Australian Historic Champs
Scott’s Motorcycles Australian Historic Road Racing Championships
The AHRRC returned to Tasmania for the first time since 2011, and while entries were down on previous years, the racing was as close as ever. The circuit, with its pair of high speed blasts punctuated by heavy braking near-stop corners places extreme demands on machinery and the first days of the four day event saw a number of mechanical casualties that further depleted fields. However despite the attrition, it was a recordshattering weekend, with new marks being set across the board in perfect racing conditions. The meeting was also largely incident-free and ran like clockwork, thanks to the hardworking members of the Tasmanian Motorcycle Club and numerous volunteers. The meeting was sponsored by Kawasaki dealers Scott’s Motorcycles of Legana, and a strong turnout of trade stands plus club displays meant there was plenty to see off-track as well as on. Fittingly, the organisers were rewarded with a healthy crowd, particularly on the Sunday. Rules call for a minimum of ten
solos and six sidecars to constitute a Championship, so this resulted in some classes running without championship status, but still being keenly contested. Victorian Chas Hern, riding Rex Wolfenden’s well-prepared machines was one of the big winners at Symmons Plains taking a perfect eight wins from as many starts to grab both Forgotten Era and New Era Unlimited titles. Teenager Tom Bramich also fielded a perfect score card to win both Post Classic 500 and Forgotten Era 500 on Ron Angel’s Paton twins. Former World Superstock Champion Brendon Roberts was unlucky to miss out on the 500cc Classic title, suffering carburetor woes in the opening encounter and winning the remaining three. The home crowd had plenty to cheer about in the New Era 750 battle, with Scott Campbell edging out his father Malcolm to take the win, both riding Honda RC30s.