Guy Martin Shakes Dirt Quake

If you’re the kind of person who enjoys watching grown men and women circling around a speedway track on Yamaha R1’s whilst dressed as ballerinas – all to the accompaniment of  ‘classic’ 1970’s TV theme tunes, then you almost certainly should have been at the fourth, annual Dirt Quake event this weekend.

And you wouldn’t have been alone. Alongside the several thousand in attendance – on a sunny, stiflingly warm Saturday in Norfolk to witness the bizarre mix of chaos, fun and adrenaline – Guy Martin and Charley Boorman also made the pilgrimage and their presence felt.

After a full evening of official Dirt Track Racing Association [DTRA] heats on the Friday, Saturday was back-to-basics, ‘run what you brung’ style racing at its most entertaining.

Guy Martin raced – and won – in both the Harley Davidson and Chopper classes on his neon-painted Krazy Horse custom, and Boorman grabbed a podium in the [only slightly] more sedate, Street Tracker class, riding his own Kawasaki W650.

Despite the celebrity entrants though, it was the Inappropriate Road Bike class that provided the most spectacle. It’s not every day that you get to witness a Belgian in a feather boa riding a Yamaha R1 with such skill around a dirt oval, and there’s even less opportunity to see him being pushed to the line by a pizza delivering turtle riding a bored-out Lambretta.

Such is the ridiculous, celebratory nature of Dirt Quake.

Photos: Paul Bryant/Sideburn