Some say I’m bad luck to have around, some say I’m the harbringer of doom.
Whatever.
Dave picked me up Sunday morning and we headed off to the CSC Campbelltown round.
It was good to be on another road trip with a mate, talking of the expectations of the day and of past events.
We were ambling along nicely when suddenly Dave yelled out as he cleared the crap from the dashboard
Warning lights had started flashing. I sat up intently, as this yell had a different vocal expression to the earlier yells of when he wasn’t paying attention to the NavMan and we had to make yet another U-turn.
Dave suspected the Alternator was on its way out and was listening intently to the sounds the car was making, but silence is the only sound I ever worry about.
Memories started flooding back of past road trips. In the 80’s we were heading to the club track at Newtown in Daves HQ wagon. We were heading up early Saturday to work on the track before the Club day. We had just got to the first traffic lights in Ballarat and had to stop for a red light. Unfortunately due to the broken engine mounts the motor didn’t stop, it slipped forward just enough for the fan to chop the radiator to pieces. It took many hours in some two-bit local garage trying to solder enough of the leaks up so we could continue. We made it to the track just on dusk and I swore if I ever found new friends I wasn’t going to tell them I could weld as they always look to me whenever any metallic object needs rejoining.
Then there was the time while in Myrtleford for a MX when a wheel bearing shat itself in his Holden powered Hi-ace Van. It was then we discovered the Van didn’t have a Toyota diff so it took a bit of hunting just to work out what the diff was so he could know what wheel bearing was needed.
Many more stories are locked away in the suppressed memory file that I prefer to leave there, some still give me nightmares.
We made it to the track okay and found it to be a reasonably sized meeting. A few had camped over and there were many eager people looking forward to the days ride.
Dave wondered over to sign up…
and I tried my hand at being artistic.
The track looked wide and flat, no jumps and a bit muddy in sections. It actually looked a bit featureless to me but most seemed to enjoy riding it.
Setting up to take photo’s I soon discovered that most corners looked the same so it became a mission to find riders either on the gas or on something unique.
The day went well, Dave seized his Maico in the first lap of practice and again in the first lap of the first race. Some fiddling with the needle clip saw him last about 4 laps into the 10 lap feature race before it started to nip up again and having to nurse it home to the finish.
Dave was quite pleased with such a good days ride.
The previous 5 hr trip to the Harrow round resulted in the bike not starting at all for the day so actually getting some laps in was a good thing.
Maico Seizo
