At the Tanunda Nats back in 1995 Boagy had his twin pipe CZ 250 there and was pitted next to me. Although winning the first moto of the pre 65 250 class, the bike was running crook. He fiddled with it for quite a while and then asked me to give hime a push start (typically Boagy, it didn't have a kickstarter). We pushed the bloody thing up and down the pits with no result until a passer by noticed that the bike didn't have a spark plug! An embarrassed Boagy sprinted back to his pit, grabbed a plug and spanner, ran back and fitted the bloody thing. We then started pushing the bike again and I'll swear that there was no difference in feel to when it didn't have a plug in place when Boagy dropped the clutch this time. There was no compression at all. Miraculously the bike started and he asked me to ride it around while he got his helmet and gloves. I decided to give it a bit of a spurt along a piece of straight paddock behind the pits and couldn't believe how gutless and slow the bike was. It had absolutely no compression and the horsepower of a sick Jawa California. Boagy then took over and started moto 2 and by the first corner he was last or at best, second last. He then systematically wheeled every bike in one by one and won the moto, passing Bob Vourmards pristine and fast twin pipe CZ on the finish line. That ride finally convinced my just what a superb rider John Boag is. That bike was one of the worst puss heaps I'd ever ridden but he rode it like it was Joels factory bike. Boagy is indeed the perfect racer and rides every race as if it's a world championship final moto. The fact that he does it on absolute shit boxes only adds to the legend. Boagy is one of our sports true gems.
