Mersea Island Scooter Rally 2007

Report from Gary Youngs:

What a weekend, where do I start? 

The 2007 Rally was bigger and better than previous years with a wide range of entertainment being laid on the by the club to suit all ages and tastes. 

The rally kicked of at midday and by 5pm you could see that this was going to be an event to remember, tents, scooterist’s and of course scooters as far as you could see.

The atmosphere was buzzing and then came the bands, firstly Special Duties took to the stage (Punk) and there slogan “77 told the truth” above them. Within minutes the crowd had wondered what had hit them (Special Duties first ever Rally). They belted out some of there own tracks finishing the crowd of with that old favourite “Teenage Kicks”. 

Next came Small Fakers with there versions of those Small Faces favourites now we are talking, they had the voices, tunes and style not to mention the audience in their grasp. 

Finally as the old saying goes “those who wait”, it was Squire’s turn and well worth the wait with those classics such as Walking Down Kings Road, The Faith Youth Today and Jesamine. 

As usual the Friday night events wound up sometime between 5 – 6am I guess as I was tucked up in my tent trying to get those’s last precious minutes sleep before I started the early morning gate shift.   

Saturday Morning the traders were appearing and soon it was obvious that if we had not doubled the number of traders at the event over previous years we were not far off.

The Dyno was on site which was being taken care of by J B Tuning with a little help from both Putoline and the Colchester DVLC. SIP Scootershop supplied T Shirts for the participants of the Dyno.

During the afternoon the games/custom show were up and running which this year was being compared by both Warren Brown and Tony Wright, what a team the crowd was pulled in and the arena was packed, Ant and Dec watch out your jobs may be on the line.

The winners of the Games are as follows:

Scooter Jousting         A Draw

Where's me Beer        Armed Forces SC

Tug of War                  Sudbury SC

Bin Hur                        Basingstoke SC

Beer & Bananas         Tattooed Trash SC

Scooter Tug of war      Nick, on a small frame

The winners of the Custom Show are as follows:

Best Auto LK51 USW Dragster, Sexy Beast owned by Aaron Perks
Best Std Lambretta 924 XUE Terry Crook’s Rallymaster
Best Std Vespa FAV 299C Sacrilege
Best Oddity RGE 203W Kick out of hell
Best Vintage 146 UXT "Berlin"
Best custom paint LK51 USW Dragster, Sexy Beast owned by Aaron Perks
Best Street Racer ARA 269A TS1 No 27
Best brightwork ONG 519W Faithful Friend
Best Vespa FAV 299C Sacrilege
Best Lambretta 924 XUE Terry Crook’s Rallymaster
Best of show SVM 932H Built a dream

Then from no where came 7^th Step a two piece ska covers duo and what a crowd puller to finish the afternoon off with Bad Manners, Madness and all those well respected Ska sounds, Scooterist’s were up dancing, singing. An encore was requested and we were not let down as they belted out yet another track and again the crowd chanted more, more, more, unfortunately though that was it for this year. The Saturday night had arrived in style with 7^th Step, but there was more to come the night was early, what else could we expect then the most came on stage, classic Jam, Who, Kinks tracks were being belted out and this was only 7pm, the marquee was packed with singing dancing not only from the Most but the Scooterist as well. This is a Band we will see around the scooter scene for some time to come.

Next, Goldblade, with that mix of punk, physcobilly, dancing girls, singing what an act. The marquee was now not only heated but about to explode as they performed track after track and what an entertainer John Robb was getting the crowd revved up into a frenzy.

After Goldblade what could follow, the Colchester DVLC were not going to disappoint though and here they came Intensified , playing to a packed audience they let rip with their 60’s Ska, Rocksteady and Reggae style music. Lead singer Paul definitely had that smooth laid back sound that just cooled the crowd of from the previous explosion of sounds and finished of the evening in complete style.

And then it was over for another year, 2007 had proved to be bigger, better than ever, covering most styles of music and activities for all the family.

2008 will with out doubt be even bigger than 2007, the preparation has started so put this one in your diary ready for next year

Total Scooterists in attendance was over 2600 Best year yet.....

Sponsors of the Event

Ikon 

Allstyles Motorcycle Insurance

Birtoni Scooters Ltd

SIP Scootershop

Scooter Restorations

Putoline

J B Tuning

Wizard Cosmetic Repairs

Printwize

Scootering    

We would like to thank the sponsors for their support

Mersea T Shirts were provided by IKon and SIP Scootershop and was really appreciated by the club!