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This year's MotoGP event at Donnington has been captured by Dave and Wes Booth, 's recently appointed "Roving Reporters" - here is their report, including a rather special moment when the collection made by readers of The Site was presented to the UK's premier 250GP rider, Chaz Davies.
Dave presents Chaz Davies with the  £245 fund raised by the readers of NSR-WORLD.COM...
UK GP250 star Chaz Davies and our Roving Reporter Dave Booth.
My intention was the same as previous years, to find some accommodation in Leicester for the whole of the Thursday to Sunday event., but it was not possible this year, for I had invited my friend Gottfreid (Jeff) and his wife over from East Germany to stay with us for a week. The stay would include Jeff traveling to Donnington along with Wes and myself for the 2004 MotoGP. I met Jeff last year at the Czech GP in Brno and we struck up an amicable friendship. This friendship has carried over via Email, and thus, I find myself playing host to Jeff and Martina this last week.
We arrived at the circuit on Thursday for the Day of Champions at around 11.30am. My sole intention was to find Roby Rolfo in a relaxed mood and get him to autograph my Fortuna petrol tank. I am not interested in the plethora of trade stands and exhibitions that are in force at the event which is why we aimed to arrive just before noon.
 
Several weeks prior to the Donnington GP I instigated a movement to raise some monies to help Chaz Davies get over the theft of his leather racing suits. Thanks to the input of Andy, this had exceeded all my expectations, and by the time of the Day of Champions, the fund total was standing at £245.00. My aim now was two fold, 1). to meet with Roby Rolfo. 2). to meet up with Chaz and present him with the NSR-WORLD.COM collection.

I was fortunate enough to be able to bring my car into the infield part of the circuit and I parked up right next to the tunnel entrance to the paddock. Wes and I wore our Fortuna shirts and I had brought my petrol tank in a sports hold-all. We made our way through the bustle of people who were thronging into the paddock area. I was grabbed from behind by a strong hand and I turned around to face a guy who recognised me from last years' MotoGP at Brno. At Brno we were seated near to each other and he recognised Wes and I by our shirts. We chatted a while and he told me that he is returning again this year, but this time is bringing his wife and daughter along as well. Isn’t it strange, by just going along to a foreign GP I have met and befriended so many people.

Anyway, down to business! Roby and Tony Elias were housed in the tented area of the paddock and I poked my face through the entrance flap. The mechanics were preparing both Tony’s and Roby’s bikes and gave me a menacing stare. I broke the ice by using the little bit of Italian that I can speak and asked of Roby’s whereabouts. He was in the telemetry truck, and came over to see Wes and I. We chatted for a short while and I asked him to put his signature onto my tank, he did this without hesitation but this action brought an excitable crowd, who were pressing themselves nearer and nearer. A Moto GP official photographer was present and took a snap of Roby inscribing my tank.
By the time we arrived back home at 9.30pm this photo was on Roby’s web site; sadly it has now gone and been replaced by a few more interesting images!
Click for full size image...
Roby had promised me one of the latest Fortuna team shirts when we spoke whilst at LeMans. The shirt was in his motor home and he informed me that he was ready to join in a Honda meeting so I should return around 3.30pm and he would do his best to provide us with this precious gift.
I set off back to the car with my autographed tank. Along the way I bumped into Leon Haslam, Craig Jones and Cal Crutchlow. I also spoke with Mike Scott the controversial journalist who writes for MCN. We slipped into our NSR-WORLD "staff" shirts and rejoined the madding crowd.
Chaz was bombing around on his scooter and I flagged him down to ask about the time for my presentation of the monies. He reluctantly explained to me that he would have to delay our rendezvous until later in the day. He was in great demand from his sponsors and suppliers and would ask his dad to meet up with us at the team area where a suitable time could be arranged.
The Day of Champions is a very exciting event, if you are really lucky you are able to meet up with your idols. I used my free time to explore the two stroke garages.
Jeff came in very handy when we happened upon the Bravo garage, for Jeff lives in the same village as Steve Jenkner and he immediately plunged into a torrid German conversation with the 125 rider.
We were also introduced to Georg Frohlich the Red Bull ADAC rider, on looks alone you would not expect this lad to be able to ride a bike let alone race in GPs, he looks positively infantile!
We were allowed access into the Carrera area and I desperately wanted to talk with Lucio Checanello. “He no here today” I was told, “bugger!”
 
Steve Jenkner
Goerg Frohlich
Chris Burns came pop, pop, popping by on his scooter, I asked him to autograph a stunning picture of him that I had previously taken. We talked of the new direction of team WCM and the V6 engine that was in the pipeline.
Chris Burns scooting around the paddock...
I left Chris sat astride his scooter signing autographs, and when we returned to this area 20 minuets later he was still in the same position on his scoot scribbling away. A thousand apologies for creating your dilemma Chris!
 
