Back from Phillip Island after another epic weekend at the Island Classic. I was there recording interviews for Motopodcast and I managed as well to take in some of the races while spending most of my time trolling the pits in search of that elusive photo.
I planned to leave about 0500 on Wednesday morning and hook up somewhere with fellow Wollongong-ite and racer, Steve Kairl, somewhere along the way. But, as is the nature of the beast, I was wide awake and ready to go at 0200. So I struck out into the night at 0230, pointed south. I hadn’t driven the Minibago at nighttime before and I soon found out that the headlights are badly in need of adjustment. Never mind, not something you can fix on the road so be extra vigilant of wildlife and press on. I stopped regularly to refresh and, as soon as road houses were open, for coffee. The road was wet and slippy till well past Goulburn after which it cleared up. Just outside of Marulan I encountered some escort vehicles looking after a massive semi-trailer with an even more massive load; a blade for one of those wind generator things. It was HUGE! Sadly, it was still dark and, even though I stopped ahead to try and get a photo, it just didn’t happen. It was hanging several metres over the back of the trailer and was flexing up and down by more than a metre as the semi hustled along at about 120kph!
As seen above, I took a detour at Holbrook for coffee and breakfast before heading out onto 31 again. What an unutterably boring road it is, especially now as every town along its whole length has been bypassed. And the cruise on the van wasn’t working. Never mind; keeps you more alert. Traffic was light and the T4 ate the kilometres.
I eventually pulled in to the track about 1430. 12 hours to do the nearly 1000kms. Not bad. As usual, the track was booked for a cars-only track day with all the heavy hitters in the GT category getting in some practice for the Bathurst 12 Hour. I didn’t take much notice but headed straight to the Team USA garage where the bikes were being unloaded from the shipping containers. It was great to renew acquaintances with my American friends. It didn’t seem like a whole year since I had seen them last.
Some quick greetings then it was off to the cabin to get settled in. Thanks to my good friend and PCRA racer, Zoltan Petrie, I had a bed for the weekend so it was an early night, try to recover from 12 hours driving and be ready for what promised to be a hectic weekend.
This will not be a race report, as such, rather just highlights of the meeting as I saw them. The first thing was a great disappointment that there would be no sidecar races. The reason given was ”
lack of entries” but I find that just a bit disingenuous. Last year there were HEAPS of sidecars and now none, or not enough? I am a little suspicious that moves have been made to accommodate increasing numbers of solo competitors at the expense of the three wheel brigade. Indeed, such late notice was given that the defending champions, Team USA’s Wade Boyd and Christine Bluck, had already loaded their outfit into the shipping container so it came to PI to simply be a static exhibit. A very poor outcome in my opinion.
In any event, the variety and range of equipment on show in the pits was more than enough to keep this race enthusiast happy for a very long time. My photos (around 350 of them) are catalogued in my Facebook album and can be accessed by clicking on the link below. As usual, you do not need to be a Facebook member to view the photos.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153142883390757.1073741871.785170756&type=1&l=7ae822528c
It was clear that everyone had lifted their game since 2014, the international teams particularly. The pits were awash with XR69 replicas, mostly Suzuki powered though some, very controversially powered by non-Period 5 Yamaha FJ1200 engines. Quite why the organisers insist on flouting the GCR’s for this meeting is beyond me. The UK team bikes were to be beset by all manner of niggling mechanical woes but they held it together through depth of entry and caliber of riders to finally win the International Challenge after 10 years of trying. The Australian team suffered from more significant mechanical issues (30 year old Suzuki GSX1100 air cooled engines hogged out to 1300cc and producing around 190bhp is a recipe for mayhem and mayhem it was) Despite the quality of the riding roster on the local side of the garage, it wasn’t enough to stop the Team GB steamroller.
The undoubted star of the show, however, was young Jed Metcher. Plucked from the ranks of current racers, Metcher adapted incredibly quickly to the old-style of bikes, put the Scott Owen (yes, the same man who had helped Ottis Lance to the grid in 2013) Katana on 2nd place in qualifying and scorched a classy field to win the final race of the day and leapfrog all the big names. An outstanding effort by Scott and his team.
As usual, the meeting had all the highs and lows you come to expect from the Island Classic. Australia’s favourite superbike racer,. Robbie Phillis, hurt an engine in qualifying and, lacking a spare donk, was forced to sit out the weekend. Team USA brought three TZ750’s and, against all odds and expectations, they performed flawlessly, thanks mainly to the engineering expertise of ace tuner, Scott Clough. The expected stars of the team, those who had built hotrod Katanas, all failed dreadfully with motor troubles all over the place. And Team USA fufilled its brief of beating New Zealand for the first time to snare 3rd place overall.
Did I mention Wade Boyd? Oh yeah, the sidecar guy. Well, when he found that there were no sidecar races he ferretted around in his voluminous workshop and found an old Kawasaki 1000 fuel injected, the quasi-chopper model. In just three weeks he stripped it and made it into a race bike. Shipped without any chance to be checked (apart for just knowing that it would start) it proved a handful. Late in qualifying on Friday it shattered the countershaft sprocket cover (we still don’t quite know how, the chain didn’t come off). It looked like the weekend was over until I pointed out that the same cover was on the Shadowfax, parked just outside the door! Of course it fitted and it was better because lightness had already been added in the form of dozens of holes. Later clutch problems with the bike were also solved by cannibalising the Shadowfax for more parts and the bike ran and completed all races. A nice symmetry given that my bike had finished the Coca Cola 800 in 1981 with a borrowed alternator cover sourced from a spectator’s road bike. To say that I was chuffed is an understatement.
Other highlights? Having a long conversation with Jeremy Burgess who was amazed at how much fun everyone (including himself) was having. Supporting the campaign to raise money for Ottis Lance’s on-going medical expenses and meeting many old friends and lots of new ones. Renewing friendships with people from all over the world, and meeting some people who have been Facebook friends for the first time.
After the racing and the celebrations I headed back to the cabin to get an early night and head home on Monday. But, the more I thought about it, the more I thought it would be great to get home. The weather had been extremely hot for the first three days, but Sunday was cooler and I still felt fairly fresh. So, at 2000 Sunday night I hit the road, driving through the night to get home at 0800 Monday morning. Crazy, yes, I know, but meh, it was fun.
I’ll get down some other IC stuff in the next few days but that will do for now.
Is it January 2016 yet?
jeffb says
Glad you had a great time,Phil. The pics, once again, are terrific. Was JB there to observe or was he tweaking a few bikes?? Maybe you can take a ‘co-driver’ next year? Looks like a great meeting! jeff
Phil Hall says
Thanks, mate. JB ws just observing, but I srrongly suspect that he will move towards some sort of involvement. He had a great time. A co-driver would be ace, 12 hours on the road by yourself is SO boring. 🙂