SA Historic Championships
South Australian Historic Road Race Championships – Historic Motor Cycle Racing Register of SA 30-31 December 2017 – McNamara Park, SA
Christmas means State Titles at Mac Park and one great meeting run by the HMCRRSA. Titles were contested over four rounds and there were also three feature races held separate from the title events. The Register was proud to have the SA Flag Marshals come along from Adelaide in force. A good turnout of Pre-war machinery as well as Class ‘C’ saw some spirited racing all weekend. All in all over 120 bikes took to the track over the weekend, and spirit shared by all was typical of the Register’s events, professionally run with fun at the forefront. Conditions were just fantastic at low 20’s all weekend, good for bikes and riders too. As always there was attrition from the outset, which saw some grids reduced considerably over the weekend. With Mac Park going through a transition with circuit layout widening etc, track records keep falling. Chris Hayward on his SR 500 Yamaha lowered his record in the 500 Period 5 class and Andy Pitman got the Period 5 250 lowered some more. Chris Hayward put on some master racing mixing it up with the Unlimited Period 4 & 5 machinery. Being on a two stroke TZ Yamaha against the big bore four strokes his starts were most critical along with corner speed. Some great racing was witnessed by many. Another stand out was 17-year-old Thomas O’Neill riding his dad’s BSA 350 and 500 Manx. His dad lost his life in a car accident last year so mum Jennifer and younger sisters took the journey to Mac Park to do what Ross would have loved to see. Many people helped Thomas with the bike including two champions, Jack Wright and Joe Ahern. Thomas is sure to be a force in the upcoming years if he maintains the passion for bikes his dad had. Simon Cook dominated the Period 4 Unlimited and again won the Ken Blake Memorial, and again this year Rob Lewis presented some marvellous mementos from his long close association with Ken Blake. Furthermore Rob made a generous donation to the Mt Gambier Club of a couple of beautifully framed photos of Laurie Fox who passed away earlier in the year and was a major stakeholder in the making of the club and the circuit that it is today. In the LC Cup Andy Pitman continued with his good form and won ahead of Nathaniel Wilson and Brett Metcalf. The Bob Jolly Memorial saw three pukka machines get the places with Greg Watkins first to Murray Johnson both on Molnar Manx followed by Danny Ahern on his G50 Matchless. Sidecar turnout was most disappointing having seen big fields at Southern Classic as well as nationals at Wakefield Park. 2018 will see the SA titles take place at Mac Park on 29th & 30th December. Full results can be seen at www.orion-timing.com/ results.htm