Folks, here's a draft of my long winded, wordy account of my trip to Phillip Island to race at the Island Classic. Innocents Abroad Part 13 The ongoing Saga of the Wilton Brothers’ International Racing exploits – another crack at Phillip Island for the 19th AMCN International Island Classic with our 1979 TZ350F McIntosh Yamaha GP bikes. A week early! I couldn’t believe it, I had both bikes ready, all our gear packed, bikes were clean and I still had a week up my sleeve before we loaded the container. Talk about organized, but it made the watch go around at half speed waiting for the next stage in the trip. As luck would have it, Dave Ogden had decided to do some maintenance that usually fall under “See your approved Yamaha Dealer” in the TZ book, so was able to fill an afternoon getting my hands dirty still. Once we loaded the bikes it was back to watching the jug boil, grass grow, clocks go around at half speed and being generally distracted. Though I was also on the crash diet to get to a good racing weight, got some practice in instructed at the ART day at Pukekohe on the OW, had our mother’s wedding, Kerry and family arrived, got some good cycling miles in with Kerry on the push bikes and a few other summery things done. 4am Wed 25th Jan and the alarm clock is reminding me it’s game on for the airport and the mad dash by car, plane and car to Phillip Island with lots of little steps to make this happen. We arrived to find a great set up, with 7 garages set up for the international riders. 3 for the UK team, 1 for the French, 3 for Kiwi’s & US riders plus other hangers on including Aussie motorcycle legend Rob Hinton and Glenn Kelleher who joined us (Glenn was on the Kiwi/ Rest of World Team). But even better was all the roller doors between each garage was up so it was one biiiiiigggg wiiiiiide space with about 45+ bikes in it! Thursday and Trevor, Dave, Russell, Kevin Grey (Bubbles) were entered for the open practice day. Nice easy morning for me as I wasn’t riding, so once the guys were under way, I popped off and got gas for Kerry and I, had Kerry’s new rear tyre fitted, finalized a few jobs and we were ready to go next day. Kerry and family arrived at midday so Team Wilton was all in residence including Kerry’s older daughter Sophie who became the junior non riding, trainee member for the weekend. We also got the GP rider treatment again this year with the scrutineers visiting the garage to check our bikes and gear. It might have been a fairly relaxing day for myself, but not so for a few others. Trevor was out learning the circuit, Kevin had a couple of tyre problems and lay down twice, once at Honda in the morning and again at Lukey Heights in the afternoon. The former at slow speed the latter is usually quite quick… Bubbles gear took a big impact destroying his new helmet and the bike gained the PI gravel trap stipple effect plus a full beating all over. Dave Ogden also had some pre ignition issues which resulted in a slight seizure and significant remedial work that took much of the day to sort. Invercargill Stuey came to the fore (here and elsewhere all weekend!) and they got Dave’s motor together and running strongly that afternoon. I knew that with 8 races, and another 8 practice and qualifying sessions from Friday to Sunday making 430km of riding, I didn’t think I needed to do Thursday for even more miles – especially as I’ve spent 30 days riding here already. Not that I didn’t need it – just I know how by Sunday you are waiting for it to finish! It also looked like Russell Barker’s weekend was coming to a premature end as his big GSX1100 had eaten a piston for some reason and the spare engine at home in NZ and no spare pistons of the required sizes available. Notwithstanding also the alloy sitting in the sump….Kevin and Russell soon had a plan going where Kevin would do the International Challenge events and Russell the Period 5 / Pre 1982 races.
