Today was race day, the first of two, and, if you ever wanted to know just how seriously the individual riders and the international teams take this event, you only had to do a quick poll of the pits to see temperatures rising and tempers flaring.
Thankfully, today was fine but any hope that that would solve the qualifying dilemma was quickly dispelled when, just 3 laps into the 15 minute qualifying session, Ryan Farquhar’s Yamaha engine detonated in a big, big way, bringing out the red flag for oil all over the place. The session was cancelled and team captains were called upon to nominate a grid for Race 1 with Race 1 results determining the grid positions for the remaining 3 International Challenge races.
Now you’d think that would be the end of it, right? No way was it. Race 1, the now-qualifying race, was won by Beau Beaton on the Irving Vincent, a machine that many competitors feel is totally ineligible for the event. Added to the angst was the IV owners’ refusal to confirm or deny that Beau used the 4 valve engine (TOTALLY ineligible) or the 2 valve one. IV boss, Ken Horner counters that, if the promoters think the bike is illegal, why did they invite him to race the thing in the first place? This controversy is set to rage on, especially as Beaton also won Race 2.
Controversy also marred Race 2 with Team GB’s James Hillier falling victim of the “Pit gate is only open for 30 seconds” rule and Ryan Farquhar being originally penalised for starting from the wrong grid position (he was told to by a grid official). The subsequent protests by Team GB were resolved as “Hiller out, Farquhar penalty overturned.
At the end of the day, Australia leads by a handful of points over Team GB with two more races to go. The surprise packet is Team Ireland who are currently in 3rd place on debut with a handsome lead over Team USA who had a miserable day with bike issues.
The rest of the races were all brilliant as usual; big grids, close racing and something to enthrall no matter where in the pack you chose to look. 1970’s sidecar champs Andre Bosnan and Dave Kellett came out of retirement to win both the sidecar races today, proving something, though I am not sure what.
For me, I got some more in-depth interviews today and, while my output this year has been short on quantity compared to previous years (I have really been struggling getting around, the leg is giving me hell) I believe that it is going to be long on quality. I hope my editor will be happy.
Quote of the day: Cormac Conroy (Team Ireland). “They say that nobody cares if you don’t win, but fighting for 23rd place is still as much fun.”
Amazing sight of the day? Dave Moss, suspension expert par excellence spending nearly an hour with my good friend, Lee Allen, helping him set up his bike’s suspension. Hundreds of dollars of private tuition for……? $0.
Crack-up of the day. Steve Dobson (Kawasaki #55) taking his first ever pole position and his first ever subsequent win in the race. Pumped as on his slow-down lap he returned to his pit garage to an expected hero’s welcome. However, Australia’s #1 road racing larrikan, Robbie Phillis, had primed all Dobbo’s crew and friends in the garage to pretend to be interested in what was happening on the track and to completely ignore Steve when he returned to the pit garage. Dobbo returned to silence and not even anyone to help him put the bike on the stand! It says a lot for his character that, far from being annoyed at having his moment of glory taken away, he was laughing about it like everyone else was!
Tomorrow it starts again. I’m not sure I can handle the pace.