Wanganui Races - Pics and stories

[mangell6]

These bikes were built for Dave to make an attempt of the F1 title & try get him a factory ride. Apparently the Aluminium one was nicer to ride. Turned up at a friend?s work one day a couple of year back & he was sitting on the ground with the Ally tank monocot section cleaning it up (in prep of that ride display). There?s bugger all to them. Steve Roberts really was well ahead of his time, (he said a few words over the Tanoy at Wangas this year).

Was helping the rider of the aluminium one sort the throttle out on Christmas Eve. It had a tendency to be either full on or off, we were swapping springs around to get the right tension, feel ok in the shop, wheel it out, put it into third gear, give it a bit if a push, well more than a bit and wahoo. This was repeated several times before I had to leave Barry to it. Looks like he got it sorted in the end.

It is usually just sitting in the work shop at Maidstone Yamaha on any given day.

Mike

[Slim]

Here's a couple taken by a friend of ours.

Mitch - check out the gap Craig had on you in the first race! :sneaky2:

[speedpro]

OK here's the flashback - Gracefield December 1983, Hiscock (H) on the Plastic Fantastic and Holden (4) on the Aluminium one I thought. Now that doesn't look the same as the one at Wanganui yesterday - different fairings. Have I got my bikes mixed up?

"P" would be Robbie Phillis on a Katana? and "A" Stu Avant?? on an RGB500?. Phillis at Wanganui through the esses, what a ride.

[merv]

"P" would be Robbie Phillis on a Katana? and "A" Stu Avant?? on an RGB500?. Phillis at Wanganui through the esses, what a ride.

Yep you got it. I don't have any pics of Phillis at Wanganui but here's a couple more pics from Gracefield. Phillis and Hiscock, and Hiscock and Avant. Hiscock did all the winning as he was apt to do back then, except for when he broke his chain at Wanganui.

[speedpro]

Remember the good ol' days when Bruce used to hit that same spot, lap after lap, in the gutter, one wheel, crossed up and right up it on his TZ.

Got me into road racing, that man. :confused2

Bruce at Masterton chasing R Holden on the Ducati, or for a bit of humour Bruce taking the TZ up Mt Vic on a hill climb. Top bloke that Bruce and he can ride OK as well.

[merv]

Bruce at Masterton chasing R Holden on the Ducati, or for a bit of humour Bruce taking the TZ up Mt Vic on a hill climb. Top bloke that Bruce and he can ride OK as well.

Chasing this Ducati! Unfortunately I think the year I got that pic Bruce went splat into the haybales right in front of me by the gas station turn (can't remember the street names not being a Masterton boy myself).

[speedpro]

Chasing this Ducati! Unfortunately I think the year I got that pic Bruce went splat into the haybales right in front of me by the gas station turn (can't remember the street names not being a Masterton boy myself).

We can't have been too far apart.

I fell off my bucket twice there that year.

[Slim]

All the lap times are up on http://www.mylaps.com - I can't link directly to it, but click on Motorcycle Events at the bottom right of the page. At time of this posting, the Wanganui race was the top of the list. Search for "Cemetery" if it's been shuffled off the front page.

[gpercivl]

Here's our race report...took awhile to get out of holiday mode

Battle of the Streets Wanganui 2004

Race Report from No Hair Racing

Christmas morning saw Bob unable to open all his presents 'cos he had to be at my place by 9am! Yes, we were off to take on the Wanganui streets. I had raced there once before but this was Bob's first time so lot's of excitement for us both. Bob had the extra challenge of racing my 400 as his bike was still in pieces waiting for the 450cc pistons to arrive from USA.

Sign on and scrutineering were from 2pm on Christmas day and after an uneventful drive from Te Kauwhata via the Parapara's we arrived in Wanganui around 3pm. The weather was hot and sunny, sign on, transponders and scrutineering were completed in a very relaxed manner so Bob and I did some sight seeing to the Memorial Tower and Castlecliff beach...finishing up at Al Nixon's place for a very enjoyable dinner and night's rest.

Boxing Day was a lot more hectic, we got to the track at 8am and found everything was already underway and unfortunately Bob missed his new comer's look and learn laps. We managed to get our act together for my first Formula 2 practice and I took it carefully which was good as I had forgotten just how bumpy those Wanganui streets are.

Bob's F3 practice was straight after mine, so he had already left before I came back in. This would be a real test for both my old 400 motor as well as for Bob. This was the 1987 motor (I had traded for a cow) that ran a big end bearing at the end of the 2nd round of the Nationals in 2003. The crankshaft had been reconditioned and straightened by Franklin Engineering Services and we were not sure if it would hang together. All was good though as Bob went by as I was taking off my helmet and he seemed to be keeping up with those around him (and more importantly - no vapour trail from the exhaust!).