Friday and it was “game face” on. Nah, not really – that was Sat afternoon when the racing started, but it was the first day of official practice and qualifying. Kerry and I needed to run in new engine parts, tyre scrub for Kerry, plus check the engine set up and suspension settings as we’d made a number of changes to both bikes prior to coming over including gearbox, piston make, cylinder heads, ignition systems, rear spring weight and brake pad compound. So the first practice (500cc “Period 5” = for pre 1982 machines up to 500cc. Our other class being 350cc Period 5 for pre 1982 machines up to 350cc) was a fairly relaxed affair with us in 16th and 21st spot with 2min 12sec and 2min 14 sec laps. I’d last ridden 2 weeks previously and ridden a TZ in November, but I still found it all very alien! Whereas Kerry’s last real ride was here last year when he pitched my bike into the gravel at Hayshed! Trevor was just in front of Kerry and Dave a little further in front also. While only 3 laps, just a nice introductory session with good news all around, No leaks, issues and all the changes appeared to be working. The engine set up on both bikes was showing safe on the spark plugs. All good news clearing the way to up the pace a bit which Kerry duly did in the next session, dropping 10 seconds, straight down to a 2.01 and 6th fastest (8th overall as we were sharing with another class). Though we didn’t know this for a while as the results were showing #31 as David Kirkwood! I trimmed 6 seconds off for a 2.08 and 14th. For reference, temporary kiwi and garage mate was Glenn Kelleher on 1.53 was quickest. An hour later we were back out in the 500 class again for our second practice. I only got one lap in of 2.22 (the out lap) and then pulled off the circuit at Lukey heights when my bike went on to one cylinder. Due to the way it did it and where it did it, I was pretty sure it was not a major issue - sure enough as soon as I stopped I found the left hand spark plug lead had come adrift. That quickly fixed I then found you can’t bump start a TZ uphill on grass so waited out the end of the session before restarting the bike and toured back in to the pits where the guys were asking each other if it was Trevor’s bike #55 that was on it’s side at Turn 1. Sure enough and when Trevor hadn’t arrived back I thought I better check where and how he was at race control, who tell me Trevor is perfectly fine, but is helping the flag marshalls clean up the oil (someone else’s!!) that he fell off on. Trevor earned legend status on the spot with Kelly from PI! Trevor raided his spares kit and with a hand from a few of us, his bike was all straight again with an hour or so work and back into it for the 2nd 350 class practice. Kerry cracked under the 2 min barrier again for 3rd fastest in the session and as usual, I’m lagging a bit for 10th on 2.04.4, Dave ¾’s sec ahead in 8th and Trevor 2.5 behind in 13th, getting back into it. Tony Osman 20th at 2.10, not having done many TZ miles in the last year and Kevin McDonald pulled in as his bike wouldn’t rev for some reason. First 500 qualifier saw most riders pick up the pace again, though both Kerry I went slightly slower. While Kerry was provisionally on the front row, I was on the 4th row with 14th fastest outright, but I did have 6 bikes from the Open Classics who we shared the grid with, ahead of me. I was phaffing around and not committing to the fast corners, falling to my usual habit of trying hard on the slow corners and not the ones that count and where the real time was – the fast ones, which is what Phillip island is all about. I was also hesitant through slower traffic and with the short sessions which equate to only 5 laps, you need to get clear track and quickly. The bike was great, though rich in the jetting, but not down on speed. Kerry and I both found the bikes a bit harsh over some of the ripples in a few places and with a bit of thought we determined the rear suspension was packing down over the bumps. 2 clicks less rear rebound damping cured it for both of us and our rear tyres showed an improved wear pattern.
Last ride of the day for the TZ ‘s was the 350 class first qualifier. I started trying too hard and as is usually the case, went slower…! Trevor, Tony, Dave Ogden all speeding up. Kerry was about similar to the prior 500 class qualifier, but a few others at the front had also gone a little quicker. 