The Hooligan with Pigtails- How it happened
Hooligan Racing in the UK has just completed its second full season. Picking up in speed and popularity the Hooligan racing running within the DTRA series has proved to be quiet the spectacle. As I watched the 2017 competitors in awe (possibly through a squinted eye), did the thought of myself racing a Hooligan bike ever cross my mind.... Did it hell. The whole idea of it just seemed Ludacris to me! Why would anybody want to ride around a track, on a highly inappropriate bike, with an engine capacity way beyond their capabilities- with eleven other riders who are just as far out of their depth. It was a no from me… well it was until Mr DTRA twisted my arm.
“Come on Leah, you can just give It a try- if you don’t like then you don’t like it, you won’t have to do it but you should just have a little go”… or something along those lines was how Anthony Brown (Mr DTRA) was gently pushing me towards swinging my leg over the Indian Scout Sixty. I’d been fortunate enough to have been offered a scholarship ride in the 2018 Hooligan series, riding one of the very beautiful Indian Scout’s converted by Krazy Horse. Initially I was very sceptical about the offer, I thought riding an Indian was way beyond me but after a lot of talking about it in early 2018, I came to think that it’s not every day you get offered the opportunity to ride a Motorcycle for actual Indian and that I should stop being such a little bitch, suck it up and get on with it- I was all about ‘grabbing the bull by the horns’ metaphorically and in reality.
My first rendezvous with the Scout Sixty came at Pete Boast’s Champions Flat Track School in March, at a VIP day for Indian Motorcycle- a chance for all the riders to meet and become acquainted with the bikes. My fellow scholarship rider would be Chris Hatton, we’d be racing alongside Lee Kirkpatrick and Jonathan Falkman, who would be team Krazy Horse. The day mainly involved riding Honda CRF125’s (a far cry from the scouts), but we had the chance to spin some laps on the Scouts as the final part of the day.
Finally, I was face to face with my potential steed for the year, all 250kg, 1000cc of it. Up until then the biggest bike I’d ever ridden was my KTM450 that I raced in the Pro Class of the DTRA Flat Track Championships. As I sat on the Indian for the first time, I distinctly remember thinking that this is what it must be like to mount a rhino, all five feet two of me could just about dangle my feet onto the floor. When stationary the weight of the bike seemed colossal… Fast forward from that moment to about one week later, I’d wangled it so I could take the bike home with me and spin some laps around my home track of Greenfield Dirt Track. When riding the weight of the bike just disappears and I quickly came to realise that you can’t race a bike like this the same as you can a 450, it requires more patience and discipline, you’ve got to go slower to go faster and above all treat the Scout with respect. As I started to get a feel for it I think my smile beamed wider each lap, there is something about riding the Scout Sixty that is different to riding my KTM450, it kind of makes you feel fiercer.
Then before I knew it I was lined up for my first ever Hooligan race, round one of the championship at Kings Lynn speedway. Kings Lynn was slightly longer than Greenfield and obviously a speedway track, not a proper dirt track. But we were racing under floodlights and it’s always prime then. In the run up I was very apprehensive, was I making a big mistake, was I even capable- I would soon find out, sink or swim as they say. Thinking back to that night, the first ever race on that bike, the feeling of picking riders off as you make your way through the pack, the way the Scout Sixty hooks up and the sheer drive that bike has coming out of the corners, it gets me giddy. I finished my first ever race on the box, claiming 2nd place- not bad considering I was pooping my pants and my whole season goal was to just get a podium finish. The apprehension was now out the window, replaced with excitement.
The original Scout Sixty is a far cry from what I’ve been racing, and I can’t quite believe that such an immense race bike was developed from what is essentially a cruiser! A lot of modifications have been made including the modification to the frame, to relocate the seat, moving the foot pegs to the middle of the bike and then the 19” wheels both front and rear, to comply with Flat Track regs. Then with the added bling of the Ohlins front suspension cartridge upgrade, along with the Ohlins rear suspension- keeping the beast stable. And not to forget the two into one exhaust system, for anybody that has already heard the Hooligan Scout I’m sure you will agree with me when I say that there ain’t no sound sweeter than that- unless you’re stood directly behind it, then you may disagree because it ROARS. Also works well when racing because people know that you’re coming for them. The engine is the same standard V-twin from the original Scout Sixty, all 1000cc of it, which is probably why I’ve never made it out of first gear when racing. Over the season I’ve also made a few of my own modifications, we stripped back my gear lever to a tiny little stub, because I kept scraping it when racing and it would unsettle my flow. Similar changes were made to the foot peg too.
The racing this season has been competitive, and I knew it would be, I think its honestly been some of the best racing the DTRA has seen this year. A real diverse mix of people on very different bikes, it was always going to be a challenge. Hats off to Gary Birtwistle, who rode his Ducati Scrambler like the Pro he is. I had a blast racing alongside a real talented bunch, whom are just as crazy as I, with a hell of a lot of ‘rubbin’ is racing moments’. I was stoked to finish fourth in the season, with a real mixture of results and some complete and utter highs and some low lows. But racing the Hooligan class reminded me of taking the rough with the smooth in racing and that you can’t have it all and to always win graciously and lose even more graciously. After all, I’m just here for a good time. But on the more full of it side, my obvious highlight of the season would have to be winning the Super Hooligan race at Wheels and Waves, in front of all those people, the champagne shower at the end of it all is up there as one of my all-time favourite moments ever.
Racing the Indian Scout Sixty has been one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life and has opened up a whole new load of opportunities for me to continue doing what I love so much. As cliché as it sounds it taught me that you should never turn anything down and give it your best shot, because life is full of little surprises and like I did- you might even surprise yourself.
Indian Motorcycle is a forward-thinking brand, with a very exciting future. And I can’t thank them enough for the support they’ve given me this past year, I feel honoured to work with such a brand- a brand that values me for my capabilities.
It’s official I’m now a fully-fledged Hooligan and there ain’t no going back. But don’t get me wrong the bike still scares me, but that’s part of the fun of it- right?
