PI 2005 - NZ Post Classic Racing Association

Innocents Abroad, Part 5 – 12th Annual Island Classic, Phillip
Island.
The cell phone rang and as soon as I looked at the caller’s number I just knew
it was going to be a very long and very hard weekend. Only thing was, I didn’t
realise how hard it would be on a number of us.
I answered the phone and it was the call I was dreading – Karina from Phillip Island Circuit
saying the container was late with our team’s 16 bikes and gear. What to do Disaster
management mode kicked in pretty quick, as did the kicking of the shipping company
management, via the phone. By the time the last of the Wilton, Smith, Higgins, McCaffery
and Seddon travelling circus had arrived outside the arrivals area we had a plan formulated
and was underway. Rather than wait and with nothing else to lose, we went in search of our
container. First stop the shipping company office 5 minutes drive from the terminal.
Whilst we didn’t find the container there, we did hit pay dirt when the Ocean Freight
Manager allowed himself to be taken all but hostage by 6 very angry motorcycle racers in
one of their own meeting rooms! That made the words and actions flow thick and fast for a
while. Seemed to work though, as despite what appears to be prior inaction by one of their
staff (we found out more about the history from the Quarantine Service later), we were on
our way to the circuit by 11am with a guarantee that the container would be delivered by
3.00pm. We sweated buckets waiting…But all credit due, they got it there and had it on the
ground by 2.00pm.
The day was looking up also with the Customs and Quarantine clearances – the delegated
AQIS officer had cleared our container in 2003 remembered us and the effort we usually go
to, making us relax even more. Though I thought we were going to have to give him oxygen
he was laughing that hard when we opened the container doors. Here was Flossie, the blow
up sheep (a present for the Pom team) staring back at him…Mock threats of reporting us to
NZ MAF and many photo’s later for the guys in the Melbourne AQIS office and we were on
our way.
The rest of Thursday consisted of getting set up, finding our fuel so we were set for the
usual early start on Friday morning. We spent some time watching the UK team practice as
they’d all entered the Australian Superbike School being held that day. Something they
thought was a good idea at the time, but came to rue the decision by Sunday evening. In
fact, by the time we got there, one of their bikes was already out with major mechanical
misadventure and it wouldn’t be the last.
We finally got to the trusty old Seahorse Motel at Cowes and found most of the Kiwi Post
Classic team already there. The greater catchment of the Kiwi Classic & Post Classic teams
doing what Kiwi’s do well – bench racing and having a beer or 3. We did pity by the end of
the weekend the 2 units (of 25 or so) that were not motorcycle related...
7am saw us on the road to the circuit and soon after, into the scrutineering queue which
grew in length with exceptional speed. For all the length of queue and waiting time involved,
resulted in one of the most cursory inspections I’ve ever seen. Though we all thought the
gear check was a little picky when they knocked back Phil Duxbury’s brand new helmet as
they couldn’t find a serial # or something silly like that, on a known, “name brand” helmet. A
local rider was soon coerced into lending his spare…
The balance of Friday saw the initial practice and qualifying sessions roll around. Speaking
of rolling around, Steve McCaffery (“Dossa”) was rolling around in the dirt outside turn two

after lunch when he lost the front end. While Jim Campbell on the first lap of practice was
rolling around silently with no power after his fuel line came adrift and left him marooned at
the exit of turn 2 also. Jim’s bike was easily sorted by reattaching the fuel line and
tightening the loose hose clamp that caused the problem…Though he was lucky not to seize
the TZ, as lubrication is somewhat dependent upon fuel flow – eg no fuel, no oil!
Meanwhile Dossa had quite a bit more work to do on what was now looking like a “Rat
Bike”. The Suzuki fairing being consigned to the trash and everybody raiding the spares kit
for handlebars, brake master cylinders, number boards, numbers, tape, and even “Selley’s
Knead-it” being seen to repair the crank case end cover and fuel tank leak. I must have
counted about 4 sets of hands all working on the bike at one point. Thought it was all worth
the effort as Dosser eventually posted a 1.50 lap time later in the weekend – some 3
seconds faster than in 2004 AND was the second highest International Challenge points
scorer for the Kiwi team.
Otherwise Friday’s practice and qualifying was fairly uneventful for the Kiwi Postie team
despite the 30 degree weather and high humidity. Team Wilton’s afternoon concluded with
some preventative maintenance and preparation for the next day on the brace of TZ350’s
we were riding. Eg fuel, tyres, chain tension/lube and a change of brake pads on my bike.
A quick check on a couple of items on Kerry’s bike proved everything was okay and was the
last time we needed to remove the fairing on either bike, both of which ran strong all
weekend.
