To state the bleeding obvious, motorcycles are at their most fun when they are ridden fast. Another undeniable fact is that riding motrcycles on the the road fast, attracts highway patrol members and can be financially damaging due to loss of folding fun tickets and licence points. Luckily, a solution is ready made and it's called RACING. Proving point two, has left it's toll on my wallet, I don't have $250 k to spend annually on ASB racing, and lets face it....I'm not 17 years old and I aint going to be world champ. I also love classic bikes, luckily there is a whole circuit of Historic Racers.
The journey began when I was offered a Z500 shed find and I started my first build. Got the motor running after months of late night tinkering and beers with Craig Longhurst (ok, perhaps there was more beers than tinkering and perhaps it was more Craig mechanicing than I), and we said "By golly, you know, this isn't going to work.....what about an SR400 ? We (read Craig) could make quite a fun little thing from one of those".....(points vaguely to the pile of SR400s stacked in the corner of the workshop). SR400 falls very neatly into Period 5 The Forgotten Era (love that moniker) period racing. They are a very nippy short stroke, don't need to run a battery and therefore are light, and trick race bits are very accessible. We'll do it !!!!!! (read Craig will build it). National race licence obtained, bike log booked, entry fee paid, I was going to race The Southern Classic, Broadford.
The Southern Classic is the second biggest Historic Motorcycle Race in Victoria on the calander and this year attracted over 220 entries in all classes of racing with a wide range of machines. As my excitement level grew in proportion to my nervousness I was pleasantly suprised that anouther member of Melbourne Cafe Racers was also making his debut to racing on a sweet little Period 4, 350 Ducati.
So with the knowledge that I wasn't alone, I set out for the scheduled practice day on the Friday. First learning exercise.....start the bike. The bike very quickly reminded me it was prepared for racing, no delux push start, no kick starter as this just adds weight (not quite sure what the logic of this is when the bozo riding weighs 92 kg, what's an additional 750 gm...ok ok I weigh 97 kg). My first lap at practice, shiver me dead, this was a toey beast. Returning to the pits it would have taken the knowledge that World War 3 had started and I was to lead the clones into battle, to wipe the smile off my face. Then super mechanic Craig showed me my lap times - 1 min 36 sec. "Is that good?".... "Well you'll need to get to 115% of the quickest in your class to qualify tomorrow and they do 1 min 9 sec". BUBBLE BURST, hello sleepless night.
Fortunately, Saturday's qualifying saw me flying and with some tweaking of the rules I started from the back of the grid. I loved being in the race paddock. So many beautifully prepared machines and the sounds, man a petrol head's heaven. Racing on the weekend was feirce. I had come to this pursiut too late in life but was immediately made to feel welcome. No other sport that I have participated in have the fellow competitors (racers in this case) come up to me and said things such as "Hi...I'm TJ....I race in your class....good to see some more Period 5's,.....follow me I'll show you the race line!", This bloke was helping me get better and loving doing it, even though I potentially (very very slight chance) would take that knowledge and beat him.
Saturday night was time for frothy beverages, a band and a dinner for the racers. It also meant that teams of mechanics worked on broken bikes well into the early hours of Sunday ready for that days racing. Carlos Delgrado and Craig Longhurst changed fork springs, fork oil, replaced a triple clamp and massaged my ego. I then wandered back to camp, this little black duck was exhausted. Sunday was even better. The bike was responding to the TLC provided the night before and I now was less intimidated by the bikes around me. Yep, at the end of the four races I had passed a total of ONE bike (he stalled at the start of race 4) but I could not have had a better weekend....ok well if someone would like to pay for semi-naked grid girls just for me, it could've been better, but that's a road that has led to my downfall in the past......
Thankyou to all of the MCR members that popped their head into the garage over the weekend, Bill, Darren and Gail, Josh, Ash, Noel and Brian. Crongratulations to other MCR members that raced...Mark, Brian and Cas on sidecars, Noel on solos. Most of all thankyou from the sub cocheal region of my heart to my pit crew...Matt, Craig, Sandy and Annie. Next stop is the South Australian Championships held between Christmas and New Year, just try and stop me attending !!!