We were ravenous and decided to pop into the paddock restaurant for a bite to eat. Whilst we were eating Chaz’s mum passed by and we eagerly asked about our meeting with him. Wes also explained that he also had some monies for Chaz, he had been putting a little away each week from his pocket money and had saved up enough to give to Chaz towards a signed print of him in action. Chaz’s pit board logo has the script "CHAZMON" emblazoned on it and I pulled this logo of a photo that I had of the board. I used Photoshop to manipulate this image and I shrunk it to the correct size and printed it out onto an envelope - this is the envelope with the monies in, in the photos of me handing over our “dosh”.
Our Roving Reporter showing off his new 2004 Fortuna crew shirt!
After filling our bellies we made our way back over to the Fortuna area. Robbie came over with the shirt and I pumped away on his hand (this was a mega handshake). Wes is very disappointed with the shirt, ‘cos it is a large size and fits me (tough sh*t Wes!), don’t forget, he has 2 Fortuna shirts already.
Rain looked imminent and so we made our way over to the Germany Aprilia. Again, Jeff came in handy for all the pit crew were “Jerries”. The heavens opened, I had not seen such a downpour like this before. We could not have left if we wanted to, water was sluicing right through the working areas. The rains lasted for well over one hour and we huddled together like sheep in a pen.
Roving Reporter: Dave Booth.
As the rain ceased, Chaz came up on his scooter and I was able to give him the accompanying letter and monies. Chaz read the letter he was very silent, and I think he was a little lost for words, but he is very professional and responded with a firm handshake and a very pleasing "thank you". Wes offered to Chaz the monies from him and again Chaz thanked Wes for this sum of monies. Chaz made his apologises, for he was wanted elsewhere and had to leave. Both Wes and I felt equally pleased with what had just unfolded and satisfying warmth came over me as I reflected on the generosity from the club that had been put in to make this happen.
Wes explains he's been saving some of his pocket money each week...
We hung around for a while and hoped to meet with Valentino (no chance). I had photographed Wes with Valle previously and had used photo shop to transform the picture into a watercolour painting, I wanted Rossi to put a special signature on this and I could then have it framed for Wes, ahh well! Perhaps next time. The paddock was inaccessible down the main thoroughfare due to dire flooding and no one seemed to be about, we decided to call it a day and head for home. It took 45 minutes for me to work out a way to the circuit exit for all the access dirt roads were under deep waters.
Work commitments prevented me from returning to Donnington for the Friday practice but I was track side bright and early for Saturday. Unbeknown to me Saturday was a scorcher I left the track with mild sunburn. (Trust me, this actually happened). I was looking forward to 12 noon for us NSR boys had arranged to me up in the main hall. I had brushed my teeth washed behind me ears and combed my hair in anticipation of meeting these unknown lads. I was also showing off my new NSR-WORLD.COM shirt (oooooh! Suits you sir).
Oh dear! What happened? All the posting on the forum suggested that plenty of fellow NSR boys would be there. I found the solitary figure of Jeff 350 LC. I had printed off loads of copies of the letter that I had given to Chaz with the monies and I thought that this would be a great idea to show this and tell the other contributors what had occurred on the Thursday. Jeff 350 and I had a good natter for half an hour or so, he tells me that he is sprinting his NSR I reckon he must to able to make his bike shift, for he is super light weight, stood next to me, I bet we looked like “little and large” ha, ha, ha.
Jeff350lc
A reliable NSR-WORLD.COM reader!...

I turned up on the Sunday with a bottle of sun cream... phah! I wouldn't need it! Wes, Jeff, and I sat huddled under plastic sheeting and umbrellas all day.

Several events marred this fantastic weekend, first, Robbie had an unexplained crash and broke his collar bone. It later transpired that his front wheel axle had broken and sent him “down the road”. I was in the area where Chaz had his tumble I was watching him approach Goddards, he was very late on the breaks and I saw him pass the rider directly in front of him, I cheered, but then saw him go down. He was angry with himself with this incident and his body language showed it.
It was a strange day for everyone I spoke to enjoyed the three races, but in each race there was not a great deal of overtaking and passing manoeuvres.

Still, I can honestly say yes, I was there, I have the cap and I really do have the shirt. I wont rant on about trying to get away from the circuit but what should have been a 2 hour jaunt home turned into a 5 hour marathon, thank God for cool beers, aaaaahhhhhh-drown my sorrows.

Dave Booth.

Sete Gibernau - click for larger image...Dani Pedrosa - click for larger image...Alex Hoffmann - click for larger image...
Colin Edwards - click for larger image...Exquisite KTM125 - click for larger image...Shinya Nakano - click for larger image...
Roby Rolfo - click for larger image...Roby Rolfo's signing - click for larger image...

The following letter has been received by Dave thanking him and the readers of for their efforts in raising money to help Chaz further his racing career:

Dear David and Wes,

Thank you both very much for all your efforts raising money to help Chaz in his Grand Prix career.

It is great to know that there are people out there who are prepared to do something to stand by this. We are truely very grateful.

As you are probably aware, the Donnington GP did not quite go as planned, but up until the race Chaz was really going very well and we hope that he can continue to build on this during the second half of the season.

Please could you pass on our thanks to Andrew Grant and all the Members of the NSR Forum who helped raise money for Chaz. It was very much appreciated.

Our very best wishes to you both.

Pete, Sam, and Chaz Davies.

Thank you letter from the  Chaz Davies camp - click for larger image...

NSR-WORLD.COM is proud to announce the total fund collected for Chaz was £260.

Thanks to everyone who supported the UK's GP250 star, and we wish Chaz the best of luck in all his future efforts.