Nindigully Memories

[N22]

At the last club day at Echo Valley,we set up beside a well used Hilux,covered in red dirt,towing a similarly adorned bike trailer,anyway I got chatting to the owner,Scott,who was sharing his bike with his son.Scott is an earthmoving contractor,and farmer(we had plenty of common interests)from St George,so I asked him if he had ridden at the famous Nindigully Bike Race,it turned out he was the last President of the race committee,and he has a lot of old Bikes as well.

The Memories came flooding back,of one of the best races I ever went to.Nindigully (pop 9) is famous for having the oldest licenced pub in Qld,the biggest burgers in Australia,and Hugh Jackman made a movie there(Paperback Hero).The Nindigully Bike Race,run by the local farmers, went for over 25 years(held over the June long weekend)and a lot of top riders raced there,but because it was a "black meeting"they used assumed names,Vince Strang(Josh's old man)won in 1976 on the new IT 400.I had bought his YZ250B,and had it geared to do about 155 (16-40)and in the first lap I could just see his dust,with Mick O'Toole between us on a YZ400.Going down a fence line with the throttle on the stop,I noticed we were catching up to Vince.All of a sudden Mick laid his bike down,and I went sailing by,not noticing the single barbed wire,until I took it out with the forks,the fence was supposed to be cut for the race,Vince had seen it,and went through the gate,Mick saw it and laid his bike down taking out the bottom 2 wires and I got the top one.

Vince went on to win,and Mick was second,I got a flat tyre and on the first lap,but still managed to finish around 12 th,running a borrowed wheel with a baldy tyre.The start was a big line across the swamp,with the starter firing a shotgun,there were plenty of river crossings with big crowds,and a big jump in front of the pub,and always the "Bar" option for those who couldn't last the 5 hours!When I got home and pulled the barrel off,most of the chrome plating was stripped out,no replating in those days!

[matcho mick]

sounds like a good enough reason to do a 'back to Nindigully" meeting,middle of winter sounds good to me ,

[Slakewell]

Have 3 class wins at the Gully
Came 4th outright on a XR 250 one wet year. Came second to Udy another time who somehow made up 7 minutes on the last lap to pass me even thou I never saw him.
Won the 200 class another year and crash and smashed my thortle another time.
The Pub after wards was great so many beers and stories of near death.
9 laps around there was more than enough.
Sad that it ended and it was a different than anything else, almost to much fun to be allowed. The bog holes with spectators being run over, the circle work at night , the huge camp fire etc. I go back in a hart beat :-)

[ba-02-xr]

HAHA I STILL SEE YOU AT PRESINTATION MICK. THAT WAS FUNNY HOW THE CROWD PARTED FOR YOU TO HIT THE GROUND THEN JUST SWOLLOWED YOU UP.

[yungy]

Definently the one event that would be awesome to bring back

[Gibbit]

Definently the one event that would be awesome to bring back

We (The Goondiwindi Motor Cross Club) looked into starting it up again a couple of years ago and running it through the club as we are MA affiliated. Some of the landholders that the track runs through weren't interested so we didn't go any further.

[Slakewell]

It used to be run by one of the service clubs from St George. In the last few years they had a couple of big injuries that were not related to the race itself. The police got involved and that seemed to sour things. Landholders are more likely to agree to a service club than a bike club.
They sure made some money from the event with entries over the 400 mark and the bar 10 deep from end to end. I'm unsure if you would ever bring back the glory days in our now PC world. They used to have locals racing in just work boots and jeans on farm bikes. So expecting entry levels to be over a few hundred might be a bit much.
For me on a modern 450 I would be worried about the inexperienced wipeing themselves out.
Now a Gully reunion trail ride run by a service club might be a way to get the locals back on side. 

[dkupf]

I remember Nindigully  Raced on Saturday drank a bottle of rum and put new rings in the CR Saturday night raced again on Sunday  was always a good time in the late 70's. Went back years later and the dickhead factor had kicked in (throwing gas bottles in the bonfire shooting  guns at midnight) Wasn't long after that I was told it wasn't being held anymore 

[Slakewell]

Hey John do you have a copy of the video footage we shot out there in the early 90's?

[ba-02-xr]

Hey John do you have a copy of the video footage we shot out there in the early 90's?

No sorry

[Berwick Boy]

That's a great story, N22!  You are a good story-teller

Could anyone post photos of the early events please? Including
pub, yobbos, barbwire, IT400 etc.
Thanks N22

[N22]

Thanks Berwick Boy,most people say I talk to much,but I just loved my "racing years".As for photos I only have 1,someone took of me when I was changing the wheel,as for Vince,he has a shop in Inverell(Vince Strang Motorcycles) that specialises in DR 650 Adventure Bikes ,and his son Josh races in the USA in the GNCC,mind you Vince is a very good rider,and still competes regularly.As for Mick he passed away few years ago,and he didn't race that often,as he was always working with his scrapers as the irrigated cotton boom had started around Goondi.Although when he did,most riders only saw the back of him,I remember he went to Tivoli once and raced against the top riders in Qld,getting the hole shot and leading until his lack of race fitness caught up with him.Mick's son Stephen,is a good rider,competing at local Events,and also making the trip to the Finke a couple of times.When I work out how to put photos up I will put some of the old days up.

Anyone looking for a "Nindigully" experience,take some time off at the end of July(25/26)and come to the North Star Trailride.(Checkout the Facebook page,all info and photos etc from 2014 still on there)

[N22]

The No plate carried the scars from the barbed wire,so if anyone has a 1975 YZ(White alloy tank)in the Inverell area with "45" on the damaged front number plate,let me know.

[Slakewell]

I bought a B model from a local in the area back in the late 80's. Had no front number plate. Sold most of it to a guy near Gosford in the 90's.

[N22]

That was the only YZ250b that I had ever seen in Northern NSW,Southern Qld and I traded it in on a PE250 at Inverell,at the push bike shop which had the Suzuki dealership.