Australian Dirk Winter Japan Race update

“First day back from Japan and what a trip I had! On Tuesday the 20th I awoke and hit the airport & straight away I was struck with a problem, no ticket! The ticket had been sent to my home address instead of the address mum supplied. It was 6:30am and we didn’t have the number of the person who issued the ticket, but after a thousand phone calls we got hold of the information we needed to get me on the flight and I was away.”"Ten hours later I arrived in Japan, got through customs and headed for the exit with my eye out for a sign with my name on it. No sign… no phone, as mine won’t work in Japan and I had no idea how to use the pay phones… what to do now? After sending a few emails I started to pace the airport until Momma Sampei (Masa’s mum) came to my rescue, and took me back to the Sampei household. What a Champ! At the Sampei’s I meet up with Dicko (James Dixon) and was introduced to Robert de Wilde and Arielle Martin and all the Sampei family. The best crew!!! After two days of getting over the jet lag and getting to know everybody we were packed into the trucks and it was “”on the road, on the road again”" as Bob was singing. Away to Hitachinaka where the race was to be held. The first day we were in Hitachinaka we went and did some practise at the track. The track look good with high jumps and asphalt turns. the gate was awesome with the UCI call and air ram that smashed it down. Riding the track was different. Athough the surface was hard it was a bit rough and super dusty. The turns where so wide and open for speed and the jumps had the flattest landings known to BMX, a well put together track though. After practice there was a gathering at one of the hotels. I was not told it was formal and that I had to wear my Australian jersey, so I rocked up in my ratted t-shirt and slip on shoes and Bob rolled in wearing thongs and any ole’ shirt, and did we feel out of place, especially with the dirty looks I was getting from the UCI representative. All because someone forgot to tell me I had to wear my Aust shirt. Flip that party! The next day was racing, which was very well organised and ran on time. It looked like this would be a great race meeting and it was! Three moto’s for the 14-16 boys which had that many riders we had to have semis! It was great. Three motos run and now it was down to the semi’s. Out of the gate and Masa got the hole shot followed by me. Around the whole track we rode, both qualifying for the main. Main gate goes down and Joey Bradford shoots into the lead not to far away Masa and then me. Down the back straight and over the first double and I forget to pull/manual it and bounce into the middle loosing momentum and Ben Davis who is riding fast slides pass me. This is the order down to the line. The second day is bad right from the start. Racing is delayed due to heavy rain and there is 4 inches of mud over the whole track. After a 4-hour delay racing starts and my first lap is the first race. I’m drawn with Bradford through the motos and first race I couldn’t stop laughing around the whole track. Every peddle got me nowhere and I was just spinning. There would be no jumping, just pumping and drifting everywhere! The worst thing was that I had to pedal the whole track and by the third straight my legs were BURNING! Three moto’s passed and three moto’s of laughing. Again we had semis. The gate goes down and not the best start for me. Straight out of the gate I was placed in fifth, and there were no fast lines around the entire track. Passing is not an option. So I ended up with no qualification and a major leg pump!… ha-ha still a good day of racing. Big congratulations to the Japanese Federation for a very well run and organised meet! The day ended with packing up and driving home to Sampei’s place, then straight into the sack for some sleep. Next day was spent sleeping and packing our gear so we could depart for home later that night. After having to scrub all of my gear I finally got it all packed and ready for take-off. Momma Sampei drove Bob, Arielle and me to the airport to board our flights and damn another problem for me, a delayed flight because of a typhoon at the lower end of Japan! After waiting an hour I get checked-in and its finally all go. After having some food and many thank-you’s to the Sampei’s they were off home. So with five hours to kill I jumped on MSN to chat with some people. I got through customs ok and went and sat at the gate that I was due to depart from. I managed to get on the plane and landed in Australia safely!!! Very great, enjoyable trip! Thank you very much to the Sampei family who took me in as one of the family and took very good care of me, also to Afro Bob who was there for me the whole time, and Masa for translating for me, HA-HA! Dirk Winter”