A new career on the cards?
By TMX Archives on 7th May 08
Editor JD tells us about Eric's night out and wonders if there should be a new act on the comedy circuit... Has anybody here ever had to drag Kitch out of a bar by his ankles, or anything like that?
The surprise question was posed as we sampled a pre-dinner drink at the Observed' evening last Saturday in Fort William, an event and photographic exhibition put together to acknowledge the fantastic job done for the Scottish Six Days Trial over the last four decades by ace trials photographer Eric Kitchen.
The questioner was none other than Martin Lampkin, the man who would be main speaker later in the evening!
Thought not! said Mart, as he acknowledged the shaking of heads that greeted the query, But don't worry, it will all come to me when I stand up!
And how it did come back to him. Aided by nothing more than half a dozen words scribbled on the back of a business card, which he came up with as the meal went on, Martin headed for the lectern to deliver a speech that had the assembled guests falling off their chairs with laughter as he wove a tale, totally off the cuff, that would have put a professional speech-writer to shame.
It was a masterpiece of oration that skilfully wove Eric's prolific photographic output and his travelling tales, in with Martin's own stories of hi-jinx on the highways and airways of the world.
As Vesty commented: Martin could have a very successful career as a stand-up comedian.
Martin's contribution was the icing on a very substantial cake and it was a real pleasure to be part of such a unique occasion and something that was, with the wonderful thing called hindsight, long overdue.
The exhibition of EK's pics contains action images, in various Scottish settings and features all the riders you would expect: Martin Lampkin, Malcolm Rathmell, Yrjo Vesterinen, Mick Andrews, Eddy Lejeune, Steve Saunders, Gilles Burgat, Graham Jarvis etc, etc. Yet the pic that caught everyone's eye was a simple shot of the Monarch of the Glen himself, Mick Andrews at a 1970's Edinburgh weigh-in. Mick was wearing a fabulous red Yamaha anorak in the kind of shiny material that typified the loud 1970s. Mick's flared purple trousers just added to the ambience.
Loads of people said: Wow, look at Mick's jacket, I wish I had one of those!
Kitch of course was interested only in the technical side of the photo Taken on Kodachrome, slide film's still better than digital for bringing colour out like that!
Back to the anorak. Sid Lampkin said he doesn't have a Yamaha version but came up with the revelation that he did still own a brand new red Bultaco anorak that was still in its plastic wrapper. Cash offers only through his agent, me, c/o T+MX please!
The Scottish is a hectic week for everyone connected with it, entailing endless early starts and late finishes and it says a lot for Eric's unique standing in the trials community that everyone invited had no hesitation in signing-up, headed by all five of our trials bike importers. And the best bit is that Eric and wife, Ellen, enjoyed every minute of it.
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THE big news from the British Motocross Championship round, staged at Lyng at the weekend, was the big crowd that turned-out, totally bucking the trend set so far this season and something that is doubly impressive because, as has been said before, it is by no means the most spectator-friendly part of the country. By which I mean it does not really have millions of potential spectators living within a few miles of the venue!
But, by means of what was obviously a highly successful local advertising and PR campaign by the organising club, including television advertising, the Norwich Viking boys and girls turned an event that previously drew one of the smallest Championship crowds of the season into a major success.
And from the information I have gleaned, the club attracted lots of people who weren't just the usual hard-core MX fans. There were families picnicking on the hillside in a return of what used to happen 30 or 40 years ago. Surely this is the way to go we have to broaden the appeal of the sport and get the general public fired-up if the Champs are to sustain the totally professional image it strives so hard to attain.
The dyed-in-the-wool, Wulfsport jacketed fans are only so many in number and while they keep the sport ticking over, if we are ever to expand, it is Joe Public, his good lady wife and his 2.4 kids that we need through the gates...