With all of this talk of pre 90/95 going on I've been feeling a little jaded and worried for the future of Vintage racing. Thankfully the fear and loathing for the future that was starting to consume me took a backward step at The Pines Speedway over the weekend. The 2010 Australian Classic Dirt Track Championships was the best tonic for reviving faith in our sports future in a decade. In a nutshell, the meeting was truly magic. The vibe that was electric, the racing that matched anything I've seen in years and the Griffith club bent over backwards to make everyone welcome and comfortable.
The club went about the business of running a very difficult meeting with an air of country "no worries". Even when the notoriously erratic MA steward John Langfield insisted they remove most of the infield motocross course before he'd allow the meeting to proceed, the Griffith boys took it in their stride and proceeded to remove the "dangerous" motocross section without raising a shitfight. Lesser clubs would have gone into meltdown if they'd been confronted with that an hour before kickoff!
I had my own personal meltdown a couple of days prior to the meet when my struggling left knee finally carked it bigtime but luckily my mate Bernie took over the driving duties and we got there with no dramas. With the benefit of narcotics and good mates I managed to make it through the event without resorting to double doses of painkillers
. It was great catching up with some old mates I hadn't seen in a while and meeting many new racers. Dirt track has a great reputation for cameraderie and the Griffith Nats were no exception. The Griffith Motorsports Club deserve a huge pat on the back for producing the best Nats in recent memory. I really wish the motocross stalwarts would give dirt track a go and see just how exciting it can be.
This forum had some great representation with Noel, Turtle, Suzuki211 (
riding Kawasakis!), Supersenior, Jim, Freaky, Jake57, Sliderulez, Snowy,Pancho Wally,Fossil, Matcho Mick and many I missed. Special mention must go to Dave Gras and Peter Lee for not only riding the wheels off nearly everyone else but for achieving their dream of a brilliant Nats. I especially WANT TO apologise to Freaky, I was hobbling to your pit to say g'day when the knee shit itself again so I had to slowly return to the safety of my pitside comfort zone and I never got another chance, sorry mate...next time for sure.
I managed to run off a few shots over the weekend so I'll put some up over the next day or so.
Ray Stevens on his TT500 Yamaha.Dave Tanner does the outside pass thing on Adrian HenryPaul Edwards(971) stylin ahead of crazy Chris Thompson on his really quick IT 250 ratbikeCol Metcher rides way better than his 72 years would suggest. Our sport could do with a few more 'Superseniors' like him.Peter Lee was one of the big movers and shakers behind the event. He won his share of gold too!Freakshow (152) battles with Brad Edwards (26) in the dogleg.