Race one – 2012 – Heaven at Glenbawn Dam Track.
To re-live our MX racing youth, to get what we wanted as kids but couldn’t afford, to race old mates, to do it for a mate, to spend time with family, to have something to talk about around the camp, so not to be a spectator. These are just some of the reasons people took time out of the every day routine to participate in a great event.
And it was a great event to start our Club year.
Friday afternoon near Scone and the sun was out, hills were green as rain had been around earlier in the month, but none of late. Somehow the Upper Hunter missed what Queensland and the South West of NSW copped in the floods. The Upper Hunter Club guys had used a spare bulldozer to de-rut and de-ripple this Vintage MX track. For those who haven’t had the pleasure to view it from aboard a bike it is in the classic natural terrain style, starts on the flat then snakes up the side of a quite steep range. Mix of banked sweepers, tight up and down turns and a couple of table top jumps to keep the kids happy.
This year saw an altered format in 2 areas. First being for racing on Saturday arvo and the other being flag marshalling split up into 4 area instead of the usual 2. (ie 2 being Pre 78 & 75 then Pre 85 and Evo) A vote was had on the General Saturday racing. Result – General Saturday racing was canned (special events will remain). The feedback from Flaggies on the change was quite positive – so it lives to fight another day.
We had starters in all the categories – no combined classes that I could see. Juniors, Pre 70, Ladies, Pre 75, Pre 78, Evo, Pre 85 and Four Strokes were all represented. Some areas like Pre 78 and Pre 85 seemed to have grown over last year.
Saturday morning was clear and warm. The grape seed infused track looked the goods, dry in the main with some damp spots where the Dozer found the water main. Scruiteneers x 2 got through the work. Handlebar Pads were an area that caused some bikes to be turned away. Hard to argue against a good cheap safety device.
A seeming short stint at flagging and a short stint for practice then saw us into race mode.
The older bikes went out first. The mixed bag in Pre 70 of big bore CZ, Yammie AT1, Metisse Matchless 500 single and ladies on a cross section was a fitting start to the year.
Pre 78 racing gave us a spectacular save or off (depends on how you saw it) by Sean (5) on the YZ250D when he launched off the main 18 metre table top only to fly too far to the throttle side of the jump, result was landing on 25 tonne of Bulldozer Spoil (think clods the size of basket balls). Several side to side swaps to wash off speed saw him safely dump near the start straight. Good result.
The Juniors came out as a group of 8 to 9. All ages of bikes running the course. A twin shock RM 80 (111) was running clean smooth lines to hold his own against older kids on newer bikes. Vintage CR 125, RM 125 were also gracing the ranks and holding their own. A couple of the juniors were able to clear the table top with annoying ease. That was the 18metre one. Most of the mature riders were able to make it to almost half way.
The EVO’s, Pre 85 and Fourstrokes had the late afternoon shift on the track. For anyone not in the first 5 it was a ride to survive as the fine dust puffed up in most of the big corners. As someone in the Evo class and not in the first 5 and can say the dust was super fine but made a perfect screen of the track. Ride by feel in the end.
From a reliability perspective things at the start of this year seemed better than most. No seized new motors at least. Did notice several mudguards self destruct, being mud filled over jumps. Plenty of nuts coming off resulting in missing plastic, mufflers and the odd chain chuck. Worst one resulting in a Husky case having a thumbnail sized Exit wound in the crank case.
Plenty of new, fresh from the rebuild centre, bikes turned up. RM250N, Husky XC 500, Maico 490, RM495, BSA B44, Yamaha YZ 250 Evo and Pre 85’s amongst the best.
Post racing members of the Upper Hunter club including our No.1 plate hold Jodie got some valuable water into the track. Transformed the dust into Blu Tack. Grippy.
Racing through all the eras was competitive from the get go. Rarely was there a clear winner as 1st to 4th was tight. Especially in some of the Pre 75 and Pre 78 races. Jens (172) on his cross bred trail and MXers was keeping the younger blokes like Sean (5) and Scrivo (10) honest. Jens Suzuki special 200 vs CR250 Honda vs Montesa Capra. Sooopa close and they raced for Vintage Sheep Stations till the end. Jens being over 60 doesn’t seem to put him at a disadvantage on any level. Proved it again this weekend.
The Four Stroke class this year has been boosted too. More XR’s filled the grid. Dan (30) and Justin (2) on XR’s together with Paul (137) on TT 550 tuffed it out. At one stage Justin took the lead by pushing his limit on the big table top to the max and overtaking in the air. He only did that longer distance the once by the way. But it worked.
Evo class was well represented again this year. Some new riders made their presence felt and out placed many of last years riders. Many of the front runners having to ride hard to get into the placings. The 250 class is by far the biggest on its own and almost a full grid. The All in Evo is a packed house.
The last group on the programme is the Pre 85 guys. The All In allowed our current club No. 1 Jody to run against another new guy (192?) on a YZ 250. As a flaggie beside the main table top I had a clear view of how these two attacked that jump. Overcleared by Jodie a number of times. 20meters plus on the single shock CR 500, the 250 Yamaha right up behind, waiting for a mistake. None come.
Sunday was warm. Dust was kept down through watering. The races were in the main incident free. No much for the Medic to do. Our new Flaggie system on the whole worked well. It meant a more people could have a shorter stint on the flags. Farer for all. Teamwork is still an important part of this sport.
We did run into some problems on Sunday arvo after a number of nominated flaggies left the meeting. Democracy won out. Vote taken. The 3rd round of races at 3 laps per race were run successfully. Racing was over after 3pm and many were on their way by 4pm.
Time now to re-pre the bikes. Make sure they meet the scruiteneers needs. Bar Pads, Bar ends, spring loaded footpegs, spokes that go `ting’. Just a few for to look out for.
Foot Note – we have to say the Upper Hunter club prepared a great track for all eras and the facilities were clean and tidy. They are clearly some of the best hosts we have the pleasure of riding with so if you get a chance tell em thanks.
Pete # 100
