The Spirit of Munro rides on . . .
Long-gone Burt Munro tyre tracks were re-laid by the Spirit of Munro bike, built in his honour, on the beach where the legend started. Denim jeans and black leather was the outfit of choice as day two of the Burt Munro Challenge kicked off with the infamous Oreti Beach races. The Spirit of Munro was built by the Indian Motorcycle USA, which aims to break the 200 miles per hour mark in Bonneville salt flats. Vice-president of racing, technology service Gary Gray said: ‘‘We built this bike to honour the 50th anniversary of Burt’s record and we run it on the same salt at Bonneville that Burt ran it on. So it was fitting that the bike came back to New Zealand and run on the same sand that Burt’s bike ran on’’. The bike ridden by Burt’s greatnephew Lee Munro currently has reached a top speed of 192.74mph. Speaking about the Spirit of Munro, Lee said: ‘‘It’s like a firebreathing dragon – it just wants to go full throttle’’. Riding the Spirit of Munro on Oreti Beach provides completely different challenges. ‘‘It’s a completely different world out there, you got all the motocross bikes cutting up the sand, so there’s not going to be much stability,’’ Lee said. Only reaching half the speed of its potential, the Spirit of Munro still roared across the beach to the applaud of hundreds of spectators along the dunes. ‘‘The bike’s made to go fast, so it’s more a challenge of how slow can we keep it [going],’’ Lee said. Australian rider Damien Koppe won the one-mile dash with a total time of 56.06 seconds, and also came first in Open Class and Up to 500cc class. Fellow riders Andrew Rudd and Jason Feaver couldn’t get past each other as both came in second equal on both the Open Class and Up to 500cc class. Koppe, along with Johnny Racz, suffered engine troubles in the Open Class Burt Munro Trophy 50 mile race, which was won by Invercargill local Greg Bayness, with a time of 43 minutes and 56 seconds. Feaver came in second with a time of 44 minutes and 14 seconds, and Julian Bragg in third with a time of 44 minutes and 56 seconds. Kevin Ryan won the pre-72 class with Bruce Aitken and Taylor Green trailing behind in second and third respectively. Jared Cox won the Up to 250cc class, with Jacob Scammel in second and Logan Hunter in third. Also in attendance was Burt Munro’s son, John Munro. ‘‘What better tribute to dad, here we have thousands of people milling around and enjoying themselves whilst paying tribute to the efforts that Burt made,’’ he said. Day three starts today with the Teretonga Circuit Races in the morning and the Oreti Park Speedway Spectacular in the evening.