Статьи - Chappie, halloo!

SA: On January 1, 2015 Lioha Dronov (Sova), Gena Zyrin and SA set up a plan to participate in the Russian Enduro Cup 2015 on April 8-9, 2015 in Vladikavkaz and in the Russian Enduro Championship 2015 afterwards..

 

Calendar of the Russian Enduro Cup 2015 and the Russian Enduro Championship 2015:

• The Russian Enduro Cup 2015 - 08.04. - 09.04.2015 - Vladikavkaz, the Republic of North Ossetia - Alania.
• The Russian Enduro Championship 2015 – The 1st stage 23.05. - 24.05.2015 - Toropets, the Tver Region.
• The Russian Enduro Championship 2015 – The 2nd stage 27.06. - 28.06.2015 - Dmitrov, the Moscow Region.
• The Russian Enduro Championship 2015 – The 3rd stage 08.08. - 09.08.2015 - Yoshkar-Ola, the Mari El Republic.

 

Aleksey Dronov: The Russian Enduro Cup 2015 in Vladikavkaz – competition that has already become a good tradition – is finished. The hope of racers to leave freezing Moscow for a few days in the sunny Caucasus usually fails. Outside temperature stays cold or drops near zero mark with the snow turned into a slushy mess. Racers clench their teeth and sniff but take a hold on themselves and every spring keep on packing their luggage to go to Vladikavkaz and compete for the next Cup.

 

 

This year was no exception. In fact, the Russian Enduro Cup 2015 was a so called preparation for the Russian Enduro Championship 2015 (which includes several stages).

 

OFME.Enduro team started to prepare for the sporting event in advance. We focused a lot on training with personal coaches, ate tons of useful capsules and slept 3 hours a day (However, we had forgotten about the main thing, but more on that later).

 

 

 

Three members of our team took part in the competition: Sergey OFME - for whom the Russian Enduro Cup 2015 was the first full race in the discipline of enduro - participated in the E1 class (0 - 250 cc 4-stroke, 0 - 170 cc 2-stroke), while Aleksey Dronov and Gennady Zyrin - who have sufficient experience in racing and were the winners of the previous seasons - took part in the E2 class (260 – 450 cc 4-stroke, 0 - 270 cc 2-stroke).

 

 

E1 class (0 - 250 cc 4-stroke, 0 - 170 cc 2-stroke)

Sergey OFME (#201)

 

 

 

E-2 class (260 – 450 cc 4-stroke, 0 - 270 cc 2-stroke):

Aleksey Dronov (#198)

 

 

 

Gennady Zyrin (#18)

 

 

 

1. Some information on classification and penalties is below

1.1 MFR Russian Championship classes, motorcycle engine and age groups:

Class	Motorcycle Engine (Engine Size & Engine Type)	Age Restrictions
Enduro1 (Е1)	100 - 125 cc 2-stroke    175 - 250 cc 4-stroke	18+
Enduro2 (Е2)	175 - 250 cc 2-stroke    280 - 450 cc 4-stroke	18+
Enduro3 (Е3)	280 - 500 cc 2-stroke    480 - 650 cc 4-stroke	18+
Hobby	0 - 500 cc 2-stroke    0 - 650 cc 4-stroke	1) 18+    2) A novice-level rider, who has not won any ranks in motor racing yet.    3) Participation in Hobby class for more than 2 years/seasons is not allowed.    4) Sportsmen without ranks have an access to competition. 3 leaders of MFR Russian Championship become the first-class sportsmen and have an access to Е1, Е2 and Е3 class.
Junior	0 - 500 cc 2-stroke    0 - 650 cc 4-stroke	16 – 20 (inclusive)
Master	0 - 500 cc 2-stroke    0 - 650 cc 4-stroke	45+    Absolute access to E1, E2, and E3 class

 

1.2 In order to provide identification during the technical inspection the following motorcycle parts should be marked:

Part	Marking	Quantity	Marking place
Frame (the main part)	Paint*	1	Right hand side
Hub	Paint*	2	On each hub
Crankcase	Paint*	1	Right side
Muffler	Paint*	1

* Marking with stickers is possible

 

1.3 The marked parts should be used during the whole racing day and be left in place during the technical inspection after the finish. Hubs marking should be heatproof.

