Festival set for ‘last hurrah’ at circuit
Classic motorcycle enthusiasts will farewell Pukekohe Park Raceway in style next weekend as 350 classic motorbike racers rev up for the last and 43rd Classic Festival at the historic race track.
Organised by the New Zealand Classic Motorcycle Racing Register (NZCMRR), the festival has run at Pukekohe since 1980 and from February 4 to 6 will celebrate the end of an era.
NZCMRR president, Hamiltonian Ken Mcgeady, says: “We regret hugely to have lost Puke because it’s our historical home. We’ve lost a unique environment, a track that is fast and challenging, and from a spectator’s perspective fun and engaging.”
Despite the sad circumstances, Mcgeady says the festival is a positive event.
“This event has drawn everyone out, including first-time Pukekohe track racers. They all want to be there for [Pukekohe’s] last hurrah,” Mcgeady says.
He says the upcoming festival is the last at Pukekohe, however, the NZCMRR is looking to continue the festival elsewhere. Where it is going to go hasn’t been decided yet.
The centre of the event is going to be the racing where classic motorcycle riders from across Waikato, New Zealand, and the world, will race bikes made between 1920 and 1995.
The oldest bike set to race is a 1920 Harley Davidson.
Highlights of the weekend of adrenaline include the exhibition of three of the famous Britten V1000 bikes set to be ridden by race riders Steve Briggs from Auckland, Hamiltonian Andrew Stroud and Chuck Honeycutt from the US.
The Britten is a homebuilt motorcycle made by the late John Britten from Christchurch. It set several world speed records and there are only 10 of the bikes in the world.
Also on show will be four Rodger Freeth Mcintosh-suzuki motorcycles.
Freeth was a renowned Kiwi motorsport competitor in the 1980s and 90s. The four bikes on display were either sold, crashed, or blown up, so they were never able to be run together on the track — until now.
Another special guest of the festival will be the fastest single-cylinder motorcycle to lap the Isle of Man. The Kiwi-built ES2 Norton was ridden by
Mike Browne of Ireland at the worldfamous race last year and Browne will take this bike around the Pukekohe track at the festival.
There will be motorcycle parades planned for Saturday and Sunday and Kenneth Smith’s Lolaf5000 race car will also do some laps around the track.