www.norwichvikings.co.uk

Stebbings Car Superstore of King’s Lynn, East Anglia’s number one car supermarket, have agreed to become an official sponsor of Round 3 of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship at Lyng on May 6th this year.

It has just been announced that Dennis Slaughter has been named in the New Year Honours List.

The 2011 motocross season at Cadders Hill ended on 4th September. As we cleared the venue on that Sunday evening the heavens opened and we got soaked to the skin. At least the rain held off to allow racing to finish and most of the riders to get on their way home. 

With the general clear up finished on Monday, we started planning for close season improvements at the track. By the end of the week all the track marker posts had been removed and stored and have now been repainted ready to go back in the early spring in readiness for next season. 

A heavy 360 swing shovel was brought in and soon flattened most of the berms in readiness for the track to be regraded which will allow it time to recover over the winter period. This massive piece of equipment then turned its attention to the aged gents toilet, within a few minutes this Dennis Slaughter manufactured relic, circa 1970’s, had been reduced to a squashed heap of corrugated iron and timber and loaded into a waiting skip. 

The freed space has been levelled and the first new toilet cabin is now in place ready for connection to the waste and mains supply. A second unit has been sourced and will be delivered in readiness for next season. The existing ladies toilets are to be refurbished with all new sanitary ware and a fresh coat of paint over the winter months. We hope by the start of next season the toilets at Lyng will be a huge improvement and befitting a top motocross venue in the 21st century. 

The race control portakabin is also scheduled for replacement in the new year. The existing unit, which has been on site for 31 years, is no longer structurally sound at the lap scoring end. This looks to be a fairly big job having to strip out all the fixed furniture and disconnect the services and cables. Hopefully the replacement unit will be good for another 20 years or so. 

A new duct and timing loop are in place by the normal finish line in readiness for the introduction of electronic timing in the Eastern Centre next season. 

We haven’t forgotten the track itself. Although no major alterations are planned, we are going to make improvements to a couple of corners and remove quite a few more tyres to comply with the latest ACU track safety guidelines. Some trackside fencing is in need of resiting particularly around the first and second turns. It is like coastal erosion, the track is naturally widening and the fence is teetering on the brink now. 

Unfortunately the fence to the work area is in need of major repair. The resident bull, having been deserted by all the cows decided he wanted to go through the work area but didn’t use the normal entry or exit points; he just went straight through the fence. I knew we should have left the signs up! The annoying thing is that this a new piece of fence not some that is in need of an upgrade. 

Our thanks go to Barbara and Jamie Douglas and their willing band of helpers for all their hard work throughout the year organising several trials for the Club at various venues around Norfolk & Suffolk. The next Viking trial is on 4th December at Lyng; followed by another trial at Lyng on New Years Day.