Phillip Island and Labour Weekend trip

LB · 25th October 2004, 16:08

I am still buzzing from the MotoGP weekend, and had another great weekend over Labour Weekend (even though my bike broke down very early in the trip :disapint: :disapint: :disapint: :disapint: :disapint: )

MotoGP
We got to Melbourne on Thursday 14th Oct and drove out of the camper van place around 11.30am. MarkNZ, 4skins, Kiwizrx were all on our plane. Our van was a big mutha, so we had to park at the Queen Vic markets - wouldn’t fit in an ordinary carpark or a carparking building. Did the Elizabeth Street shops, bumping into several kiwis. Then took at taxi to Melbourne Ducati in Church Street Richmond. Met up with a few guys from Palmerston North out there. Man oh man, it was like walking into the Ducati accessory catalogue. I did go a bit mad. Bought two Ducati t-shirts, a Ducati scarf, a carbon-fibre clutch cover for the 1000, and some Ducati badges. It was wonderful.

Back to the campervan, it was 5pm by this time, so we drove to Phillip Island. It started to rain on the way down, and it took us ages with all the traffic. Got to the camping ground, booked in then headed into Cowes (5 mins). Found the “Baylisstic” shop, bought another couple of t-shirts. It was magic, so many people and bikes. Met up with some kiwis again.

Friday morning we were out at the track by 7.30am. Absolutely amazing. It blew my mind. The AMCN Trade Expo tent was amazing. I found my new bike - a Ducati S2R - the two-valve 800 engine in an S4R styled Monster guise. I’ve asked the local Ducati shop to give me a figure on trading my M800 in on one. It’s lovely - red, with a red trellis frame, single sided swingarm and white Marceshini (sp?) wheels. The sound of the MotoGP bikes is awesome. We kept bumping into kiwis! Met up with HondaV2 (He’s in Marknz’s photos with us). I bought heaps of Ducati t-shirts and stuff from their stand in the Expo tent. It was quite cool, but dry.

Saturday was great, it was neat to see some kiwis racing in the support races. Good weather, not too hot.

Saturday night was great in Cowes, the main street was closed to cars, only bikes were allowed. Saw Colin Edwards walking up the street - oohh errr!!

Sunday dawned fine - some excellent racing.

Monday we headed into Melbourne early and went to MotoOne, another big Ducati dealer. Once again just so amazing. I bought a lovely pair of Dainese Ducati summer weight gloves (red, of course!), among other things - still more t-shirts!! Kept bumping into more kiwis again!

Reluctantly headed home on Tuesday. Heaps of kiwis on our plane again.

This weekend just blew my mind - I am determined to go to Phillip Island every year from now on for the GP. It was f**king amazing.

Labour Weekend
Labour weekend we headed to Blenheim on the ferry at 5.30pm on Friday night. I took the M1000 - I have only done 2500kms on it, all being short trips of no more than 250kms, so I was REALLY looking forward to doing a long trip. A friend was collecting a Triumph from Thunderbike in Nelson on Sat morning. We also had Re-cycled on his VFR750 with us. We left Blenheim early Sat mng, and just out of Havelock my bike went onto half power. I managed to get hold of my local Wgtn mechanic on the phone, who suggested a few things but none would fix the problem. It was firing only on the back cylinder, not the front. So I ended up pillioning the rest of the weekend on the back of Hamish’s R1100S - luckily he’d taken that with panniers, rather than his GS1100SS with packrack/packs - there would have been no room for me on the GS. We had fine weather all day, headed to Murchison from Nelson, had a lovely lunch. Then to Inungahua, then Reefton then over the (wonderful!!) Rahu Saddle to Springs Junction. While gassing up there Mark Dunn and the rest of the boys flew past. Then on to the wonderful Lewis Pass. We were staying in the motel at Culverden the night, Hanmer Springs had no vacancies. Heaps of cops around.

Re-cycled was heading further south on Sunday morning, and we had a slap-up dinner on the Saturday night at the Red Post Café (I think that’s the name) in Culverden - top class meal.

We headed back up to Blenheim on Sunday in fine weather via the Inland Kaikoura road - what a beauty. A lovely lunch at The Store at Kekerengu. Got back to Blenheim 2pm-ish on Sunday, then went to collect my 1000. It was safe and sound locked up behind the Shell service station at Havelock, where we’d left it. I nursed it back to Blenheim, then Monday morning limped to Picton and caught the 10am sailing to Wgtn. My mechanic was there at the Wgtn terminal to meet me with the ute to transport my baby to hospital (top service from Motomart I must say!!) so he’ll have a look at it and let me know what the story is - he thinks it may be a coil.

All in all, two wonderful weekends.

**Two Smoker** · 25th October 2004, 16:49

Hey Lynda,

Awesome write up

Who were the NZ guys racing??? What was causing the Ducati to fire on only one cylinder??

Im glad you had an awesome time

**Ghost Lemur** · 25th October 2004, 18:17

Great write up Lynda. Sorry to hear about you're baby, sure it won't be too bad though and you'll have it back in no time.

