OzVMX
|
|
OzVMX
|
 |
|
Events > Bega Supertrack Bega Supertrack July 2005or How Much Fun Is Legal? Well, was that a great day or what. This gig actually turned out to be a bit of an unofficial "Southern half of NSW VMX Cup" meet, with a good contingent of riders from Canberra and Cooma coming to Bega to bump bars with guys from the Far South Coast. And bump bars we did - as Eden-ite Rob Brown well knows, going down in several races to finally call it quits before the last race of the day. The Classics class raced with the Womens class, and I can only guess that Rob was keen to get to know one of the women racers a bit better, as I remember seeing the both of them tangle near the end of the start straight and by mutual consent go down to ground to continue their relationship. Trouble is, they were near the front when they chose to pursue this new found love. God knows how I and others managed to get around them with their legs up in the air at odd angles (for a race meet anyway). Amazingly we all managed to spear off left and right and left them to it. I hope Rob thinks it was worth it, cause his nice little YZ250H ended up with bars bent at some very strange angles and his race day over. Well that's what you get when you let some off-the-leash middle age men line up side by side with the opposite sex I guess (actually, I should mention that one of 'their' number was definitely hot on her YZ250F - she beat the pants off every one of us ten classic riders in every race I think!). The Sapphire Raceway is a gem of a place, set at the base of some seriously high mountains and surrounded by green rolling hills. And believe me, the Far South Coast M/c Club 'Supertrack' event makes for the most fun you can have on two dirty wheels. How much better can it get when a club lets you loose on a track that combines a motocross course, a proper speedway track and a grasstrack - you just go hoon from one to the other to the other times three laps times six races! The organisation side of things was faultless too, leaving us to just set up camp and go do our stuff. As I said, around nine VMX-era riders and their bikes turned up. Machines included a Husky 430, two Maico 490s, two CR250 (early water bottles), a HL500 (only thumper), a KTM MC250 and two YZ250Ls (both with very quick riders). The organisers were very pleased with the turnout of oldies - they had planned on canning the Classics class but have now turned around. Best thing was, seeing we all had these old bikes in common, it made it easy to get together between races to bench-race very volubly - I'm sure it seemed as if there were scores of us there, the noise we made crapping on! We also made a bit of a spectacle on the track too I'm sure. Glenn Wollenweber got things going in the first race of the day, flipping the 430 off the jump leading on to the dirt track straight - right in front of the pits. Apparently the Husky just lay there in a heap motor still ticking away, ready for more. Glenn wasn't so sure but said what the hell, nicely tweaked shoulder and all. Darren got jealous of Glenn's skill with the art of flipping, and so on the MX course gave it a big handful out of the berm on top of the hill. The CR responded by grabbing full traction and immediately flipping right over on the spot. Darren followed his baby down, clocking his chin on the crossbar. He might have thought he was making sense when he talked after that, but we call him Mr Mumbles from now on. I don't know what got into Brownie that day, but he sure seemed keen on getting off that YZ while in transit. Felt like nearly every other lap I'd spot him picking hisself up off the ground somewhere. He went over the top of berms, slid out on corners, got stuck in first corner pile-ups, you name it. He was still laughing at the end of the day (but I'm sure I also heard him mumbling something like 'I'll get you bastards next time, don't worry about that'). OK, so some pride was hurt, but thankfully nothing else (hopefully also the case with our two flippers, Glenn and Darren). Everyone had their great little dices throughout the day, whether they were at the front, or middle-packers, or trailers. We all had ear to ear grins at the end of the day as we gathered for the last bullshit session of the day. Me - I had a ball on the newly-acquired CR250RD. I might have been middle-pack only, but I was still going heaps faster than I had ever gone before on the new mount, and was well pleased with that - and enjoyed being able to poke that front wheel around in front of the occasional fast boy here and there. Fast boys in our crew included Dennis Myers, Edwin Kraft and Peter Hetherington. These three put lots of over-35 riders on moderns to shame every race, so well done guys. Lex 'Luthor' Holcombe did very well too on his big Maico 490, considering he's got two bung shoulders (one from a prang at speed at Finke) and goes in for surgery this Wednesday - good luck, and come back to play VMX next year please Lexy! Everyone though had their favourite bits - some powered thru the MX track only to worry about dirt tracking it, while others were in sliding heaven. Mr OzVMX himself, Graeme McElligott, relentlessly holeshotted every race, going on the far outside and powersliding right round the pack and down into the grasstrack in front of everyone. He said he could keep that pace up right round the grasstrack and over onto the dirt track straight, only to luck out on the MX track - more practice needed there, mr webmeister (luck out??? Some kid on his pushy rode through there quicker than me... Ed). My favourite bit was where you do the uphill leap up out of the grasstrack, power down the straight tapped out in third, fourth then fifth, and then jam on the brakes for all you're worth to pound sideways into the big berm that links in to the MX track and bounce off right in the meat of second then third up the hillside - what a blast. And what a track, that Supertrack. And now the roadshow moves onto Mt Kembla on the 21st August for another dose of VMX action with the HEAVEN event - we'll see you there! PS many thanks to Dennis Myers' young fella Daniel for taking some of the photos of us old geezas on the day, in between his own 85cc races - 'on ya Daniel! Ed's Note: If there is another Supertrack this year and you live anywhere near Bega get along and try it. You will LOVE it, guaranteed. You can contact the Far South Coast MotorCycle Club here: President: Alan Garvey |
