Remembering Blakey – 35 years on
Thursday June 9th marked 35 years since one of Australia’s greatest riders, Kenny Blake, met his maker on the Isle of Man. Each year, Kenny’s friends meet in Melbourne to celebrate his short life. Alf Robison was MC for the function and provides this report, with photos by Rob Lewis. The 35th Kenny Blake memorial lunch/function was held on the 9th of June at the Laurel Hotel, Ascot Vale, Melbourne. The function was a great success with people coming from as far as Queensland, NSW, South Australia and many rural areas as well as the locals. There were over 50 people in attendance and Don Cox (motorcycle journalist and author) was Guest Speaker. Motorcycling Australia displayed the Coca Cola Yamaha from their museum, a bike on which Kenny had many wins. Specially designed T-shirts were on sale at cost price as was a DVD of Kenny beating Giacomo Agostini at the Laverton TT in 1976 and Don Coxs’ terrific book ‘Circus Life’ was also available. We still have stocks of the t-shirts which are available at the cost price of $22.50 plus $7.50 postage. There was a TV photo board on the large screen showing many photos of Kenny in various races on a variety of machines. Many people confirmed they will be back next year, same date, time and location; put it in your diary. For further details and t-shirt orders contact Alf Robison 0418 377786 or alfrobison@gmail.com n