**hondav2** · 25th October 2004, 19:16

The photos came out ok Linda, We flew back on the monday, Took Gayle and VTR up to Queenstown yesterday and CBR to Wanaka today to meet the guys cuming back from Graymouth. Followed my mates new ST4S for a while, looks easy to ride, cops everywhere ,had a plain car flashing his lights at us. 2 guys from Invervagus got tickets Cheers Toddy

**hondav2** · 25th October 2004, 19:21

Kiwi riders were Brian Bernards team Suzuki 600s Hayden Fitzgerald ,Karl Morgan ,Dominic Jones ,Gary Cunningham, all rode well but werent in top finishes. Cheers Toddy

**StoneChucker** · 25th October 2004, 19:50

Looks like you all had a top time over there. I'd really love to come over next year too. Maybe we coule organise a KB trip of SOME sort (ie: I stow away in your campervan).

Sorry to hear about the breakdown, I'm sure it's nothing major, you probably didn't kiss it goodnight the night before

Let us know what the prob was.

See ya,
Dave.

**k14** · 25th October 2004, 20:14

Originally Posted by hondav2

Kiwi riders were Brian Bernards team Suzuki 600s Hayden Fitzgerald ,Karl Morgan ,Dominic Jones ,Gary Cunningham, all rode well but werent in top finishes. Cheers Toddy

There were a few guys in the 125 support races aswell. Steven Woods came 12th and 11th in the first two races then had a DNF. Pretty good considering the money and superior bikes the auzzies in the class probably had.

Good write up lynda, shame about your duke.

**Hitcher** · 25th October 2004, 21:10

The Philip Island gig sounds terrific! It's nice to know there are Ducati dealers around who are interested in selling things to the punters.

Your South Island weekend sounds fantastic. We did the same block but in the other direction back in the winter. Ain't that Rahu something special?

Ducati accessory fashion show at the Fish this weekend??

**hondav2** · 25th October 2004, 21:19

Superbikes are at the Island on 1st -3rd April 2005 ( subject to FIM confirmation in Nov ) check out www.pberealestate.com.au and look at holiday rental properties , get 6 in a house only $120 each for a week at Cowes, pays to get in early. Cheers Toddy

LB · 26th October 2004, 04:58

Originally Posted by k14

There were a few guys in the 125 support races aswell. Steven Woods came 12th and 11th in the first two races then had a DNF. Pretty good considering the money and superior bikes the auzzies in the class probably had.

Good write up lynda, shame about your duke.

Also Paul Cook, Mandy New, Simon Dartford were over there on 125's as well.

**Ash Wells** · 26th October 2004, 06:26

Anyone else inspired by Lindas great write up on her trip to Philip island and who feels they would also like to experience this once in a lifetime event should consider the Group tour put together by Kiwi Rider magazine - I had a ball with them,everything organised,and cheaper than I could have arranged myself,we stayed (8 of us) in a house at Cowes,had a van to run around in,had a pit pass for the van that got us trackside (many thanks to Haydens race team),got free goodies from Kiwi Rider etc. A great bunch of guys and a great weekend. Was organised by Kim Herd at a travel agents in Auckland - kim@venunit.co.nz to get on her list for future events.

**Hitcher** · 26th October 2004, 07:42

Originally Posted by Ash Wells

Anyone else inspired by Lindas great write up on her trip to Philip island and who feels they would also like to experience this once in a lifetime event should consider the Group tour put together by Kiwi Rider magazine

Hardly "once in a lifetime" when it's an annual event?

**Ash Wells** · 26th October 2004, 07:59

As I have never been before,it is once in my lifetime,and for anyone else who has never been it should be their ambition that at least once in their lifetime they can experience this event.

**sbwells** · 26th October 2004, 12:09

Lydia,

Good to hear that you enjoyed yourself. My wife and I and a few friends were over for the GP also. If I had bothered to read to boards a bit more could have caught up with a few from the KB team.

We had a nice time and stayed with friends in Rhyll (about 5km from Cowes). I managed to convice the wife to let me buy a carbon fibre clutch cover, heel plates and exhaust shield for the 749s. The Ducati shop in Melbourne was impressive and the sales team all seemed pleasent

**denill** · 26th October 2004, 19:40

Phillip Island really is a *must* pilgrimage for Kiwi motorcyclists. The Island is the down under Mecca for motorcyclists and it is most unlikely that any thing to compare will ever eventuate in NZ. The millions poured in by state and federal governments ensures it's future and will not be matched in NZ.

Doesn't matter how you do it, do it.

A most lasting impression on me was (apart from the obvious ones, the great racing and being there when Rossi clinched the title and biffed his helmet into the crowd) - we left the Highside campground around 6am on the Monday in the campervan to do some pretty much backroad touring to Sydney over four days. We travelled around 540ks to finish at Bright on day one(the prettiest town I have seen in my life) via Omeo and the sheer number of bikes on the road were an absolute revelation. Even after the Sydney bound traffic parted at Bairnsdale the bike numbers resembled a mechanical locust swarm as with more than 500 clicks on the speedo one would have expected the Race track was only 20ks away..........
Bikes from all over, some just heading home and a large number taking in the roads/scenery, some from Brisbane and even Cairns.

As for the the Great Alpine Road - shipping the bike over to Oz again is high on the agenda - even if just to ride that road. Around 150ks of twists and turns, constantly climbing to snow level that would be travelled less than 15ks using top gear. motorcycling heaven.............

BillW