6th for Kerry and I was 14th, again, out of the 39 riders out there for the session. Meanwhile over the 4 stroke camp it was a mixed result. Kevin Grey’s McIntosh was now being shared with Russell, Kevin’s gear being fixed, and a new helmet procured. Kevin slid in a 1.58 for 28th fastest in the first International Challenge practice. Russell back out on the bike soon after in the Pre 82 open class in 18th fastest, but only doing a handful of laps as the bike developed a pretty solid rattle. The guys soon starting a big strip down of the engine (which requires removal from the frame. A broken cam chain tensioner was found and replaced and the motor’s top end refitted and the motor slotted back in. After the last session, Dave Ogden and Stu the Wonder Mechanic fitted new pistons to Dave’s bike as a freshen up, while the rest of us got tidied up and headed to the welcome drinks and dinner. Not the riotous affair it had been in previous years. The late Ken Wootton was missed by everyone, but the line up of star riders interviewed was fantastic. Josh Brookes, Jeremy McWilliams, Ryan Farquar, Mal Campbell, Robbie Phillis, Steve Martin, Dave Johnson. Between them there were ex world champions, WSB race winners, World Supersport winners, GP winners and current BSB riders. Saturday dawned another beautiful day with little wind and clear skies – in fact all three days were like this and surprised everyone- Monday rained when the poms were packing their container to go home! Not surprisingly our 2nd qualifier in the 500’s most riders times were a touch slower and I slipped backwards a couple of places. Kerry’s front row start was confirmed while I was back in 15th on the 4th row, Dave a row ahead of me, Trevor a row behind and Kevin on row 9. Last 350 qualifier saw me only do 3 laps, the bike feeling a bit flat out of MG, so I pulled in and a quick investigation showed some red plastic stuck in a carburetor jet, blocking fuel flow. While I’d picked speed from my previous session, but so had most other riders so slipped back to 15th overall on final times. My gearing change was also proving a success, having gone a tooth taller on the back – yet still carrying the same change points and rpm in most places. Kerry was in 7th on the second row and UK friend Phil Davenport was a no show at all in this session – his bike having broken a piston ring damaging a piston and was being rebuilt. Trevor was up in 8th next to Kerry, having picked up the pace in this session and Tony was a row ahead of me. Again over the in the 4 stroke camp, things were looking dire. The death rattle from yesterday was still present in Kevin’s McIntosh. Deciding that quarantine was a good plan, I kept away in case it was contagious! Anyway, the boys had the motor again, and stripped right back and then stripped the remains of Russell’s engine to extract, clean and fit that crank in Kevin’s motor. Bubbles eventually got out for the last 2 International Challenge races on Sunday, where he got down to a best of 1.56 – a great result given the limited riding and maximum spannering done over the weekend. Saturday afternoon, we were out for our first 500 class race. I’d gone 1 step leaner in my jetting now I had confidence in the overall set up, I’d geared up and it had worked, the suspension brakes and tyres were working well, but my times were still slow –no excuses, it was me. I got a good start and with a bit of race aggression, my first flying lap was under my previous best lap time, but Dave nabbed me going into to Turn 1 on the second lap relegating me to 9th on the road (6th in class) while we I was having a smoking battle with Mick Bryan on his 500 Pantah. He was riding well, but I had the puff down the straight and when I could get past him, I could keep him behind me. I got a little gap on Mick, but Trevor had been closing in and got past me the same way Dave did on the start of the last lap, slipping through into turn 1. Bugger, I think I know where I have a weak spot! I finished 8th overall, (6th in class) 55/1000th’s of a second behind Trevor with Mick 3/10’s behind me. Kerry was 3rd outright, second in class and battling with Mick Damon who was 4th (and the eventual class winner in the overall stakes). Dave Ogden was 6th, 6 seconds ahead of Trevor in 7th while Kevin McDonald slid home in 24th out of the 37 starters.
A couple of hours later we back out for the 1st 350 class race which was won by Steve Ward on a 250! Though is a pretty special bike being a Rotax powered Cotton which makes almost as much hp as my TZ350. I had a reasonable but essentially lonely ride for 10th overall (9th in class) some 8 seconds behind Dave Ogden – I could see Dave ahead and the first lap or so was quite close to Dave, Kerry, Trevor and UK rider Graham Salter. I even lowered my best lap time by another couple of 10ths but I really needed a couple of seconds to keep them in touch. Kerry was 5th and had an initial first lap or so with Levi Day who was leading the 350 classic pre 62 class being run concurrently. Tony was 17th 4 seconds ahead of Rod Tingate (Kim Newcombe’s mechanic on the Konig in 1973). I’d gone quicker again which I was happy with (2.01.3), but each improvement seemed so hard won. Kerry, Dave and Trevor were all going very well in the 57’s and 58’s. Lyle Chambers had qualified 14th in the new Period 6 class (1983-1989) on his FZR1000 but was chasing an intermittent running fault. Lyle eventually bit the bullet and swapped motors, but still