Thanks hardex, I couldn’t remember which club used to own Newtown but it was Diamond Valley that bought it from them.
Negotiations to buy it must have gone on throughout 81 because I remember we had our first club day in 82 using the original track.
I raced my KLX in an Enduro in early 82 & lost my kickstart lever. No probs, I would borrow the kickstart lever from my KX 420 to go trailriding. Problem was I grabbed the 420 to go to this clubday & forgot all about the kickstart so after driving 2 hours to get their I realised the kick start was still at home on the KLX. Yep, I remember that day well having to roll start it all day.
Not long after this clubday we bought in the earthmoving equipment, & built a whole new track.
I had half forgotten about that chicane before that drop off. A lot of things were tried on this track including twin berms, double jumps & step ups. Doubles were all the rage at this time and it ruined a lot of tracks really.
Anyway what seemed a good idea at the time didn’t quite work out in some spots & the lead up to that drop off was way too long. It was possible to be wound out in top gear when you hit it but you really only wanted to be in 2nd gear due to its size so we put in a roundabout just before it. You could go left or right & join back onto the track, suitably slowing everyone up for the drop off. It never really worked that good as guys kept coming together while lining up for the jump so we put another small section into the track to divert away & then join back just before take off. The chicane was only they’re for a short time.
That drop off claimed a few over the years.
It would have been around early 84 & I was on an 82 CR 250. We ran the track backwards just to be different & so went up this drop off. Once you left the gate there was just one sharp left hander & then a short straight & you were into it. I had been jumping it okay in practice but for the first race I had a very rare holeshot, with many much faster guys behind me Including Tozer for one, I tried my best to keep them behind me. While everyone else backed off I launched myself into oblivion. I don’t know how I landed, bike & I cartwheeled in different directions I’m told. I was still picking myself up 2 laps later.
I remember Dave Hammond & I going up there to camp & practice their one weekend to find Ian Drysdale was they’re with a few mates & some hired Odyssey’s.
They had got their there just on dusk & Ian apparently jumped straight into an Odyssey to show his mates the track, he drove up that drop off & cartwheeled it, he was flung out of the seat, apparently helmets & seatbelts are for wooses. His mates had to take him to Ballarat hospital where they confirmed his concussion. They had just got back to the track with him when we showed up & he wasn’t looking real good. I think a very sober weekend for him.
We ran a lot of club Enduro’s & pony express events their & the property backed onto state forest, although we never would have dreamed of taking our bikes into the bush.
We ran a night 3hr pony express their one time. We started in daylight, a 1 ½ before dusk & continued into the night. Dennis Curran & his mate Tim, both riding H7’s, had taken the lenses out of some Dolphin torches & duct taped 2 lenses each into their helmet peaks. They had Belstaff jackets with batteries in each front pocket & wires running up into the lenses. It seemed stupid but actually worked well. While I was waiting in the pits for my change over I saw Dennis come around & over the drop off. I could tell it was him in the night by the 3 headlights. It was quite funny watching the little red tail light overtake over the top of the headlights when he came down the drop off. All went quiet for a bit but then he restarted his bike to finish his lap, his headlight on the bike now pointing in the air at some weird angle & both “peak lights” now out.
Leisky rode their too & I remember thinking that I had never seen anyone go around the track that fast in the day as what he did at night on an XR250.
It was always a harsh hard pack track but it was fuel & bike costs in the late 80’s that killed enthusiasm for the place. We never got up their that often & the locals were destroying the place. Some would break in to ride but others were actually stealing the fences & breaking into the score tower & stealing & breaking stuff. With the fences in ruins we were worried that if someone hurt themselves riding their, even without permission the club would have been liable so we sold it in the early nineties.
We had a lot of good club days & many a wild night was had there.
If you see Dave Hammond be sure to ask him about the night he went feral, (courtesy of some Bourbon) wrapped himself in dunny paper & raided all the camp sites one moonlit night.
Sorry I don't have any Vintage photo's from here, was always to busy riding.
Dave Sean Hamilton & I went their for a mid week practise around 90 or 91. Dave had been living in the states & had come home for a holiday so we went up their for a ride.
Sean working on his CR 500 (88 I think) under the score tower facing the start straight.
Sean on the infamous drop off
Dave on my 89 KX 250 on a section towards the far end.