 

1.4 Replacement of the marked parts is not allowed. In that case, rider will be eliminated.

 

2. Starts

2.1 At the beginning of each competition day sportsman is given the starting signal in accordance with his/her personal schedule. Within one minute after the signal sportsman should start the engine and cross the second line, located 20 meters from the starting line

 

2.2 In the event the sportsman is absent at the starting line at the time of the given signal, sportsman is not penalized provided that he/she brings the motorcycle to the starting line, starts engine and crosses the second line within 1 minute from the starting time. Sportsmen, who report late at the starting line or cross the starting line 1 or more minutes prior to the official start of the event, will receive 1 minute penalty for every minute of being late. A minute when sportsmen are standing at the starting line is considered the starting time, during which all sportsmen must start the engine. Sportsmen who report at the starting line with a delay of more than 15 minutes are disqualified.

 

2.3 Engine should be started with the help of feet or any other mechanical or electrical tools, which prevent rotation of the wheel.

 

2.4 In the event the engine is started and motorcycle crosses the starting line, but engine stalls 20 meters from the starting line, to avoid 1 minute penalty, the sportsman should within 1 minute start the engine again or bring motorcycle manually in order to cross the second line. In this case, the sportsman, who crosses the second line within 1 minute, receives 10 seconds penalty.

 

2.5 The sportsman unable to start the engine, whose motorcycle stops between the starting line and the 20-meter line, is not allowed to return to the starting line. The sportsman should push the motorcycle to the direction of the race and cross the 20-meter line so that not to create nuisance for the other race participants.

 

2.6 The sportsman, who does not perform the starting procedure (i.e. does not start engine within 1 minute), receives 60 seconds penalty.

 

2.7 Classes at each stage start in the following order:

The 1st stage: ENDURO1, ENDURO2, ENDURO3, Junior, Hobby. Quads – upon the event organizer’s decision.

The 2nd stage: ENDURO2, ENDURO3, ENDURO1, Junior, Hobby. Quads – upon the event organizer’s decision.

The 3rd stage: ENDURO3, ENDURO1, ENDURO2, Junior, Hobby. Quads – upon the event organizer’s decision.

Sportsmen start engine by class in a numerical order.

 

 

Moving right along)))))

 

There was not much time left before the Championship, so in mid-February our team started active diverse preparations: OFME had purchased a 125 cc Husqvarna (with the sound of 7 cylinder 2-stroke). Right at that time, a new movie about robot called Chappie was released, and the new motorcycle resembled much that cheerful iron guy in character and charisma. To tell the story short, motorcycle easily got the same name. In addition, together with the name, Chappie got a new 999 handlebar and a functional Renthal clutch lever – it is smartly designed in such a way that can bend in all directions and can’t be broken in case of falling down))).

 

In addition to new equipment, everybody focused on training under the guidance of famous Ivanyutin brothers (Ivamoto.ru) in Petrovo-Dalneye, ate tons of useful capsules - a powerful natural complex of vitamins, amino acids, isotonic drinks and other useful things upon the master's recommendation (master Mikhail Viktorovich, the coach of Aleksander Stepachev, World Champion, seven-time European Champion and three-time Russian Champion in pentathlon) and kept proper hours sleeping for only 3 hours a day. If you are interested in training methods we used or need to know the complex itself and all the good programs on physical training (40 - 60 minutes of cardio), feel free to email us:moto@ofme.ru.

 

Alexander Ivanyutin had made a Sensei message for Chappie, having provided it with great tires. The half number of camp members went to admire them - their special rubber surface interested the masses, created new waves of rumors and attracted more curious people. By the way, this gift helped SA a lot while climbing to 700-meter mud climbs.