Friday evening saw the now customary social function at the circuit, MC’d by Ken Wootton
and Fergus Cameron, - Australian Motorcycle News editor and Phillip Island Circuit
Managing Director respectively. Chief interviewees were James Clark of the UK team,
Richard Scott, Hugh Anderson and Peter Guest. The two kiwis coming in for a particularly
rousing cheer after each of their interviews as a result of 50 + Kiwi’s at the function!
Folk law has it that the rain stays mainly on the plain, but Saturday morning saw the rain
staying mainly on the island with it starting mid riders briefing and staying until mid
afternoon. This left some riders with wet qualifying up against it if they hadn’t posted a good
time on Friday. The first set of races were wet as well and Murray Delacy was one rider who
was sitting pretty with 4 th fastest in the Forgotten Era 0-500cc class. Murray didn’t need to
stretch himself on Sat morning, yet still went out and posted the fastest time of the (wet)
session. It’s all about putting the opposition off their game isn’t Murray (and preparation in
case it stays wet)!
In the over 500cc Forgotten Era class, the less sensible riders were out wets, with the
millions of spare wheels that always seem to fill the container coming to the fore. Peter
Jones on Kerry’s wickedly fast TZ700 ventured out on a wet front, slick rear combo and just
about achieved rectal/optical inversion (sphincter being opened wider than the eyes!) with
monster wheel spin and visible snaking past the start finish line, in 5 th and 6 th gear! We put
the wet on the back for the first race and he promptly fell off, so I don’t know!
As mentioned, the first 2 Forgotten Era races were run in the wet, just after mid day. The 0-
500 up first with Murray DeLacy and Paul Brown splashing around for 3 rd and 4 th
respectively, behind Craig Morris, the class master and Peter Hinton (local Aust Rider) using
a wet front that must have been 20 years old minimum. Phil Duxbury held down 7 th in what
looked like a close battle, Colin Higgins 11 th of the 17 finishers, the rest of the Kiwi’s piking
out. In the over 500cc class saw Scotty win by 4 ½ secs, with Peter Daniel a close third,
Seddo (Craig Seddon) in 7 th , Dosser 12 th with Peter Jones falling at Honda and Chris Meads
falling at MG. Chris was located pushing back, but Pete was nowhere to be seen.

We soon found the big Yamaha by the scrutineering shed with very minor damage on the
left side. The associated news was Peter had fallen awkwardly and landed on his head, so
we headed to the medical centre where we soon located Pete, only he couldn’t remember
our names and was on his way to hospital for a Cat scan. By this point as the various
administrative issues were sorted for Pete, the weather started to clear for the afternoon,
finally which meant that the racing action would pick up considerably.
The first of Saturday’s two International Challenge races (top 10 qualifiers from the UK
team, Kiwi team and Australian P5 riders) saw Kerry and I venture down to Honda corner to
watch the fireworks. This first race was just a cracker, with the lead riders going hard and
close racing all over the place. Scotty upheld Kiwi honour by leading off the line and being
in the thick of it for most of the race. However, some arm pump slowed him up a touch near
the end to finish a fighting 3rd. Peter Daniel on his ELR Kawasaki pulled down 5 th , just
behind local Phillip Island expert and ex Superbike racer, Peter Guest. Chris Meads and
Dave Freeman finished 8 seconds apart in 16 th and 17 th . Mark Cocks was 1 st 350 home in
20 th , with a small gap back to Phil Duxbury. 2 UK riders then Dave Morley, Steven
McCaffery and Paul Brown in 24 th through 26 th . Seddo’s bike developing an ignition fault
resulted in the only Kiwi DNF for the race.
The wet races brought had brought up an interesting dilemma for the Poms. The technical
rules behind the International Challenge call for each country to run to their own home
country rules, each having it’s own plusses and minuses. Aussie allow better forks and
brakes (period looking floating discs, period looking forks up to 41mm allowed from any era),
we can have a wider rear rim, but are more restrictive on brakes and forks (Must be period
and 2 pot). Meanwhile, the Poms are any floating brakes and 4 pot calipers, similar forks to
the Aussies, but no slicks, wets or warmers allowed – tyres must be DOT marked. With the
rain bucketing down on Sat morning, the team captains from Aust and NZ agreed to offer
the Poms the chance to buy and use wets from the onsite Bridgestone stockist, on the basis
of safety and at least making a chance for a race of it. This they took up with obscene
alacrity (causing some grumbles from some Aust team members). I heard the tyre bill was
some $2740 Australian to fit the team out and they bought most if not all of stock on hand.
