The biggest motorcycle roadracing meeting held in SA for two decades lived up to its pre-event hype with red-hot racing matching the unseasonal hot weather.
AMCN’s Paul Young hacked an amazing 4.42 secs off the Period 5 Unlimited record on the dusty 2.6km circuit to win the national championship.
AMCN’s Paul Young was in a class of his own all weekend. Pic DAMIR IVKA
He was a late entry for the field with the biggest grid, filling in for regular rider Michael Dibb on the T-Rex Honda Harris F1 featured in the current issue of AMCN.
Also well under the track record was second-placed Queenslander and ex-GP racer Johnny Allen, who led a trio of Yamaha TZ750s in each of the three legs. Craig Ditchburn was third overall.
Race favourite and defending champion Cam Donald was forced to withdraw after crashing out in early practice.
CAM OUT: An early practice crash brought defending P5 Unlimited champ Cam Donald out of the meeting. Pic HC
Fellow TT star David “Davo” Johnson, the fastest Aussie ever at the Isle of Man TT this year, won a whole new legion of fans with some heroic riding on his father’s Post Classic Triumph Trident 750cc. He won the Period 4 750cc title and stunned racers in the final P4 Unlimited race, finishing third and lapping within 0.6secs of championship winner Simon Cook (big-bore CB750 Honda).
ADAM SENIOR: Adam Senior came from Perth, raced in five classes and won the P4 350 title. Pic DAMIR IVKA
BURGESS PITMAN BEATTIE: Jeremy Burgess, titles host club patron Mal Pitman and event ambassador Daryl Beattie catch up to take about old GP times. Pic HC
Lindsay Donai and Christine Menzies successfully defended their national sidecar title. Pic DAMIR IVKA
This race was perhaps the most exciting of the weekend, with Cook coming from third to pass Johnson and then overtake Dean Oughtred (CR970 Honda). Kiwi rider Terry Martin (Trident) was third overall.
Several reigning champions successfully defended their titles, including Phil Paton in Period 3 350cc, Bruce and Graham Marston in Period 3 Sidecars and Lindsay Donai and Christine Menzies in Period 4 sidecars.
Look for a full report on this meeting that also includes a behind-the-scenes feature on historic racing in an upcoming edition of AMCN.
