Twenty seven classes of the Australian Historic Road Racing Championships were run in beautiful, sunny mid twenty degree climate that was conducive to seeing long standing track records tumble repeatedly. Chas Hern racing the amazingly quick Wolfendon TRex Yamaha and Honda in Forgotten Era Unlimited and New Era Unlimited classes broke the existing track records for both classes three times each on his way to winning dual national titles.
Emerging star Tom Bramich similarly showed a clean pair of heals winning both the Post Classic 500 and Forgotten Era 500 class Championships on the Ron Angel Paton 500 creating three new track records along the way.
Garth Francis having snapped a crankshaft in his Norton solo during practice on Friday rose like a Phoenix having cannibalised his similarly powered Norton outfit to take out the Classic Unlimited title from Darren Trotter on his Matchless by a mere two points for the weekend.
The Max Hooper / Brad Gorrie duo put on a class display all weekend on their Windle Honda to take out the Post Classic Sidecar Championship after a weekend of split second finishes from the former Australian Champion duo of Lindsay Donai and Christine Menzies on a Reilly Honda.
Lachlan Hill made a firey departure from the Forgotten Era 350 Championship with a high side on the Ron Angel TZ Yamaha exiting The Bus Stop putting his handle bar through the side of his fuel tank cascading down the track leaving a ten metre fire trail behind him. Hill was deemed okay after the crash but suffered substantial memory loss later that evening and was transported to Launceston Hospital for further observation. The Championship was eventually taken out by Peter Hinton also on a TZ Yamaha.
Post Classic 350 was won by the evergreen Keith Campbell on his Honda CB350, Aaiden Foote also put on an impressive display on his Triumph Trident to take out the Post Classic 750 title and Corey Forde being similarly impressive on his Konda CB750 to take out the Post Classic Unlimited crown.
All in all a great weekend’s racing with no serious injuries being suffered and minimal machine destruction. See you next year for a repeat of the same wonderful classic medicine.
COLIN ROSEWARNE
