One of the best all historic road racing events comes to Mount Gambier each year the weekend after Christmas.
This year sees the racing held at McNamara Park on Saturday, December 31 and Sunday, January 1.
The event is run by The Historic Motor Cycle racing register of SA (HMCRRSA) who are based in Adelaide.
HMCRRSA president Danny Ahern said the club has a good relationship with the Mount Gambier Motorcycle Club and hires the facilities to run the event and a most suitable venue that sits well with the riders and their machinery.
“Bikes racing are as early as 1930s machinery and as late as 1990 machinery and everything in between,” Ahern said.
“A full program starts with 18 qualifying sessions for the various classes and then has a full program of 40 races.
“It is non stop action over the weekend indeed.
“The way things are set up at Mac Park, sees the spectators easily walking through the pits having a good look at the bikes, easily chatting to the riders, and hearing all the stories they will happily share, if you are up for listening.”
Ahern said this year would see a bumper field with over 160 bikes entered for the meeting.
“HMCRRSA are just so pleased the enthusiasm shown and shared from all around the country is so strong.
“There are riders coming from all over including Darwin, Townsville, Sydney, Melbourne as well as Adelaide and the locals,” he said.
“There are races for all capacity bikes as well as being in with similar vintage machinery which keeps thing real fair.
“All the bikes get to compete in 4 laps that make up each class’s championship races, couple with several feature races.
“The Ken Blake Memorial is highly contested with bikes of all capacities and styles from early 1960s through to early 1980s.
“Local rider Levi Day is back from UK for the first time in a few years and will be racing on very competitive bikes in this feature race as well as others.
“This year’s Ken Blake event has the makings of one of the best spectacles since local Jack Wright on the Trease Harley muscled the machine around putting on one of the best rides ever on historic machinery coming second to multiple winner Simon Cook, who this year is sitting the races out due to a track mishap last month.”
Ahern said the Bob Jolly Memorial had a sound field of up to 500cc single cylinder machinery of up to 1963 vintage.
The grid will be made up of about 15 bikes, including Matchless G50s, Manx Nortons, BSA Gold Stars and AJS 7Rs.
“From the pre war bikes, a race is run just for ‘Handshifters’ as the name suggests the gears are changed by hand using a lever rather than by foot as one does on most bikes, Indians and Harleys off to battle and they do not hang around,” he said.
“The last feature race is for the water-cooled Yamaha RDLC 250cc bikes of early 1980s vintage.
“Like production racing od old and very competitive it is with the fast road based two strokes.
“With the forecast looking at low to mid 20’s there is never going to be a better weekend to spend the New Year, racing or watching, bucket loads of fun.”
