SA Classic Titles

South Australian Historic Racing Championships •

The tough decision had to be made by HMCRRSA to run or not run the SA Historic Road Race Titles with all the on-again off-again travel rules surrounding Covid-19. The club is unanimous in their decision to give it a go. About 8 or 10 NSW riders became withdrawals but gee it was a bumper program with bumper fields, so no one would ever had known.

Friday’s unofficial practice had everyone reacquaint themselves with their bikes as well as the track. To say everyone was excited is an understatement with most riders not having raced for 10 months, everyone was after their fix. A walk around the pits saw what I believed was the most coloured array of historic bikes seen at a race track for years, pre war bikes, Class ‘C’, and every solo type up to and including Period 6.

The racing was never going to disappoint, first up was a good showcase with Nick Stone on his

500cc ES2 keeping Stan Mucha on his 998cc Indian honest! Wow what a race and was the same every leg! The racing ran in a timely manner and even with a couple of nasty spills the days ran on time.

The Titles have 4 legs for each class, plus as is the custom there are three stand-alone feature races. These are the LC Cup for 250 LC Yamahas which this year saw around 25 starters culminating with Brett Metcalf winning ahead of Nathaniel Wilson and Louis Pitman. The Bob Jolly Memorial for Period 3 Single cylinder 4 strokes up to 500cc was hotly contested with a bumper field. This, as it turned out was one of the closest races of the weekend. Four different marques battling at the front and a blanket could be thrown over them all for every lap of the race. Peter O’Neill on Ian Glover’s lovely 350 Ducati single took honours with Stan Mucha on his Manx immediately behind as was I to Stan on my G50 Matchless, the fourth mentioned bike being Geoff Maddaford on his AJS 7R.

The biggee stand alone event has always been the Ken Blake Memorial and after something close to 40 years the club saw fit to open up the eligibility to Period 5 bikes to keep this event alive. No-one was to be disappointed; a field of over 30 bikes took off. A good honest battle saw Rob ‘Ruwy’ Ruwoldt come out the victor in front of multiple winner Simon Cook second followed by Chris ‘Wayward’ Hayward on his TZ

350. As does happen sometimes, there were a few crashes, but all riders have come through ok in the end. Next year’s event will be at Mac Park on 1st & 2nd January 2022.

Andrew Pitman kept his TZ350 at the head of the P5 350 field. Class C winner David Hoy on his Harley.

Stephen Cooper photos can be ordered by email on: coopco@westnet.com.au Ken Blake Memorial placegetters: Rob Ruwoldt, Simon Cook and Chris Hayward. John Inkster took his Suzuki T500 to the P4 500 win.

Rob Ruwoldt, big winner on the weekend with victories in the P5 Unlimited, P6 750 and Ken Blake Trophy. On his newly-built G50 Matchless, Murray Board won the P3 500 class. Rob Ruwoldt leads Simon Cook off the line. Nathaniel Wilson, P5 500 winner on his Yamaha RD350LC. Bob Jolly Memorial winner Peter O’Neil ahead of Geoffrey Kelly and Stan Mucha. P6 250 winner Tait Coghill. P4 250 winner Peter Heles on his CZ ahead of Noel Heenan. Dean Castleton (Suzuki), winner of the P6 Unlimited class.