Mallala serves up a treat

Australian Historic Road Racing Championships

9-11 October, 2015 – Mallala Motorsport Park, South Australia

The AHRRC returned to Mallala for the first time since 2002, and after energetic promotion by the Historic Motorcycle Racing Register of South Australia, a healthy crowd turned out for the four-day meeting. Thankfully the sweltering temperatures of Thursday and Friday abated for the weekend’s races which were held in ideal conditions. An early exit from the meeting was star name Cam Donald, who lasted just two laps of practice before he crashed on an oil spill (just one of numerous oil slicks that caused much grief throughout the weekend), breaking the big toe of his gear change foot and putting an end to the defence of his Period 5 Unlimited title. That defence would have been hard fought, given the scintillating form of Paul Young on the T-Rex Harris Honda who made a clean sweep of all three races without raising a sweat, each time over Queensland veteran Johnny Allen on Terry McKinnon’s TZ750 Yamaha. Indeed, clear-cut wins were the order of the day across many of the classes, the exception being the prestigious Period 3 500cc which started and finished in dramatic fashion. Leg 1 saw defending champion Jack Wright edge out former World Superstock Champion Brendan Roberts on Greg Kennedy’s pushrod Matchless, the winning margin being just 0.15 seconds after a thrilling race. The second encounter saw Darren Trotter streak away in a race that came to a premature halt when Keith Campbell crashed heavily when his Honda’s primary chain snapped. Half points were awarded for the race in which Brendan Roberts claimed second over Bob Rosenthal while Wright was fourth after an off-track excursion. In the crucial final leg, Trotter’s Matchless shed its rear chain on the formation lap, seemingly torpedoing his chances. However that race was red flagged after Rosenthal crashed and was collected by Roberts who broke a collarbone, while Rosenthal suffered three broken ribs. Trotter was allowed to take place in the complete re-run on his repaired G50 and duly took the win as Wright struggled with a disintegrating gearbox. This meant Trotter and Wright finished equal on points – the title going to Trotter on the basis of his win in the final heat. Simon Cook turned in a masterful ride in the final leg of the Period 4 Unlimited to grab the win from Dean Oughtred, while Lachlan Hill bagged both the Period 5 250 (on Ron Angel’s Rotax) and the Period 5 350 on a Yamaha. At opposite ends of the age spectrum, 18-year-old Tom Bramich cakewalked the Period 4 500 class on the Ron Angel Paton twin, while 78year-old John Imrie claimed the Period 3 250 category. In the Sidecar events, both Bruce Marston/Graham Marston and Lindsay Donai/Christine Menzies retained their titles in the Period 3 and Period 4 respectively, while Bruce Collins/Peter De Angelis took out the Period 5 championship.