PI 2005 - NZ Post Classic Racing Association

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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
Page 1: Innocents Abroad, Part 5 - 12th Ann
Page 5 and 6: stability to have gone south with t

PI 2005 - NZ Post Classic Racing Association

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