Events > Jack Hogg Classic 2007

Jack Hogg Coastal Classic, Moruya
10 February 2007

The NSW Surfair club's annual Jack Hogg Coastal Classic short track race just keeps going from strength to strength. The event features classic classes with modern support. At the end of the night there are two feature races - The Jack Hogg Memorial Classic Invitation Race & The Bill Scott memorial Modern Invitation Race.

Again this year the boys from Canberra journeyed to Moruya to take part, and once again we were treated to a brilliant day's racing. The track was superb, the classes full, and the racing just great. Some fast riders turned up to keep the crowd enthralled and to give the rest of us something to aim for.

We arrived at Moruya bright and early Saturday AM to a beautiful sunny day at the coast. Bacon and eggs at the Moruya Cafe is a civilised way to start the day alright.

Out to the track and yep, a nice rollup for the vintage classes. Wandered round the pits and chatted to all the guys - Cozzie with his nice TM, Les R and crew with the Maicos, Chris H and a very fast old MX250 he was riding for the first time, Snowy76 with his tasty CR250RA, Tento on the MT and CR, Pete Hetherington and Grant, the list goes on. All sorts of bikes - Honda CRs, Huskies, KTMs, Maicos, what a great lineup.

Out for practice and the track is dry and skatey and the big Husky just spins up everywhere and I'm thinking "Geez, this is NOT gonna be fun". But a few waterings and the track came up magic. Everyone else is taking it fairly steady too, until I hear a two-stroke on full noise and not letting off. I looked up and there's a CR250 and a Bully of some sort, laid waaay over and on the gas. These two were magic all day, I have never seen a 20-30 year old dirt bike going that hard on a dirt track! Ben Gordon and Luka Bussa were joined by a few other local hotshoes including Grant Hetherington to wow the socks off the rest of us. It was left up to another local, Brett Moffatt on a Maico 490 to salvage some pride for the older riders, although I'm sure Kevin Horton might have done a little better if he could have got his CR250M running nicer.

Nonetheless Ben and Luka got my vote for riders of the meeting, just for sheer spectacle.

The day got hotter, and by early afternoon we were all hot and sweaty but having a ball. Dennis and Mark were having a few good tussles, with Mark coming to grips with dirt track pretty quickly. Dennis was having a few bike woes, but the 250 and 504 kept going right to the bitter end.

I looked up into the crowd a couple of times in my heats, and there's Magoo and Darran taking it easy in the shade on the hill. They got a great view of the action, but I gotta say it looked even better from where I was.

I had one heat with Ben on the CR, and I holeshot the start only to have him come by in the first turn about 20 km/hr faster. I stuck close for about a lap and that thing's exhaust note never wavered from WFO the whole lap. Beautiful!

Late evening and the track was perfect. The lights came on, and in the background a big storm had sheets of lightning flashing over half the sky. What a sight!

After a short break due to a power out, the big feature races got underway. They were quite simply brilliant. A couple of kids in the moderns put on a Helluva show, and then the Jack Hogg itself was on! From where I stood this one was fantastic. Man these guys could go. But amazingly enough it was the Maico 490 of Brett Moffatt that reigned supreme, showing that smooth and fast can beat showy and fast (and that age is not the deciding factor).

Tired but really pleased with the day we packed up and into Moruya for a pizza before the drive home through a huge electrical storm. Nice end to a good day.

If you haven't had a go at dirt track or short track, ya gotta give do it. Fun, fun fun and you aren't stuffed by the end of the day. Top marks to the Surfair club, and Leanne Gordon in particular. We'll be there next year!!!

Read on to see results and a swag of photos. You can also follow these links to see the reports of the 2005 and 2006 events.

Results