 

Motorcycles were prepared by April 7, and on April 8 at 7 pm (instead of scheduled 7 am) our OFME.Eduro team jointly with Sonya, Vika and Lioha Sova started the way to Vladikavkaz by a cool car of Gena, yahoo!

 

Vladikavkaz is a power, wah!

 

 

By the way, if you want 40-50 minutes before departure to pay 6,850 rubles for 16 of 26 kg of luggage with your outfit, fly with “Pobeda” airlines.

 

 

At the airport, a cool guy Kolya aka Nikolay-Nikolay-Kolya met us, welcomed us in his white car and offered SA to sit in the driver’s seat. We liked that white car, so in the North Caucasus the OFME team used white Mercedes cars only. Then we went to have a meal in the restaurant “Zhar-ptitsa” on the waterfront of the Terek river, where Kolya managed to eat 500 g of shashlyk and a kg of onion, probably chopped with an axe.

 

 

 

In Gizel village we met Gena, Sonya, Vika and Sova and went to see the sports venue. We walked through enduro course and also took some pictures. SA was going to participate in the competition for the first time, while Sova probably did it sixty times (being 75 years old, yeah), so he had many terrible stories to share with novice-level riders. Then we began preparing our motorcycles, sticked #18, #198 and #201 to them, as well as registered our participants showing their record books, certificates and licenses. We left our motorcycles in the safe place, went to eat at the restaurant “Dom u dorogi” and then went to the “Aleksandrovski” hotel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

So, the morning started. SA was out of hydration backpack and decision was made to purchase a new one. The fruitful talk with an experienced climber (now we have something to remember and are not ashamed to share it with children) resulted in her advice to buy a backpack in the form of a penguin that somehow will be able to give more strength.

 

 

Is everybody ready now? Then let’s go!

 

OFME team got the following starting time for its riders: 01:01 pm — Gena; 01:09 pm — Sova; 01:26 pm — SA.

 

Now it’s time to change the outfit and start the race.

 

By enduro is understood a clear strategy, when it is important not only to rev the engine to the full but do it at the right time (and to the point!). The lap length is about 40 km. It has two stages where the time is scored and they have to be passed as fast as possible. The course also has two timed check stations, which should be reached at an exact time only. There are 3 laps to be completed a day. The race is held during 2 days. After each day the racers (and the team) receive certain amount of points.

 

The near-zero temperature, heavy rain and wet snow didn't surprise and fear the riders. They were making jokes about the competitor's tires, cheerfully put on warm clothes and were preparing for the start of the race.

 

 

Day 1

At the briefing it was announced that the event organizers had prepared a 40 km lap, which included hill climbs, descents and river crossing. The riders had to complete 3 laps. Later the organizers decided to shorten the race to 2 laps instead of 3, because of the difficult weather conditions (drizzling rain during the whole day & night turned the road into a mud mess).

 

Having sent all three racers to the start, the administrative part of the OFME team began preparing to meet the guys at the pitstop after they complete the first lap. Some people not familiar with the racing process and some drivers as well may think that preparation is simple enough - just preparation of a can with petrol is needed - but the practice of enduro competitions show that even the most unexpected things can be required at the pitstop. Everything should be prepared: from additional outfit and tools to... the small cup of soup.

 

 

 

While the real men are competing, let’s give a word to the rest OFME team members:

 

When the time to complete the lap was coming, the event organizers started being worried about the fact that the track due to bad weather conditions was impassable and that sportsmen could get stuck somewhere. There were proposals to stop the race and not to start the second lap. But under the strict supervision of teams representatives we managed to defend the right to go on competition under the set regulations.

 

So, the time for the lap is 1 hour 30 minutes. Both Gena and SA are not seen. Lioha has finished the lap with a 9 minutes delay. Meanwhile, only some rare racers have come to the finish and started the second lap.

