We plan a full range of events in 2012 including 5 hare and hounds races in the club championship 1 club sprint and 6 practice days.

We have a few changes to the administration side of things in 2012 most of which will not affect the riders. We have decided to move from the ACU as our governing body and transfer to the IOPD, the IOPD are a well established and well respected organisation and have been involved in offroad events for many years.

The main difference to the riders are the cost of racing licences. These will now cost £15.00 for a yearly licence and £5.00 for a day licence. (ACU were £43.00 and £10.00 respectively). So if you do not race any other ACU events you will not need a ACU licence. However MDR will stay affiliated to the ACU so anyone riding other ACU events will still be able to gain a licence through the club.

Hare and Hounds this will be a 5 round championship open to anyone 15 years and older with all 5 rounds counting towards the club championships. The dates for these events are April 15th, May 13th, June 10th, July 8th and Oct 14th. we will be sending out the entry form for these events in early February.

Club Sprint. After our successfull Club Sprint in 2011 we have decided to run another event in 2012 useing the same format. This will be run as a fun event with trophies presented at the end.

Practice Days Again after the successful practice days run in 2011 we have decided to run 6 events in 2012 this type of event appealed to the competitive and non competitive riders alike and we hope to improve on the format in 2012 including having full catering facilities at each event.

COSTS FOR 2012 for Club Members

If you need any more information then please do not hesitate to contact the MDR team Tel 01989 763455 or email info@merciandirtriders.co.uk

Mercian Dirt Riders is offering all riders and fans of the club the opportunity to purchase MDR embroidered clothing.

Currently on offer is;

Colour for all items is Black.

Fill in the form, email or snail mail (Post) through.
Postage is £2.50 for the first item and £1 for all subsequent items.
Or collect from the next club event.
Payment must be made in advance.

For Details mail to; milkwall@fsmail.net

To see examples visit the Facebook Page.

Get your other half the perfect Christmas Present.

Mercian Dirt Riders will be running 5 Hare and Hound Events for 2012, and 1 Club Sprint. The club sprint will be a fun event and not part of the club championship.

Dates are April 15th, May 13th, June 10th, July 8th, August 26th and Oct 14th.

Venues are to be confirmed closer to the dates.

Mercian Dirt Riders held their last practice day of the year on Sunday 30th Oct. Despite overnight rain there was a bumper entry of 80 riders. Even though the rain made the track very slippery for the first hour everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and it was good to see the younger riders out there having a good time. MDR had built a course of approx 2 miles of easy going for the Novice and younger riders and then added about a mile of optional more challenging track with steep hill climbs, logs and rocky sections to suit the more experienced riders, they also had a separate course laid out for the Auto’s and smaller bikes this format seems to work well and many of the novice riders were having a go at the more challenging parts by the end of the day. The format that MDR use seems to be successful as rider numbers are increasing every event, club members put a lot of effort into making sure that the track is well marshalled and safe for both experienced riders and novice riders alike.

Thanks go out to all the marshals for all of their help.

Everyone at the end of the day said how much they had enjoyed themselves and looked forward to even more events next year.

Photos are available on the Mercian Dirt Riders facebook page.

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Preparations are well underway for the final round of the MDR Club Championships on October 9th at Llangrove. The team have been working at the site and there is a planned route of approx 5 miles. We will run in a anticlockwise direction this time, and due to crop rotation we will not have full use of the streams, however we have put new sections in to make up for it. It is all looking to be an action packed day. See you all there.

Mercian Dirt Riders held another successful practice day on 4th Sept with another good turn out.

There was a 2 mile easy to ride course available with an extra optional 4 harder routes for those that wanted something more challenging. Both Expert and novice riders enjoyed themselves and it was clear to see some of the novice riders improving all the time. There was about 4 hours riding available and many riders stayed until the end. The junior riders had a good time on the small bike track and were keen to ride the big bike track so were allowed to have a go in the lunch break. They really enjoyed the chance to have go as they were escorted around by the marshals and when it came time for them to stop it was difficult to get them off the track. Photos are available on the Mercian Dirt Riders Facebook page.

