjoy the forum & all the best for your racing next year.

Likewise , Paul , sure to ' bump ' into you next season , probably did this year , but , welcome

Yep the triple had allspeeds on, got chased by small dogs !, it also had one of those ugly FLF/ IAN DYSON kits on, remember them ?

Cheers Graham ! I have always admired your wonderful photography

Hi fil2.8 ! will you reveal your true identity or will it be a game of chess ? LOL

Had set up issues at a couple of meeting with kr1-s, finally sorted it for a meeting at darley moor, practice went well, decent first race, 2nd race lumps of conrod came through the crankcase!! previous lap bike had never been as fast down the pope straight. What do they say about strokers just before they are about to seize ? LOL

Had set up issues at a couple of meeting with kr1-s, finally sorted it for a meeting at darley moor, practice went well, decent first race, 2nd race lumps of conrod came through the crankcase!! previous lap bike had never been as fast down the pope straight. What do they say about strokers just before they are about to seize ? LOL

Your'e probably lucky you don't know me , just sent you friends request on FB

How not to launch a TZ from the startline had qualified 8th in the wet for the acu uk post classic championship at anglesy international earlier this year and unfortunately got too giddy thinking about the possibility of prize money, silly me check this out !!
http://www.youtube.com/user/davetsr2005#p/a/u/1/sQQZ3UaYfew

Blimey it was that Pete Howarth that took away your front wheel in my opinion!....just joking Pete!

Ta muchly & your very kind, I like you all ready!

creep

What a brilliant motorcycle racing forum this is ! Just had to join ! My name is Paul Firth, born 1961 and first got intereted in this wonderful sport in 1975, age 14 when Barry Sheenes daytona accident hit the news headlines. At age 16 I bought a suzuki AP50 sports moped (not a FSIE, had to suzuki like baz!) the type with the pedals 55mph !!! on a good day, this was followed at 17 by a brand new Kawasaki KH250 triple acquired 2 weeks before my birthday so I ran it in down the local pit stacks !!
I attended the famous 'sheene v roberts' 1979 british gp where I was fortunate enough to sit on bazza's suzuki about an hour before the race (courtesy of ken fletcher), this meeting also featured some filming for the david essex 'silver dream racer' film and I think roger marshall was riding the 'silver dream barton phoenix' and mick grant famously crashed the 4 stroke nr500 honda at the first corner. The usual marriage & kids period put bikes on the back burner for a while but I never lost touch with the scene. I briefly raced a kawasaki KR1-S in 2003, have done loads of trackdays on loads of different bikes and this year, 2011 I have done my first race season with the CRMC starting the season on a yamaha TZ350 (baptism of fire !) changing to a kawasaki GPZ750 (finances) and finished the season on a yamaha LC !!! I have acquired a very quick and well sorted yamaha YPVS for next season, which I intend to compete on for the next 2 seasons before going back to a yamaha TZ350 for a couple of seasons before retirement !!! Yes, I know, the best laid plans ..............#~^"*% and all that !!!

Hi, just want to say hallo. I´ve been lurking for some time, but just didn´t have the time to contribute. I officially became an old fart last week when I finally retired, so I hope I can add something to the forum.

I´m ex South African now living in Europe. Raced a bit in the late 60´s, 70´s and early 80´s locally, albeit with no great success, but I had a lot of fun and even competed in the same events (I´ll not claim to have raced against them ) as quite a few top class riders, South African as well as international stars who came to our shores to hone their skills before the European season.

I also had occasion to travel quite extensively in Europe on business, so was fortunate enough to have visited quite a few GP´s back in the day.

Welcome to you.