OzVMX Forum
Clubroom => Foto Forum => Topic started by: Graeme M on July 31, 2009, 08:58:40 pm
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I've just scanned in the first box of slides that I took at this event. Still got work to do to improve the quality of the scans but these'll do to get a look at it all. The Maryborough MCC in Qld ran this race every year during the late 70s and early 80s and it was the showcard event for the club. There were two big Dirt Track endurance events, this 3-Hour and the Nepean 6-Hour.
I believe that in 85 the event was won by David Armstrong riding solo on a CR500 Honda. There were classes for 125, 250 and Open if I remember right, and there were all sorts of mods to make the bikes last the distance and reduce pitstops.
Anyways, here's the first lot, more over the next few days.
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0001.jpg)
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0002.jpg)
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0003.jpg)
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0004.jpg)
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0005.jpg)
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0006.jpg)
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0007.jpg)
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0008.jpg)
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0009.jpg)
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0010.jpg)
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0011.jpg)
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0012.jpg)
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0013.jpg)
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0014.jpg)
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0015.jpg)
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0016.jpg)
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0017.jpg)
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Gee. I wonder if that CR 500 was feeling a little 'top heavy' for the first few laps? Might have been safer to tow a trailer.
Some pretty exotic stuff there. Very nice! :)
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Dave won that race several times riding solo, stopping just once for fuel at the halfway point. He also won it earlier with brother Gary on a YZ465 i think.
It was a big event with all the good southerners coming up every year.
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#17 cr500, i think that is the bike i rode. Mainly because of the Bennett Honda sticker.
The chap i rode with was Brent Todd i think.
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thanks Graeme, pretty certain I was there that year also, albeit as a spectator, made the trip with the Phil Beaumont entered KX500. A guy we called 'Fast Freddie' (not Spencer!) rode it but I can't remember the surname :-\ he didn't do very well but at least I was there 8)
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It was quite an event as I recall, lots of advertising in the local paper and so on. I actually rode it a couple of times, once as part of a C-Grade team on an RM500 and once as a fill-in for a guy who had planned to ride solo but then decided he needed a short break. It's a bit hazy now, but I think his name was Mueller, he was an A-Grader from Townsville, and the bike was a Husky CR500. I think. Maybe...
Anyway, he was quick and was going real well. I managed not to lose too many places and he was looking good for a decent finish when the chain, a name brand, cracked every plate. He didn't prepare for that and it was race over. A shame.
The track got real hard by about the 2 hour mark and you could road race it then. I remember going through the big sweeper pretty quick, feet up and knee out. It was a fun race.
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I would say that was Keith Muller, from Townsville, on the Husky CR500. He was a regular at the Action Park 3 hour . The crankcases from that bike are now in Glen Woolywobbler's Silver Streak . I only did the 3 hour once, in '83 or '84 on a KX500 & have got to say that I hated it . It just felt weird riding a bike that was designed to go over bumps, in an event that seemed like a mix of road racing & dirt track . Even though I had raced a season & a half on speedway solos I couldn't come to terms with riding on that oiled track . A shower of rain came across about half way through the race & the surface became as slippery as greased ice :o.
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Keith Muller, yep that's the guy. And his Husky's cases are in Wollygruber's bike? Well there ya go... I'd like to have had a few more goes at the three hour as it suited me - it takes me time to get up to speed. So although DT is my favourite form of racing I was always crap at it because you have to be fast from the start. And yes, the old oiled dirt tracks got skatey when wet for sure. I once won a race because it sprinkled before the start and I figured it wasn't enough to change the track and gambled on going as hard as I could in the first lap. And what do you know, everyone else took it carefully and I won by half a lap. I think that's the only race I ever won in my life...
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Some more, looking at these it looks to be a mix of shots during the race and some taken during the previous day's practice.
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0019.jpg)
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0023.jpg)
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0024.jpg)
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(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0027.jpg)
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(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0035.jpg)
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(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0039.jpg)
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Some more, looking at these it looks to be a mix of shots during the race and some taken during the previous day's practice.
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0034.jpg)
Thanks Graeme. Thats me on the cr #17. I had pretty much forgotten about the 3 hour. Thanks for the memory jog.Would like any others you have of myself. Never really got many pics back in the day.
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I think there are a couple more of the #17 bike, so might be with you on board as well. I'll do the rest tomorrow or Monday night.
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Who did you ride with Brad? Your 500 or a dirt track riders bike with those wheels?
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It was his bike . He rode for Bennett Honda. I am sure its Brent or Brett Todd. The old man reckons its Todd Brenton or something similar. Got together through a mutual acquaintance.
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Todd Brennan i would say.
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Yes, I was just going to say that. He used to write a DT column in ADB for a while and I think he ran a team in later years with the Stauffers as riders.