 

Riders seem to be absolutely shocked, and all of them repeat the same: the track is something crazy. From 39 participants only 20 of them managed to start the second lap, and no one did it at the time. So, nothing is left, we keep on waiting.

 

 

Chappie’s lap finish time is 2:56 pm, but he is still absent. Hmm, in case of being late for more than 1 hour, the start of the second lap is not allowed.

 

We keep on waiting. Still nothing. We keep on waiting more. It is 3:30 pm, then 3:56 pm, then 5.30 pm. Hey, Chappie, where are you?

 

 

 

(Meanwhile at the track):

 

 

 

Aleksey Dronov: “I was the 9th to start the race. I slowly passed the first stage and began completing a big lap. When I rode a couple of kilometers, the rider from Yalta reached me. Once I decided not to give up and increase the pace, my motorcycle - while crossing over the shallow of a river - had slipped on the rocks, and I fell into an ice water. My competitor didn't hesitate and maneuvered around me. When I stood up, I realized that I had to spend the rest of the race in wet gloves and boats... and yet there were still more than 70 km of track. But no problem - I slowly kept on riding. At the briefing there was announced that the lap had enough time to be completed and there was no need to push much. First the track was laid across the plains - fields, forests and trails, but soon I reached the hills with dirty climbs and very slippery descents. Right at the first climb I outpaced about 5 participants - someone simply had chosen wrong tires, someone had trouble with overcoming a tree laying on the climb, while someone had problem with motorcycle work. There was some snow on the climbs. According to the schedule, the first check station should have been reached in 55 minutes, while the second one - in 35 minutes. As soon as the clock on the handlebar let me know I was riding for already 40 minutes, I decided to do it faster. By that time I was driving in the footsteps of 3 other riders, who were in front of me. At the 43rd minute I noticed my teammate Gennady Zyrin. I drove up to him, and he explained me he ran out of petrol because of incorrect setting of the carburetor. I couldn't help him, as my motorcycle had a small tank (less than 8 liters, which is enough for a maximum of one and a half hour). After this I was trying to save a fuel. At the 57th minute I reached the check station with 2 minutes delay. Track had an incredible number of shallows of the river, climbs, descents, hillsides. Moreover, it was snowing and raining. But it was easily to ride and soon I reached the second stage, I passed it and rushed to the pitstop where a support team was waiting for me. There was one of the race participants at the refueling pitstop. So I refueled quickly (the tank was enough for almost 8 liters, which gave me a power), I changed gloves and goggles and was the second to start the second lap. Having just left the start, I found out that motorcycle foot peg was unscrewed. Thanks God I had plastic wraps in the pocket. I stopped and fixed the foot peg to the subframe. The second lap was very different from the first one – with dug pits for half meter, ploughed climbs and well-trodden descents. Having ridden 15 km I met another teammate - Sergey OFME, who was trying to overcome that barrier. Nearly 10 people were trying to overcome that climb, including the leader of race Igor Shirokov (participant of Championship that was held in the Olympic Stadium). Having managed with all difficulties of the track, I was the first to finish the lap being late for 14 minutes. After my finish within half an hour two other riders finished the race.”

 

 

OFME.Enduro administration:

Meanwhile, Liosha has completed the second lap. He is the first, he made it suspiciously easy, and that is great. Our racer is the first, so our OFME team is the first! Ok, but what about our rider under the #18 and #201? Lioha said that Gena's motorcycle was out of petrol, while SA was stuck on a wide mud climb of about 400 meters length, where many racers are stuck. This is something. So let us wait.

 

At 7:20 pm it was getting dark. Gena left by a motorcycle but he is coming back by jeep - once his motorcycle at the wrong time was out of petrol, he went out to the track and came back to the sports venue.

