Our visitors are all safely back in England now after their adventures Down Under. In the wake of our epic driving trip out west, we were not feeling much like travelling anywhere so were delighted to discover some excitement was on its way to us. The FIM Asia Supermoto Championship was coming to Newcastle and would be free to the public! 

We decided to go on the Saturday to watch practice and qualifying and set off on a rather windy morning to catch the ferry across the mouth of the Hunter River to the city centre. 

The foreshore park had been dug up to form the dirt part of the circuit with jumps and troughs ( I haven't heard anyone complaining) after this the riders would emerge out onto the road and race along the foreshore and back. 

When we arrived we were rather dismayed to find the track was still being built so, after a look around at the bikes in their tyre blankets and the usual stands selling motorbike related stuff, we settled ourselves on the hill with a good view from above and waited.....and waited. 
An hour after the advertised start time a series of Norman Collier style announcements rang out which nobody could understand and the organisers were beginning to be in danger of losing their audience who were starting to give up their vantage points and gather around the burger vans in a disgruntled fashion. However, when the bikes finally burst onto the scene everyone forgot their moans and took up their places again to watch, what turned out to be, a fantastic day of racing. 

It was pretty exciting watching the dirt part of the circuit (I am sure there is a proper name for this) but even better when we ventured down trackside on the road. Because it was practice day and not  race day it was easy to get right by the railings and be in amongst the action.

There was a particularly entertaining viewing area where the bikes first emerged from the dirt with muddy tyres onto the road and almost every third rider fell off at the first bend.
The foreshore made a marvellous backdrop to the whole event which was such a success it is now going to be an annual leg of the Asian Championships. To cap it all, the race
on Sunday was won by a local lad from Salamander Bay.