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There you go. Goes to show im still shit with names. Dad had it pretty well right. He was sponsored by Gus Lui as per the sticker on the front guard. I do remember having fun doing it. It was the first time i did dirt track because one of the Owen brothers gave me a tip not to stand up coming into corners ::) :D
I did a few more at Tivoli as well. I remember racing against Peter Goddard and fellow mx competitor Craig Connell .
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Do you know Action park is pretty much the same today, still an oil track and only 2 minutes from the heart of town.
Raced there many times as a junior in the late 70's
We should all get together for a race up there?
Who would be up for it??
Shane
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Now that WOULD be cool, I'd love to do that. I've been wanting to get back there for a ride for years but it never happens. I think they even have a vintage class, a few of my mates have mentioned that. A few of the locals used to race a vintage class there years ago when I was racing - I think there were regularly a CZ, RH250, an AJS Stormer and so on. Wonder where those are nowadays? Mind you back then I was a young whippersnapper and sort of looked at that race as a bit of an indulgence for the old guys (who I guess were actually maybe 35-40 at the time).
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Yes Graeme I purchased a 74 CR250 from a bloke that was still racing it at Action Park.
A mate of my brothers still runs there so I will ask the question.
Not a 3 hour but I think I would need to beer tent after 3 laps and let Golden Boy Brad (090) do the rest!!
Something to discuss in the down time betwwen heats this weekend
Shane
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There you go. Goes to show im still shit with names. Dad had it pretty well right. He was sponsored by Gus Lui as per the sticker on the front guard. I do remember having fun doing it. It was the first time i did dirt track because one of the Owen brothers gave me a tip not to stand up coming into corners ::) :D
I did a few more at Tivoli as well. I remember racing against Peter Goddard and fellow mx competitor Craig Connell .
so how did you go in that event Brad. track looks Very fast.
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It is pretty quick. I have seen about 110 km/hr on the speedo of my TT600 on the back straight, and I know that some have claimed to measure Simon Wigg at up around 125 or so. It's a great sweeper though, I think you can get to around 80/90 on the front straight then pitch it into the sweeper (altho my version of pitching is less pitching and more slowing down).
Anyways, here's the last selection of pics.
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0040.jpg)
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0041.jpg)
(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0042.jpg)
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(http://www.ozvmx.com/images/forum/scans/3hour85/pic_0044.jpg)
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so how did you go in that event Brad. track looks Very fast.
We came eighth. I felt pretty happy about that seeing as it was my first. The fast guys went in deep into the first corner before shutting off. That was something that i remembered as it looked cool pushing in that far.
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I'm pretty sure they still have a vintage class at their meetings. I raced there on my CR125m and CR250m several times in the mid and late 90's. They even had the Qld Vintage dirt track titles there in about '96.
I rode the 3 hour in '81 with Alex Kidas (brad would remember him) and the trackk is still the same today, oil and all.
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brad
todd started dirttrack racing at nepean with the st george motorcycle club.the bike shop guss lou motorcycles was just down the road from me.this is the first time i have read this and as soon as i saw guss lou on the guard i knew it was tood you road with.
cheers
jim
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We should all get together for a race up there?
Who would be up for it??
Shane
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I also have raced there more times than I can remember, even won the minibike support races
for the 3 hour in 1984.( got it on VHS ! )
When are we going ? I am definately up for it.
Not much fun washing your bike after it , but they don't get destroyed anywhere near as
bad as granite tracks.
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im in! i was there 2 years ago and they sure do have vintage classes!
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Yes, I purchased a 74 CR 250 from a bloke here in Brisbane (Can't remember his name from Everton Hills) and they were still running the bike (18 months ago) at there meetings.
I will investigate and come back to you on what the go is.
Shane
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Was looking at the photos from the 6-Hour that RW490 posted up and reminded me of these pics I posted of the MMCC 3-Hour. I have plenty more photos from old MMCC races I should scan in some time. But these pics really do bring back the memories. I nearly got to ride the 6-Hour one year as a fill-in rider but in the end someone else went instead. I know the granite tracks sandblast the bikes, but man that oil is hard to get off!
You know, I'd still like to get up there for a vintage or even modern ride at Action Park, but it is a bit hard to arrange - I'd need a week off work and it'd cost a fair bit. I was gonna go up for their August meeting but there was a local club day on at the same time here in Canberra. I reckon the only answer is to buy a spare bike, keep it at my parents, and fly up to ride.
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Graeme, Brett (brother) and myself have run there a couple of times now, first time was on the 84 cr500 and also the 2010 crf 450 and last time just the 450. have had great fun and a lot of the old members still run the club / track today.
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Yeah, I got out for a look at a practice day there earlier in the year and the track looked great. Everything pretty much the same as ever really, it was funny to stand in the pits again after 20-odd years. At the moment I am hoping to arrange something for next year... one of these days I'll manage it :)