No sooner than the whole team was fitted up, the rain stopped falling! This meant the race
was run in patchy, drying conditions, which chewed their newly purchased wets to shreds.
Oh well, it’s the thought that counts and this is why you take spare wheels!
Whilst the Australian’s showed their obvious domination of the event, the Pom’s with their
really special bikes and above mentioned performance advantages in brakes and
suspension were not making a big mark. The team positions after round one being Aust,
NZ, UK.
By the time Saturday’s second round of racing came around the track was fully dry again
and the grids were becoming much fuller after the earlier sparse, wet races. The 0-500
Forgotten Era racers were first away again. Kerry Wilton got a flyer of a start to get away
from the 3 rd row to be with the lead group into turn one. Unfortunately it was all for naught
as Mark Cocks who’d started from pit lane took a very hard fall on the entry to turn two right
in front of my view position and resulted in a red flag and restart. Mark was knocked
completely unconscious and later review of my video camera footage strongly indicates a
throttle sticking open on the down change into the corner, with Mark losing the front while
trying to get the whole plot stopped.
The shortened restart saw Kerry again get a flyer and with some deft riding around the fast
bits and careful riding around the slow bits be first Kiwi home and result in a lap time of 1.57
– very much an achievement in Phillip island lap times on old bikes. Murray Delacy slipped
back through the field to 12 th after an initial good start, with his TZ not quite cooperating with
him (later traced to an electrical fault). Paul Brown finished right on his tailpipe in 13 th , then

a few seconds back to Colin Higgins who was ahead of Jim Campbell. All the kiwi riders
had recorded personal best lap times which left them happy after the earlier bad weather.
Most Over 500cc Forgotten Era Kiwi team entrants were also doing double duty with the
International Challenge and the reality of both classes, 8 races and 8 qualifiers or practices
was starting to sink in. The International Challenge was seen as the more important races
and as a result the Over 500cc Forgotten Era races were starting to become less of a focus.
Most Kiwi riders starting to use them as a scrub session or practice. Nobody told Peter
Daniel that as pulled a 3 rd place out behind the renown Zakelj brothers on their booming
bevel drive Ducati’s. Dossa was 4 seconds back in 4 th on the now rat bike GS1000 and
Dave Freeman riding like a man possessed for 7 th - last Kiwi finisher, but by no means last
on the road.
Saturday’s second International Challenge race proved to be what a brilliant idea it was with
1 st and 2 nd separated by .154 of a second, 26 finishers, some very hard riding and team
tactics coming in to play. James Clark (UK) took the win just from a faltering Stu Loly right
before the line as Stu’s GSX broke an earth wire and lost drive, and Scotty was tucked in for
third again after dipping into the 1.49’s and being there for most of the race. Dosser was in
7 th again, Dave Freeman 14 th , Seddo 18 th doing lap times 10 seconds quicker than in 2004.
Phil Duxbury was 20 th and 1 st 350 on his Yamaha and had some pretty impressive bikes
finish behind him. Pete Daniel was an uncharacteristic 22 nd and a lap down and was later
attributed to being run off the track at T11 by a UK team member (and ending up out by the
tyre wall!). Pete in his haste to get back on terms then ran off again, half a lap later. By this
point the leaders were coming around so held up 1 st and 2nd as much as possible then let
Scotty through easily and held tail gunner behind Scotty if 4 th place got too close. All for the
team…
Sunday’s riders briefing told the bad news about the excellent lap times from most races on
Saturday (except the International Challenge which used transponders), they were all wrong
and about 4 seconds less than they should be…That dispelled a few dreams for some of the
riders I spoke to. Much humour was had by most non Australian riders as the Australian
International Challenge riders were asked to stay behind after riders briefing so they could
be told there is no “I” in team and so they could see who their team mates were…
Also news overnight had Pete Jones cleared to ride again following his CAT scan and Mark
Cocks with multiple broken ribs, broken collar bone, a big bang on the head and very sore,
but appearing to be okay.
First Kiwi posties out on the track again were the 0-500 forgotten era class. Murray sat out
the race while he changed ignitions and Australian Stu Garner ran off with the race lapping 6
seconds a lap quicker than second place. Phil Duxbury took 1 st Kiwi honours in 7 th with I
hear a spirited ride through the field, his RD350LC not having the power of TZ’s he’s up
against. Kerry Wilton was just over a second a lap behind in 8 th after another good get away
then riding with some caution within the group he was with. Colin Higgins was 11 th and when
I saw him, he was riding great too, as was Paul Brown 12 th . I got a flyer of a start, holding
the front wheel about 2 feet off the deck most of the way through 1 st gear, making 3 rows off
the line. On entry to the first turn I found myself in unchartered territory near the front.
