Report: Russ Stevens

Photos: Andy Stevens

Tuesday 25th May 2010 saw the Met Police Rally Team heading out to Belgium for the 55th Liege International Police Rally. A yearly event bringing together Police Officers from all over Europe to compete on motorcycles and cars in a grueling rally. The MPMC sent out a strong team of seasoned “Liege” veterans along with some young hopefuls, and we had a secret weapon - ex British Superbike racer turned copper, Jason Emmett.

I last competed in 2008 on a Husqvarna 610SM and, prior to crashing out, hadn’t been doing too badly. The supermoto had been great in the twisties but it lacked a decent top speed for the fast straights. This year I took a gamble in the form of a Honda CB1000R loaned to me from Hartgate Honda, Mitcham. Chris, Rob T, and Jason also took similar gambles fielding a race tuned Yamaha R6, Aprilia RSVR, and a Honda Fireblade. In the right conditions, these bikes could dominate.

The centre of this year’s rally circuit was going to be Saint Vith, southernmost Belgium and close to the German border. We had been told to expect the Special Stages to be much longer than previous years. Things were looking up for the sportsbike riders.

We spent Tuesday traveling in convoy to our favourite Gite in Ferrieres, the accommodation was amazing, comprising of 16 bedrooms, a huge living area, and garaging for the bikes. The only downside was that this year the centre of the rally was about 40 miles away.

The roadbooks were collected from Liege on the Wednesday morning, and we then went straight to St Vith to drive the circuit in the minibus. It became apparent very quickly that the sportsbike gamble was not going to pay off. As we drove the special stages we came across gravel covered hairpin after gravel covered hairpin. The straights wern’t much better with some smooth stretches between sections with more gravel, and back were the fast narrow bends with barbed wire fences! Stages 1 and 2 had us wincing in anticipation, and then halfway through the 3rd stage we came across a warning of degradated road, what an understatement!

The full circuit was 50 miles long comprising of three closed road 9-mile Special Stages and liaison sections joining them. The race on Saturday was to be 3 full laps plus the first 2 Special Stages a fourth time (190 miles, with 100 of those at race pace).

So, as the sportsbike riders were getting anxious, Stuart, Dave, Ken, John and Rob J were rubbing there hands together having brought Enduros and Supermotos.

Dan’s ear infection was affecting his balance quite badly so he decided to pull out from the rally and hand over his KTM 690 Enduro to Jason, who was more than happy to leave his Fireblade at the Gite.

Thursday was our full practice day and with it came the British team’s first casualties. The Hampshire Police Norton Wasp sidecar outfit span out of control leaving Hans with a broken collarbone and Trisha knocked unconscious. This year’s rally was looking brutal and many more crashes were to come. 

Scrutineering took place in Liege on the Friday. The cars were subject to full WRC safety rules with everything from date checking FIM approved seats and roll cages to Hans Device neck restraints. For the car crews, the Liege Rally was not cheap and sponsorship was essential, there were several new Mitsubishi Evos and even a £250,000 Peugeot 207 WRC! The bikes, well they had their brake lights checked. No practicing allowed on the Friday so it was back to the gite for barbeque, nice.

Raceday - Saturday 29th May. All competitors were staggered in minute intervals. The 27 cars set off from 8am, followed by the 48 motorcycles. 12 minutes from St Vith to the start of Special Stage 1 in Rodt, then the madness took over! The bikes were numbered in order of engine size and this put me 5th to start. As I got to the Rodt checkpoint, the safety car was holding the bikes at the start. Yes, first stage, first lap, and one of the cars had already crashed. We waited a few minutes for the car to be recovered and we were off. I was called forward, “Dix seconds”, I took a deep breath and closed my visor, “cinq seconds”, here we go, “Trois, deux, un, ALLEZ!”. Hard on the power before the first right left, then on again to another sharp right left. This was as far as one of the cars had got, the tyre tracks going straight on into a field instead of following the road.

The gravel on the bends was worse than during practice thanks to the rally cars cutting the corners.

The CB1000R had masses of grunt on the straights, with the back wheel spinning up virtually everywhere, but I lacked confidence in the front end on gravel, mainly due to the weight over the front, the road tyres, and also down to the fact that in 2008 I lost the front on gravel and broke my wrist in 5 places. I was just going to have to take it easy, accept that I was not going to be competitive, and enjoy the rally. And that is exactly what I did.

At the completion of each 50 mile lap, we refueled and had just 20 minutes at the service area for our support crew to shove food and water at us, and clean bugs from visors.

This was where we heard news of who had crashed out. Pete had binned his gorgeous Speed Triple and Stuart had been thrown from his Husaberg. The Husaberg was still rideable and Stuart carried on with a leg injury.

Some delays at the starts of the Specials gave opportunities to chat with team mates. Jason, who has raced at the Isle Of Man, said, “This is mental, it makes the TT look safe”. He had thrown the KTM into the same field as the car at the beginning of Stage 1. Jason was pleased that the car had taken out the barbed wire fence, so he was able to get back on and carry on uninjured. Rob T wasn’t so lucky. He was flying on the Aprilia RSVR, unfortunately not an ideal rally bike and the inevitable happened halfway through Lap 3. The rear end stepped out and Rob managed get it back, but too late for the fast approaching tight left, the bike went straight on and hit a log throwing Rob and the Aprilia 25 metres into a field. Both bike and rider were bruised, battered and out of the rally.

Nigel was on the pace with his “Liege” modified SV650 and locked in a battle with his Kent Police colleague Les on a KTM Adventure. Add to them Kent’s Trevor Fleming, and Met’s Jason Emmett and their combined times turned out to be enough to take the King Of Belgium trophy and win the rally for the Federation of British Police Motor Clubs. A trophy almost always won by the French. Stuart H’s CB500 performed unexpectedly well, as did Ken’s old KLX650 for the 19th year on the trot.

After an exhausting 11 hours the rally was over. The CB1000R had survived unscathed and I was elated. I knew I hadn’t performed that well, but just finishing felt incredible. The spectators had been fantastic all day, and I spent most of the last special stage pulling wheelies for them. Back to the gite for a few celebratory Julipers.

The award ceremony on the Sunday at the Palais Du Congress in Liege completed our great week in Belgium. Lots of trophies were handed out, even to one non finisher for being “The First To Hospital”! Paul Monk was presented with a highly deserved trophy for 15 years of managing the MPMC Liege Rally Team, cheers Paul, top job.

For the full set of 300 photographs, click here.

CB1000R Liege Review, click here.