A Lion's Share at Clarence - Heaven Round 5

Clarence

Race Report

Crisp - that was the word you'd use to describe the air at the Clarence track in the Blue Mountains when we leapt out of the truck in our shorts and tee shirts.

It was cool, but hey we're at altitude, and that was great - the bike idled for once, but fluffed around between idle and the power band. We looked around and noticed a fair amount of horse-trading in main jets going on. Should we? - nah, too technical for us. Get the gear on and get out for some practice.

What a little ripper of a track! Something for everyone without too much risk taking as you might get on a "modern" track. We used the vintage friendly version of the track, cutting out a fairly sharp set of stutters, which didn't bother any one too much and got into a day's racing of a four lap, fourteen race, two round format.

The first race, first corner adrenaline rush hit again with Bultaco Macca (Mick McMillan) forgetting to turn left at the end of the start straight in Pre-78 open and heading straight on, halfway to Newnes. He made up for this rare oversight later by picking up two 2nd places in Pre-75 open.

Get off of the day occurred when a Yamaha IT rider attempted a Travis Pastrana back flip on the finish line tabletop. Everyone wanted to know whether the photographer caught the feat, when it dawned, it WAS the photographer, Matt Kleinbergs engaging in the acrobatics. Luckily he got away with just a sore tailbone and plenty of bruises.

Match race of the day was in Evo 250 where Pete Lovering and Damien Crane went at it hammer and tong, Pete coming away the victor in both rounds. Other dual round winners included Damien in Pre-85 Only and Pre-85 All Powers, Fernando Franco in Four Stroke, Pre-75 Open and Evo 125, Ben Cooke in Pre-85 125, Rob Wood in Pre-78 125 and Paul Corbett in Pre-75 125.

Lower Mountains Motorcycle Club stalwart and our Clerk of Course for the day Bob Rowlinson along with our Steward, Maree Kirby were a major component in the smooth running of the event. We thank them greatly for their help. Bob's son Chris jumped on Pete Lovering's YZ250C and Chris's female riding partner, Wendy, jumped on Narelle Moore's KX250 A-5 for a go at old people's bikes, never having ridden them before. We didn't see them for the dust!! They took the lead after a few corners and smoked the old guys. They thought the bikes were great except for not having any brakes and hopefully will have another ride in the future. There's more where they come from, so hopefully we can encourage a few more young guns to have a go at future events.

As riders heard at the track and others may already know, Heaven are going to extend the series this year and run the planned practice weekend at Bulahdelah on the 25th/26th November as a full race meeting. More details on this, the upcoming AGM and updated point score will be in the next newsletter in the coming weeks.

Glenn Pickering Heaven Race Co-Ordinator