Monday 3 March 2014

Racing at Phillip Island Australia Day Weekend

This was the first time we have attended the Island Classic races.  We had heard lots of good things about them.  It is the biggest classic bike racing meet in Australia.

The Island Classic Races are very different to the Moto GP.  You can wander all around the pits, getting up close and personal with the racers.

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There is a wide range of racing, from the locals to an international competition between Australia, New Zealand, the USA and the UK.  One of the drawcards for us attending this year is that some of the main racers from the Isle of Man TT were attending.

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This is the UK team pit.  You can see John McGuinness’ leathers hanging up (with the picture of a pint of Guinness on his bum).  He is the fastest TT rider and this is his first time at this race meeting.

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And, the man himself, being interviewed.

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Oh, and I’m a bit of a groupy.  We had our photo taken with John in August on the Isle of Man, so I took it down and had him sign it.  The other fellow in this picture is Garry Johnson, another great Isle of Man TT race winner.

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Australia’s favourite son in TT racing is Cam Donald.  We have had our photo taken with him a couple of times on the Isle of Man, once with me sitting on his race bike, so I had them signed as well, we just forgot to have a proper photo with him.

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Here he is, ready to race on a Harley.  Unfortunately, although he would be leading the races, the bike would let him down.

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On a more local level, there were two sidecar outfits from Bathurst.  Mick sometimes does some work with the rider of #11.  Unfortunately, their motor gave up the ghost during the weekend.

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We also know the lady in the  sidecar of #128.  They did really well, keeping in touch with the leaders all the time.  I think they came 4th overall.  There were quite a few lady “swingers”.  Not for this little black duck.  I think I’ll just stay in our sedate sidecar. 

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On the Saturday, we watched from a different spot along the track.  It was great being able to take you bike right up to the track, quite unlike the Moto GP.

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The racetrack is in a really scenic location, backing onto Bass Strait.

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Saturday and Sunday proved to be great days for racing.  The only downside was that we got rather sunburnt, despite wearing blockout.

After a great weekend, we headed north on Monday.

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