to no avail. Meanwhile Peter Smith’s GSXR1100 was running like clockwork in the same class, with 6th fastest in qualifying, then 5th in the first race and a best lap of 1.50, followed by a 4th, another 4th and then a 3rd in class for 3rd overall on points to bring home some silverware. Last race for Saturday was the 2nd 500 class race. I lowered my lap time by another 1/10 (muted “yay”!), and finished 10th outright, 5th in class, but the numbers don’t tell the story. Kerry was storming along at the front in 2nd overall and leading pre 82 500 bike, now right down into the 55’s and looking cool calm and collected with it. Meanwhile I was getting tangled up with an open class classic bike that I was struggling to get passed. Slow in a straight line and my reluctance to get aggressive around traffic and his good mid corner speed meant I getting slowed up. Though Trevor had the other problem – a little too much in a hurry and incurred a jumped start penalty. Trevor was well on the pace now and even with a 10 sec advantage, I couldn’t beat him. Last lap and I caught a lapped (and a little erratic) rider at MG who was nearly 40 seconds a lap slower. He gave me a little moment when he went from mid track and just turned straight to the apex as I was just about to pass him. Luckily he looked over his shoulder as he was just initiating the move and lifted back up again as I was diving under his elbow….wouldn’t have touched but it would have given him a little scare and lost me a little time but as it transpires I had 2-3 seconds on 11th. 350 class race 2, Sunday morning I got a decidedly average start, tried to make up some time around a few people into turn 2 and got pushed really wide for my efforts – it seemed like I was outside the white line for a while looking hard at where I needed to go which was a long way away! I got it slowed enough and turned but lost quite a few places, ending lap 1 in 13th place. By lap 2 I was back into it, but getting caught up with guys that would normally be behind me, generally getting in each other’s way. Mark Holman successfully achieved what I just missed doing and went grass tracking at turn 2 on the start of the last lap right in front of me, Things got pretty hectic at Turn 11 when Lech, Phil Paton and I caught some lapped traffic. Lech hesitated and I went for the gas, going around the outside of both of them, Lech decided he’d go the outside as well, but much later turning and ended up heading towards me on a very odd angle, while I was right on the ripple strip. I had to get off the gas so we could both stay on track. While that was happening, Phil dived around the inside of the rest of us. I was able to draft Phil easily coming off turn 12, but couldn’t make the jump to Lech that I was lining up originally. Another 10th place overall. Trevor, Kerry and Dave were 6/7/8th and separated by less than a second, so would have been great fun. I quickly got back and decided my rear tyre wasn’t going to make the rest of the day given I had another 4 races today, I was off down to get my new Dunlop KR145 rear fitted and had it back in time for the next 350 race 45 min later. I got the warmer on for a little while and cruised the warm up lap and first couple of laps getting it nicely scrubbed in. 18th on the first lap while Kerry led the race though he slipped back a little as the race wore on. I worked the other way and made my way up to 15th on lap 3 when I though we’d be good to go a bit harder, 13th end of lap 4 and then 10th (again!) by the time the checkered flag was out. Trevor had started out about 6th and slid through to 3rd, Kerry 5th and Dave 7th.
By this point Kerry’s rear I’d fitted on Thursday was pretty well gone, so he was also off down to Dunlop with another new tyre (we’d arranged 3 rears for the weekend), though this was a hard compound, not the mediums we usually use and was going to make an interesting comparison. I’d found the new tyre (a new model KR Dunlop not seen in the antipodes yet) black and round like the last one. Couldn’t feel anything different! Lunchtime and back out again for our second to last 350 class race. Again I got an average start 11th after lap one, though drafted my way into 10th just past the line. Kerry was running an uncharacteristic 8th behind Dave and ahead of Trevor. Lap 2 finished with Kerry in 7th ahead of Dave (8th), Trevor (9th) and me in 10th. Long way to come to race Kiwis! Though I was thinking I was doing pretty good at this point as I could at least still see them after 2 laps! Then Kerry’s bike went a little off song out of MG on lap 3 and I passed him through the wickedly fast turn 3 as he was touring back to the pits. When I saw him ahead of me I got into turn 3 harder and deeper than I ever have – about 10,000 rpm in 5th, so it was fair cracking along when I blew past him. That would have helped big time for a good lap time that was untilmy own bike sucked some crap into a carburetor