Captain Cook Rally

Right, where to start?

Wednesday morning about 9.00am, before the main part of the rally, my little Kawasaki Z250 decided to destroy a valve (Yes, young and naive, I broke it) This put me in big trouble having paid for the rally tickets for my older brothers who where relying on me. So it was a case of getting Cradley Heath Kawasaki to send me a new valve via the express delivery.

- Jed

Thursday came and, true to their word, so did a fresh exhaust valve at about 8.00am. This left me and a friend having to rebuild the motor all day and night which led to many cups of tea and lots of swearing but it was time to call it a night at about 11.45pm.

Friday morning 7.00am came and still a no go, so more tinkering with points and timing followed throughout the day until about 10pm when it finally choked into life, filling the garage up with lots of lovely blue clouds. Yes it was done and I was determined to make it to the rally.

I had come this far of rebuilding it and with no options of borrowing another bike - it was a must. So the garage door rolled up at about 11.00pm and to our amazement BLOODY RAIN. Yes, true to the weather reports.

So anyway it was a scorch home and time to pack all the rally gear onto the bike forgetting the most important part of the kit, a tent. So next it was a quick trip to gas up and it was time to leave LIVERPOOL which was about 12.25am.

Once on the motorway it was a battle against the elements and I'm pretty sure everyone remembers the rain. The motorways where pretty flooded but it was definitely a Do Or Die situation.

Eventually I pulled in at Thirsk services about 2am-3am to have a warm and hug a radiator or two and buy some WD40 and oil as the little Z250 was definitely suffering from the water. Once warmed up it was time to attack the motorways and eventually I was on the Yorkshire Moors, definitely a place I really didn't want to break down as I didn't have break down cover and forgot my usual tool roll.

So eventually I found the garage not too far outside the rally site and realised the post was pointing to the entrance of the rally site. With a big grin I pulled up to the parking area outside the Fox Inn and clambered off with the sleeping bag to find my brothers' tents and get some warmth. Checking my watch I arrived at about 5.30am glad to be there safe and having the satisfaction of making it to such a good rally.

Hope to make it to the 2012 rally on THE KAT :)
Liverpoool To Whitby
Does anyone remember?
2010 Rally On 1986 Suzuki GP125
2011 Rally On 1979 Red Kawasaki Z250

- Jed Fielding