Kathy Gandolfi
IT was all about history, motorbikes, racing and a passion for all three combined at Mount Gambier’s McNamara Park motorcycle racetrack for the South Australian Historic Road Race Championships last weekend.
Run by the Historic Motor Cycle Racing Register of South Australia (HMCRRSA), based in Adelaide, the championships included 163 bikes with about 100 riders from as far away as Townsville in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and from across South Australia competing in a full program of events over the two days.
It was the 20th time that the HMCRRSA has run its event at McNamara Park and organisers were glowing about the venue and the Mount Gambier Motorcycle Club that owns and operates it.
President of the HMCRRSA, Danny Ahern said: “The facilities of the Mount Gambier club are nothing short of fantastic.”
“Some people who haven’t been at the track for a couple of years commented on the improvements that have been made.
“The Mount Gambier club is gearing up for the nationals (the Australian Historic Road Race Championships on April 1-3) and that really shows.”
Mr Ahern said uncertainty surrounding Covid-19 had probably affected the entries by about 20 per cent and that spectator numbers were also down.
“But we’re happy with the turnout and we had a lot of fun,” said Mr Ahern.
“The comradery and the passion shone through.”
With the restriction that the bikes had to be no younger than a 1990 model, the championships were filled with bikes from yesteryear with the oldest nearing its 100th birthday and others valued at up to $60,000.
There were Harley Davidsons, Nortons, Indians, Bultacos, Matchless, BSA, Ducati, and AJS bikes sitting alongside an array of Hondas and Yamahas to name a few of the wide variety racing around McNamara Park’s picturesque track.
The bikes were not the only things that had a lot of lifetime experience, the riders too had long associations with their bikes and racing with the oldest being Trevor Henderson, of Adelaide, who turns 79 this month.
Gemma Kernich, of Adelaide, was the only lady rider but she successfully transferred her skills on a pushbike to give her male colleagues a run for their money on her 125cc Honda.
Feature events included the Ken Blake Memorial which pays tribute to a rider who was born in Strathalbyn and began his racing career at McNamara Park in 1965.
He amassed a long list of wins including eleven national titles before turning his attention to European competitions where he became a regular at the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy race until he was killed there in 1981.
The Ken Blake Memorial was won by Lachlan Hill from Victoria followed by Chris Hayward, both on 350cc Yamaha TZ’s. Third was Darren Trotter on a Norton Manx G50.
Another feature race was the Bob Jolly Memorial which pays tribute to a well loved stalwart of the HMCRRSA who was part of the early days of classic racing and raced not only in Australia but also at the Isle of Man and in New Zealand. A manufacturing engineer, Bob sent parts all around the world for Manx Nortons and a number of bikes at Mac Park last weekend had connections to Bob. He died of cancer in 2007.
The winner of the Bob Jolly Memorial race was Mount Gambier Motor Cycle Club member Darren Trotter on his 500cc Matchless G50 followed by Keith Campbell and third was Murray Johnson on a Norton Manx.
A feature event was held for bikes called ‘handshifters’ which relates to the bikes having gears operated by hand, much like a manual car.
Instead of a conventional modern bike having a clutch lever on the bike’s handgrips, a ‘handshifter’ requires the rider to take one hand off the handle bars in order to use a gear lever near the bike’s petrol tank while using one foot to operate a clutch at the foot peg.
Doing this at high speed, and on a track with many challenging corners, is a sport not for the faint hearted.
Harley Davidson’s scooped the top three places in the Handshifter Feature with the winner being David Hoy, followed by Ross Bolding and Murray Johnson coming in third.
The Tour De LC Cup – which is for LC Yamaha bikes – was won by Brett Metcalf followed by Andrew Pitman and third was Clayton Tilbrook.
Other results include:
Period 3, 1946 to 1962
350cc – 1st Peter O’Neill, 2nd Doug Churcher, 3rd Eric Salmon. 500cc – 1st Darren Trotter, 2nd Keith Campbell, 3rd Murray Johnson. 700cc – 1st Daniel Gleeson, 2nd Geoffrey Kelly. Unlimited – 1st Darren Trotter, 2nd Stan Mucha.
Period 4, 1963 to 1972
250cc – 1st Peter Heles, 2nd Robert Day, 3rd Michael Jones. 350cc – 1st David Campbell, 2nd Bruce Meredit, 3rd Ross Bolding. 500cc – 1st Robin Williams, 2nd Barry Knight, 3rd Darren Chilman. Unlimited – 1st Clive Hughes, 2nd Robin Williams, 3rd Barry Knight.
Period 5, 1973 to 1982
250cc- 1st Brett Metcalf, 2nd Andrew Pitman, 3rd Ben Shaw. 350cc – 1st Lachlan Hill, 2nd Andrew Pitman, 3rd Chris Hayward. 500c – 1st Lachlan Hill, 2nd Neale Weddall, 3rd Richard Olbrich. Unlimited – 1st Daniel Sandler, 2nd Richard Olbrich, 3rd Marc Crichton.
Period 6, 1983 to 1990
125cc – 1st Andrew Coghill, 2nd Tait Coghill. 250cc – 1st Tait Coghill, 2nd Ben Shaw, 3rd Gregory Burt. 500cc – 1st Mike Engberg, 2nd David Ellis, 3rd Warwick Biggs. Unlimited – 1st Phillip Bevan.
Period 3, 4, 5 125cc with Class C (pre 1951 500cc OHV and 750cc side valve, hand change, rigid frames), handshifters and Period 2 (1920 to 1945): 1st Jonathon Houston, 2nd Stan Mucha, 3rd David Short.