jet and went onto 1 cylinder 3 corners later and I needed a lift back to the pits... Back in the pits a quick investigation showed I had some more plastic stuck in the float bowl again. The colour looking suspiciously like the 20 litre fuel drum we were using….Kerry decided to check his carbs as well to ensure no foreign bodies and once back together, his bike wouldn’t restart. Turns out it had developed a small air leak on the right carb manifold and lost compression to a light seizure as it had leaned off. Unfortunately this put Kerry out for the last 2 races as we didn’t have enough time by this point to start swapping motors, a real disappointment from such a small issue. Up until this point neither Kerry nor his bike had put a foot wrong and were running at worst top 5 every race. Lap times were into the 1 min 55 band – 3.5 seconds better than last year, an outstanding effort and along with Trevor Taylor doing the quickest kiwi pre 1982 age group times out of the whole Kiwi crew. Double bugger was it looks like I hadn’t found all the foreign bodies in my fuel system, as my bike flooded the right hand carb again as I was starting the bike for the last 500cc class race. Dave Ogden came from behind and caught up to class leader Mick Damon, only to miss out on the line by 27 thousands of a second for a class win. Trevor snuck home 1 ½ seconds later in 4th overall and 3rd in class. Those 27 thousands of a second kept Dave in 3rd overall for the weekend 1 point behind Trevor in 2nd, 10 points behind Mick. Triple bugger was my last 350cc class race and last race for the weekend. I again had a blocked carburetor jet problem and pulled in on the warm up lap, though I did get to watch a cracking race. Glenn Kelleher was late getting to the dummy grid and had to start from pit lane. He passed 19 riders in the first lap, another 5 in lap 2 and then 1 each lap to the finish, where once he got into the lead on the last lap, easing the pace back a second or so, just doing enough to hold the lead. Tony Osman held up the tradition of a kiwi in 10th spot for me and Trevor also pulled out a couple of 1 min 55 second laps for 4th place over the line and 3rd in class. Dave went missing on the last lap out of 8th place. Eventually arriving back saying the bike slowed into turn 2, so pulled off. As usual my last 2-3 laps completed were my best ever, down to 2.00.8. Not quite this year’s goal of doing a 1.59 lap, but getting oh so close! However, I can’t be too sad as I still improved my best lap time by 1.1 seconds, rode the best I believe I ever have. On top of that, I’d also built the bike that Kerry had got into to 55’s and even lead a race with.
Who knows what that last lap would have been? It was by far the best I’d gotten around Turn 3 ever. Who knows what the last two races I didn’t start would have given me? A fast lap time here necessitates riding the fast corners “fasterer” (as Dave Ogden has been drumming into me for the last 3 months) and I’d been concentrating on Turn 1, 3, 8, and 12 (all 4th/5th gear corners) with real progress, when play got halted with the fuel blockages late on Sunday. Good excuse to go back next year for the 20th anniversary I think and an even dozen attandances on my part…..where the track will have been completely relaid with fresh tarseal. Watch the lap records drop then! As usual there is a huge bunch of people that helped make all this happen • Pip for letting me race overseas on a regular basis for the last 10 years • Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Fergus, Dave, Leanne, Kelly, Karina and the huge welcome we get every year and the financial support to help us get there. • Julie MacDonald, Trip co-ordinator who had to pull out at the last minute – a real shame you guys couldn’t make it. • Kerry for keeping me motivated and being a great brother, helping co-ordinate our racing by sourcing UK parts and services for us • Trevor and Dave for tuning my head regularly in recent months and at the circuit. • Murray De Lacy of MDL Racing for all the work he does on our bikes and the huge amount of advice keeping us on the straight and narrow with the bikes • All the rest of the Kiwi team. Is always fun going racing overseas with a bunch of likely lads • Sophie Wilton for the most excellent tyre-warmer, fuel, stand, gopher and polishing duties all weekend. • The 2 Phils: Private Godfrey and Lord Davenport in dragging tyres and other stuff from the UK for us and adding to the fun and hangovers. • The NZPCRA for holding the faith and sending a container of bikes for 11 trips now • …and especially the AMCC who at the last minute stepped in with some excellent support around some aspects of the shipping arrangements. Can’t thank you guys enough for helping make it all happen for the whole team and removing a big hurdle at the last minute.
Excellent report Malcy. Sounded like a great trip for all involved.
Great write up. Sounds like a great trip.