 

08:15 pm - we address to the event organizers with the question: “How many riders stills haven't come back to the sports venue?” The answer is unclear: “Three people”. By the way, after this at least 8 riders arrived to the venue. Some riders were evacuated by Ibrahim's UAZ jeep and Volodya's jeep. Many thanks to them for help.

 

But Chappie is still absent. We make a survey of all the riders who have already finished the race. Guys arrive fully pissed off. What?! Pissed off?! They are real sportsmen and this day they are just “stoned” with the race, no drink is needed. All of them have one desire - to get off their motorcycles. They said they saw more racers, but they are all so equally dirty, that it's unclear who is who. One person said it seemed he saw Husqvarna, a yellow motorcycle that can be easily distinguished 300 meters from the sports venue; the other one assured that unique yellow Husqvarna was still stuck on the climb; the third one said that after a difficult climb he decided to come out to the track and come back to the venue so somebody (maybe even Husqvarna) followed him to continue the ride. Well, well, well! Looks like Chappie, as everyone knows that SA and Chappie do not give up. Then Ibrahim said: “If he slid down, he probably got lost.” We are not nervous, but that kind of opinion sounded not very optimistic.

 

08:40 pm — we address to event organizers again:

— So what to do? The rider #201 hasn't come back, the same is with rider #137 from Sevastopol. Another one, seems #55 came back by foot with a sprained hand, having left his motorcycle somewhere on the hill.

 

Organizers start hesitating and thinking how & where to search for them and what to do, and are wondering why the riders didn’t take any communication tools with themselves. After checking the scores on the check point, it becomes clear that Chappie is somewhere on the third check point, and that is on the Lysaya gora (the furthest and the highest point of the track). Everybody doubts UAZ can reach there but they take the flashlights and 5 of them leave the venue. Lioha Sova advises them to take a mobile phone. I come up to the UAZ driver, and we exchange with phone numbers. Get acquainted - the driver is Ibrahim, who became our good friend and guide to show the most beautiful places of Fiagdon. But it was later. Now we keep on waiting.

 

One more hour passed. Ibrahim calls us and says that they had found motorcycle #55 (that was left by the rider) and now are going on their search. Nikoy-Arthur from the Vladikavkaz police, a good guy and a fan of SA and OFME.Enduro team is now ready to gather all the policemen of Ossetia to look over the hill. But wait - Ibrahim is calling.

 

10:05 pm

Ibrahim calls and say they have found the rider. We hear the talk: “What's your number?” “201?!” Uiiiiii! Uiiiii! What a joy: SA, Chappie and even a penguin with hydrator, which eventually helped a lot, were found. Now everybody is extremely happy! Now we are really looking forward to hearing the story of SA. Rider #137, however, is not found yet.

 

10.15 pm

Ufff — now everybody is found

 

UAZ came and brought SA - he was fully dirty, pleased - what is strange... no, not strange at all - and smiling widely, and had only one question: “We are going to race tomorrow, aren’t we?!”. Ibrahim says “Sergey helped get rid of trees on the way, wah, well done!” But where is Chappie? Chappie is left in the forest (indeed, Renthal clutch lever that wasn’t supposed to be broken, was broken). As a result, SA was riding 30 km by motorcycle, after its breakage he left Chappie in the forest, then was walking 800 meters along the Lysaya gora in full outfit and then walked another 10 km by foot down to the track (300 meters were left to reach the sporting venue).

 

 

The number of “steps” at the first day)))

 

 

Result of the Day 1: 6 sportsmen out of 40 event participants managed to finish the race.

 

According to the results of the Day 1 OFME team is at the first place. By the way, results were announced before all riders came back after completing the lap, as about 10 people needed help because of the difficulty of the course, and had to “happily” see the sunset in the mountains of Caucasus. However, if not the local jeep driver (Ibrahim, hi!), the sunrise would have been seen by them there, as well.

