The final event of the 2009 season saw Dave Beck on the Tvr Power Pro Stock bike seeking to secure the UK Bike Championship at Extreme Bike Weekend at Santa Pod. The events of the weekend also resulted in some unexpected changes to the record setting Ward/MTC powered Suzuki.

While securing the number one qualifying slot on Saturday, the team suffered its first engine failure in two and a half years, resulting in total destruction of the record setting motor. To make matters worse, a rod exiting the motor cut straight through the frame. Thanks to the skills and efforts of Jerry Collier, the chassis was repaired on Saturday, before the super team of Ric Naylor and Tom Lynskey installed another bullet ready for the eliminations on Sunday.

Photograph copyright of Ivan Sansom

Sunday saw Dave stage the Tvr Power bike for his semi-final bye run, then in the final the win light came on as Len Paget left early, leaving Dave to limp home on a misfiring motor to take the event win. “One of the ugliest wins we have had” smiled Dave “But it secured that UK Bike Championship for all our sponsors and my super team, so I’ll take that any day.”

The loss of the record setting motor and serious damage to the chassis has thrown planning for 2010 into the air, with the team currently seeking financial support to rebuild the motor and to replace the chassis. “We understand from Sandy Kosman that this is probably the oldest Kosman frame running in Pro Stock” noted Dave “But I’m afraid that we need to replace it now, which is a cost we hadn’t accounted for. But that’s Pro Stock – we push these motors hard and sometimes that’s the price of being quick. Looking on the bright side, we think a new chassis will make the bike even quicker in 2010.”

Dave would like to thank Tvr Power, MTC Engineering, Ward Performance, PR Factory Store, Nimbus Motorsports, Motorshack, Steve Howe & Sons and Stephen Moon Consulting.