When we were kids/teens

[David Lahey]

My Dad was a full-on motorbike nut from a young age so there were never any issues about me riding. He had a break from riding bikes while my sister and I were very young but by the time were were about 10 he had found a 100cc Czech scooter called a Manet and did it up and registered it. Soon after that he found a 125cc Jawa road bike and also did it up and registered it. I learned to ride motorbikes on the JAWA and the Manet scooter on our farm and at the beach at Point Lookout. On one holiday at Straddie, my Dad spotted an old bike at the Adder Rock rubbish dump and recogised it as a 16H Norton. Before he had us kids, he had owned a series of english 4 stroke road bikes, and his favourite was his Inter Norton. Theres a photo of him at age 23 sitting on his Matchless he called "Miss Behavin" (well before the Norton International). Well this rusty old 16H in the photos was something pretty close to his heart so we grabbed it and brought it home in the back of the car (see the "before photos"). I think I was about 12 so it would have been in about 1971. My Dad worked on it for about a year and many trips to the Lotus St motorbike wreckers at Wooloongabba and eventually got the 16H going and we took it down to some vacant industrial estate at Lytton on the tailgate of the Falcon and he rode it. He reckoned it had sidecar (lower than solo) gearing but it still went about 60km/h in first gear.
After doing those restos he finally bought some new bikes including the worst handling bike I have ever ridden (AG100 Yamaha). He took me on day-long trail rides (with me at 15 or 16 and no drivers licence on my registered TS185) and generally got me totally hooked for life on dirt bikes.
Thanks Dad

[attachment deleted by admin]

[David Lahey]

Having a bit of trouble getting more than one photo per posting
These are the before photos of the 16H

[attachment deleted by admin]

[David Lahey]

The after photo at Lytton of the 16H

[attachment deleted by admin]

[David Lahey]

Heres another one for Doc

This is a guy who could actually ride a Suzuki RL250. Mark Stephens and his brother John were bought two competition model RL250s in 1974 by their father Col who was a bike nut and had a brother who was a Suzuki dealer in Tasmania at the time. I went to high school with Mark and first saw a trials bike by going along to watch him practice near his home at Arana Hills after school one day.
I think the photo was taken at Bidaddaba (near Tambourine Village).

[attachment deleted by admin]

[brent j]

Feetup.

Different subject but............

After your references to Stradbroke and Victoria point (VMXmag article) I was wondering if you would have known the Lawler brothers? They are cousins of mine.
They were surfers from Victoria point and surfed off the island. One of them lost his leg in a shark attack off Point Lookout in about '73.

Brent 

[David Lahey]

The name Lawler rings a bell and I remember the shark attack but I don't know them personally. That was a long time ago - was it Ray Lawler or was that their Dad? My memory is telling me they had a house or Guest Houses or something at Point Lookout. We only went there on family holidays and stayed in rented houses - Baileys and Ives places. Your cousins will probably remember others I knew including Wendy Goebel (sand worm collector) who was the only person with a permit to ride a motorbike on the beach after the council brought in rules about bikes on the beach. I went to school with Wendy's daughter Leith and she was a red hot surfer. Ann Wyer was another surfer from school who went over there a lot.
They probably also know the Heaths who have had a place in the street that went up the hill from Clayton's Guest House since the mid 1950s. I went to high school with Douglas Heath and stayed with them on holidays there a few times as a teenager. Later on I went on a few trail rides until they brought in the beach riding laws.
 
We lived at Worthing Road and some people called it Victoria Point and others called it Thornlands. That photo in the billabong in VMX was beside Eprapah Creek.

[mike1948]

Graeme, Eimeo had a scrambles track, a short circuit on the salt flats, and a very scarey hillclimb up Blacks beach hill, with a 100ft drop to the beach on the left side - I had scarey moments on my Ariel 500 twin when the throttle jammed wide open just short of the top.  I did the brave & sensible thing - bailed off!  Bike was never the same after that. 
Maryborough had quite a good motocross track in the 70s, if a bit tight in spots.  They held a big meet in 74?.  I showed up with my brand new KTM MX250, only to find some unknown with a foreign name going very fast.  Someone told me his name was Per something or other - never heard of him.  He fell off twice, I fell off once, the bludger still beat me.  Third place was another Mackay guy on a 125 who didn't fall off at all. 
The moral of the story is - don't fall off.
Mike
ps - if any part of the above story proves to be inaccurate, blame it on too many glasses of red, and the associated brain damage.

[Wombat]

Going back a smidge to an earlier post, I've found the old Supercross ticket from Archerfield.
A few well known names on there; not least 'Stefan' who's well known to us Queenslanders.
I'm 99% certain that puts the first Windaroo 3 hour MX at around Oct or Nov '79.
This is what I was doing at 19 - so I'm in the right thread...

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Hoony]

is stefan that "ottoman" hairdresser ?

[Wombat]

'Ottoman Hairdresser'
Sorry Hoony, I don't understand the Ottoman bit.
Stefan is indeed a Hairdresser here in Qld.
He's been around for Decades and has stores the length and breadth of the Sunshine State.
He's also well known up here for racing Power Boats - those big off shore kick-arse million dollar jobbies.

[Hoony]

well can you remember what an Ottoman used to be called !

i

[NR555]

Even I get that, and I'm not even 30 

[Wombat]

Ah, the penny drops! Very good Hoony. I haven't heard that.
I was thinking too hard; I thought you were questioning his ethnic origins such as the 'Ottoman Empire' and 'Turks' (I think he's Lebanese).
Unfortunately, like all male Hairdressers the man is labelled a 'Poof'.

On the night of the Supercross he walked along the side of the track not far from where we were sitting.
He was waving to the crowd as people called his name.
My mate Ted called out, "Hey Stefan, ya left ya handbag at my place!!".
It got a bit of a laugh from the crowd and Stefan ignored it; I just cringed.

[Hoony]

well you all know how politically correct i am.

[oldfart]

My old Mx licence  spanning from 1975 thru to 1981

[attachment deleted by admin]