Didn’t last long though as lack of racing and a front wheel patter dragged me back down the
field a little for 14 th , 2 sec’s in front of Jim Campbell.
Sunday’s 1 st over 500 Forgotten Era race was more like an extended scrub or test session,
but it still didn’t stop the top Kiwi and Aussie boys having a crack though the field did stretch
out a little. Stu Loly took the race out after finding his problems from the previous day. Pete
Daniel was under 4 seconds behind, with 10 seconds on third. Pete Jones was back out on
the TZ700 after we’d done some patch up work that morning, though he was finding the

stability to have gone south with the previous days unplanned removal of the windscreen.
The wind blast at 170+ mph blowing him around some and this affecting the bike even more.
Still he was only a second slower than Friday so, his crash hadn’t really affected him.
Last race before lunch had the 3 rd Forgotten Era International Challenge race. By Sunday
most people at the circuit had worked out these were the races to watch with full grids and
unusually close racing. Only nobody told Scotty that, as he literally ran away and hid,
pulling 11.85 seconds on second in 6 laps. Pete Daniel was in a group contesting 3 rd place,
which was eventually taken by top UK performer James Clark on his F1 style P&M 1270cc
Kawasaki. Pete was later relegated 10 seconds for a jumped start, putting him down in 10 th .
Dossa was 7 th , only 1 second behind 6 th place Mick Neason riding a bike that was somewhat
suspect in it’s eligibility and proved a sore point with officials in the next race when the Kiwi’s
asked for it to be pulled from the starting grid. Regular points scorer and wheelie King Chris
Meads was 15 th with a new head gasket fitted after Sat afternoon’s race, Peter Jones 17 th
battling not only Seddo, but also a gearbox oil leak that would park the big TZ for the last
race. Cliff Richard fan, Dave Freeman was 20 th and Phil Duxbury led home Dave Morley
and Paul Brown for 23 rd – 25 th .
Australian Craig Morris was back in winning form for the last 0-500 Forgotten Era race
winning by an incredible 32 seconds in 5 laps. Phil Duxbury having blagged a set of Avons
for the afternoon fought his way into 4 th and Kerry Wilton was having a private little race with
a couple of Australian regulars John Hewitt and Chris Barton. The final outcome being
decided on the last straight with the TZ we’d built for Kerry specifically for this meeting
passing both the others on the run to the line. Colin was 13 th doing lap times constant all
weekend and Jim Campbell back in 15 th . I’d made some changes to my rear suspension in
the lunch break which made my front end patter much worse so before I had a chance of
binning it, I pulled in on the 2 nd lap and watched the last of the race.
The last over 500cc Forgotten Era race was business as usual for Stu Loly with a run away
win over Rudee Skank. First Kiwi was Dossa in 4 th , Seddo in 6 th Dave Freeman in 7 th , Chris
Meads in 9 th .
Last race of the weekend was the final 8 lap International Challenge race. The Australian
team had it wrapped up and the Kiwi’s were a few points down on the Poms. With 12
months of bragging rights riding on the result it was going to be a hard run thing and some
10 DNF’s was the result – some of which were most spectacular. E.G. UK Team member
James Clark spraying Pete Daniel with oil as he passes him down the front straight while his
motor is destroying itself, soon followed by finding of this problem as he backs it into turn 1
and right through the gravel trap sideways. Pete Daniel on the next lap had the death rattle
in the same place. Scotty who’d paced himself all weekend held on for another second
place. Dossa made 6 th , Chris Meads was a stirling 8 th , just ahead of Dave Freeman in 9 th ,
Seddo 11 th , Phil Duxbury and Peter Jones on the smallest bikes in the race in 14 th and 16 th
Respectively, Peter having borrowed Colin’s LC for the last race. Dave Morley rounding out
in 15 th with only 19 finishers.
All these mid field finishes having the desired effect of pulling the Kiwi’s through for second
in the challenge. I understand that all we have heard from the UK is silence on the
subject…
Another fast Sunday evening container pack up with the bench racing starting immediately
again, with security basically having to kick us out at about 8pm so they could go home.
4 th time around it was as good as ever and with the huge international contingent attending
this year it made for me my favourite race meeting get even better. The International
Challenge (dreamed up by Craig Smith) was an unknown quantity and a big punt for the

organisers was a huge success – the plan is for it to be an annual thing. The Kiwi’s will be
back with a bigger and stronger team.
Thanks to: All the team was great fun as usual. Vicky at MNZ. Karina and Fergus at Phillip
Island, plus all their team – fabulous people, fabulous circuit, fabulous race meeting.
Alistair Wilton