Dont know if im putting this in the right collum or i should put it in Competition.
The British dirt day was run last saturday & sunday in Wanganui (arguably the home of motorcycling in new zealand ) the event was organised and run by a BSA nut called Robert Cochrane .
I believe this was the second year the event has been run and by all accounts this year was way bigger than last.
The concept as i understand it was to get as many old British thumpers in one place for a weekend of Scrambling , trials & socialising.
Mission accomplished
I was lucky enough to be invited to ride in the invitational Pre 76 upto 250cc Japanese & Euros class
Approximatly 70 riders turned out to ride the too circuits that were laid out in the centre of the Wanganui horse racing track, a long track and a short track and i dont know who marked out the tracks but they knew how to design a track for the older bikes (sliding heven )
Robert invited former World champions Jeff smith , Hugh Anderson & Shane king along and this just put the gloss on top of what was always going to be an awsome event.
I took my RM 125S , DJs Nogouchi project, and Ian pikes Rm 125S and TM 125 along for a ride. As well as riding in the invitational races we were allowed into several other races and sharing track time with the above mentioned legends was somthing i will remember forever.
The little 125s held their own remarkably well against the big bikes and were well recieved by the crowd ( particulally the Nogouchi ) i had a bloke telling me that " this was obviously a pre production Japanese domestic model Circa 1973 " he even got his mate to come over to confirm
Any day at a VMX is a great day but i gotta say this day is right up at the pointy end of events, as you can see in Mike Jolleys Pics there were some beautifull machines, even better sounds, great racing , exellent atmosphere and not a radiator, suspension linkage or disc brake in sight
Saturday night we had a legends dinner where Jeff smith entertained us all with his stories & memories of motorcycling spaning seven decades.
Sunday was a Classic trial witch unfortunatley i had to miss due to work committments
Watching a young bloke called Rhys Garnett 12yrs ? practice his trials skills on a Bantam in the pits on Saturday in preperation for Sundays trial i know the future of our sport is looking Good.
Will try to post more pics as i get them Bill