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Our next Practice day is on Oct 23rd.

Mercian Dirt Riders held a practice day at their fantastic Llangrove venue on Sunday 15th August. This was aimed at riders who were new to the sport, and riders who thought about giving it a go, bought a bike but not yet ridden it on a track and aimed to give the youngsters a sample of a Hare and Hounds Track. The club also put in several sections for the more experienced riders who they knew would also turn out for a cheap days riding. The weather was set fair for the day and the ground conditions were dry and hard. This would make for a dusty day, the club had not considered this when putting Suzi and the tea facilities next to the track, downwind. (This is like a ‘Sahara sand storm’ was mentioned)

This was new to the club so the thought was to give the adults an hour then switch to the under 16’s for an hour. The course was approximately 50% of the Hare and hound route utilising the motocross track, the bottom stream and the powdery durex wood… with easy cut outs for the less experienced.

At 10am the adults started their hours riding and seemed to be having fun, around half were taking several of the easy routes (Motocross experts were also seen on this route more than once…)and the other half were sampling the stream bed (Dry at the moment) the full motocross track and the powdery climb in Durex wood.

For the second hour the youngsters went out and started steadily, as the time went on you could see their confidence growing and they were thoroughly enjoying being out on the adults course with some even trying out the harder routes. This hour on hour off continued throughout the day until 4pm when most had gone home for a well earned Sunday roast.

Mercian Dirt Riders would like to thank all for the hard work. Glen, Phil, Susie, and Gail for organising. Chris, Potty, James, Jimbo, the Tillings mob, Darren, Adam for Marshalling and ensuring all went smoothly on the day. Next event is August 28th at Pempergwym. Next Practice is September 04th at Clearwell chicken farm.

Dear Gail,
Thank you so much I really enjoyed today it was really fun especially the maize
from Toby (num 14)

Dear Gail,
It was absolutely great the track was awesome especially the maize sections
from Hamish (num 2)

Hi All,
Another cracking day out on the bike.
See you soon.
Dai

Mercian Dirt Riders held their Inaugural Sprint Enduro on Sunday 17th July at the Chicken Farm Clearwell. This track is shared between the Mercian Club and the West Glos and is a mixture of fields and woods and covers around 120 acres. The Mercian track building team regulars were assisted by a few young eager helpers for this event and built a flowing track of around 4 miles in length. The experts and Super vets had an extra loop in the first wooded area with 2 log obstacles to give them another 2 minutes on their lap which was then diverted for the other classes.

The weather was damp early Sunday and there was some drizzle in the air when the riders left at 9am for the sighting lap. The going in the fields was greasy and several riders managed to drop their bikes and you could see levers being changed back in the vans before the racing started in earnest. Once every rider was back and the course closing marshals gave the all clear it was decided to get the event started at 09:45 and to try and squeeze an extra lap in. First Rider away was Steve Biddle followed by Craig Thomas and then Kevin Wallace. Next up were the Super vets led by Paul Mills. Closing the first group of riders and giving the track marshals the all clear to change the track once through was Andrew Knapman who was cool as ever and kept pace with all the riders. Next up the Vets, Clubmen and Sportsmen and Lonely trail rider Rhys Evans on his trusty KMX (with slightly bent handlebars from a crash on the sighting lap). After the first lap public announcer for the day Gail gave all the riders an individual welcome back to the start (This went on for the entire day). There were lots of smiles and comparing lines through the tricky bits back at the vans, which was the whole idea of the day. After 4 laps there was a 30 minute break for Lunch which gave several of the Marshals a chance to blow out the cobwebs and have a couple of laps and Glen Thomas the chance to repair the tape (his excuse for racing around on the quad). In the afternoon session a further 3 laps were done, the feedback was that the track was getting better and better and even the rain did not affect this. Final Results were;