 

 

The second night and a bit more snow ))))

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aleksey Dronov:

“The morning of the second day began with the preparation of my motorcycle: its foot peg was fixed, air filter and pad were checked, as well as chain was lubricated. The track of the second day was shortened to 15 km, and the time to ride it was enough. I started the race and found out that I have forgotten to put on my lenses. I saw nothing but managed to pass the first stage. After it I explained to my mechanics about such oversight, and during about 10 minutes of free time I managed to refuel my motorcycle, to put on my lenses and change the gloves with a mask. Then it all went in the usual routine - I finished the second lap and started the third one. At the third lap before reaching the second special stage for some reason I decided to cross the river - which I was crossing 5 times before - pulling over to the right river bank but not to the left one, which resulted to an unexpected surprise - my motorcycle got stuck in a half meter pit up to its handlebar. I took out my faithful friend from the pit, poured water from the muffler and cylinder, changed spark plug and tried to start the engine. However, my attempt failed - water got into carburetor, as well. To pour it from there I needed 14 mm spanner, which I didn't take with myself, so I had to ask passing by competitors for it. Dmitry Davidovsky stopped by, lent a spark plug for me and was holding my motorcycle until I pulled the kick-starter, but nothing helped. Then Danila Mironov kicked off his bag of tools for me but didn’t stop. Using his tools I managed to take off the carburetor, and then I poured water from it and found out that the throttle cable was thin like a line (300+ hundred hours or riding almost rubbed cable off). Relying on it, I got the carburetor together, started my motorcycle and drove toward the finish line, but in nearly 100 meters the cable was broken. Then nothing was left but to adjust the idle speed. But it didn't work, as well. So I didn't manage to be the first in the Russian Enduro Cup 2015, however, I as riding the stage very well.”

 

 

SA:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Based on the 2 days race OFME team took the 6th place. Aleksey Dronov became the absolute winner and took the 4th place, which gives him an opportunity to confirm the title of candidate to master of sports, even though the annoying fall out of the race happened with him on the second racing day. Gennady Zyrin took the 10th place in the E2 class, while Sergey gained the most important thing - an experience and an idea of what the Russian Enduro is. In addition, the first stage of the Russian Enduro Championship 2015 has shown that careful preparation of motorcycles will become since now a separate paragraph to pay attention at, in order to avoid annoying fall out of the race due to purely technical reasons.

 

In any case, Vladikavkaz Championship gave us an invaluable experience of big competitions in difficult conditions. A large quantity of material for analysis was gathered, which will certainly help the team identify the things to focus on while training, work more smoothly and confidently, optimize the preparation, make it more effective, as well as determine the direction of further development of each sportsman in the reaching new achievements in motorsport.

 

On the third day SA jointly with OFME visited Fiagdon and drove by car to Yessentuki to see Serega Sklyarov))), and from there we all came back to Moscow.

 

Many thanks to Lioha Dronov (Sova), Gena Zyrin, Sonya and Vika, SV, Lena (MPG), Andrey Mosin, Ibrahim, Vladimir, Sasha, Nikoy-Arthur, Nikolay-Nikolay-Kolya))) and Anna, Sergey Sklyarov, Nail, Vadim, Sasha, Natasha, Boris Britva, Ivanyutin family, Sergey, Ruslan, Andrey, OSTO-Luch, Mishanya, Denis, Anastasiia Filimonova, Igor Vorobyev, Nikolay Skipalsky, Mikhail Viktorovich, Sash Stepachev, Aleksey Danilov, OFME.Essential, dammit, Solutions. Thank you for your time, for being positive, for your efforts, for your moral and material assistance, as well as for your cosmic flows of positive thinking in achieving our goals and goals of OFME.Enduro

 

p.s.

Thanks to the enemies for the strength, which is growing day by day and in spite of you. You are helping achieve the goals and control Stalnye Yaytsa (Steel eggs).

 

p.s.s.

Video review will be uploaded a bit later, deal?))))

 

p.s.s.s

Those ones, who are not with us or with OFME, eat Chupa Chups (provide your address and wait for the parcel post)