Bob came in with a big grin on his face plus a few words about how bumpy it was. I think it took him most of the day to get use to the concrete curbs, railway tracks, hay bales and smiling faces so close to the race line

I went a bit faster in my second practice session and almost came unstuck in the left hander going over the bridge...running very wide all I could do was to keep leaning the bike over and wait for the front wheel to slide into the bales...fortunately those Rennsports kept sticking and I scraped by unscathed...good adrenalin buzz for the old ticker!

Race 1 for me came up and I managed to reproduce my best lap time at Wanganui of 59.3 secs from 2 years earlier, but this time the bikes are all going that much faster and I was lucky to finish 2nd to last Lots of fun though as I was pulling little wheelies all over the place. A couple of rear slides too but nothing too scarey.

Race 2 was pretty much the same but this time I tried to late brake the 4th to last guy at the end of the start/finish straight only to find that the front wheel doesn't stick so well when there are lots of bumps, so I had to go straight ahead into the run-off area. Then as I tried to get back onto the circuit my left foot clipped the hay bale on the corner which gave it a nice twist. Back up to race speed and someone flashed by...dang! I'm in last place @#$%!!! At least I should be able to catch him, but no hope, he disappeared after about 4 corners...turned out to be Ross King who had done the same as me the lap before and was playing catch up. Result...I ended up 2nd to last again

I managed to get on the track again for 2 more races, the Chris Dawes Memorial for us geriatric over 40 year olds, needless to say Bob & I aren't the fastest over 40 year olds we finished up 16th & 23rd out of 25...yeah, yeah we'll do better next year. Then there was a race for those who didn't qualify for the Robert Holden races, so another few laps of fun.

Bob's F3 races were disappointing for him as he only managed a couple of laps at race pace for both. In the first 5 riders went down at 3 different places and the race was stopped, then in the 2nd race one of the super motard's crashed into a hay bale and went up in flames and was stopped while the fire engines came out. Bob managed a very creditable 63.9 best lap and the engine was still running happily at the end of the day, so smiles all round for us both.

We had a good pit position and saw all the famous riders and TV crews, let kids sit on our bikes and gave words of wisdom to those aspiring spectators that couldn't get to the top racers. We even noticed a certain Mr. Slight walking the pits with hardly anyone recognising him these days...he must be relieved to be able to go incognito!

We finished up at around 6pm and headed off for Bob's summer retreat at Turangi but decided not to go fishing, settling for a few ales with our burgers.

Next morning we were back home and it was all over and back to being just ordinary Joe nobody's without the crowds of fans cheering us, it sure was a lot of fun though!

Again, we very much appreciate everyone that helped us especially Al, Beks, & Peter and of course our sponsors: Henderson Motorcycles, ezSite.co.nz, Haldane Tyres and SSSLodge.

2005 is going to be a fun year for us, Bob will have his 450 up and running very soon, Alex has mastered jumping table tops on his YZ-125, and I'm hoping to get some new machinery to run in over the winter series (we might even be able to talk Chris into coming out of retirement).

Hope to see you all track side soon, Happy New Year, Greg

http://www.nohair.co.nz

[Slim]

We even noticed a certain Mr. Slight walking the pits with hardly anyone recognising him these days...he must be relieved to be able to go incognito!

I don't think it's a case of nobody recognising him, but more that NZers don't seem to be the type to impign on famous peoples lives while they're not involved in official meet and greet duties.

He's quite vertically challenged, eh? First time I've ever seen him in the flesh (so to speak).

[gpercivl]

I don't think it's a case of nobody recognising him, but more that NZers don't seem to be the type to impign on famous peoples lives while they're not involved in official meet and greet duties.

He's quite vertically challenged, eh? First time I've ever seen him in the flesh (so to speak).

You're probably right Slim, I'd say everyone in the pits recognised him but none of the spectators took much interest although they were all over Ben Townley & Bruce Anstey.

I wonder how he would go driving for Team Kiwi?

[BMWST?]

OK here's the flashback - Gracefield December 1983, Hiscock (H) on the Plastic Fantastic and Holden (4) on the Aluminium one I thought. Now that doesn't look the same as the one at Wanganui yesterday - different fairings. Have I got my bikes mixed up?

number 4 looks like robert Holden.He might be on the aluminium one and dave ?11 on the plastic.A is Stu Avant on a 500 gp bike

[jellywrestler]

Merv, is it "Chivas" or "Chivos"? If it's the former, it's ot the same Chivas who used to race Chargers in Australia *30* years ago is it?

it's doug chivas, chivos is his brother neils tyre business.

[merv]

it's doug chivas, chivos is his brother neils tyre business.

I knew it was Doug that raced the sidecars as I said to White trash and so did Chivo's sponsor the outfit because I always thought he had Chivo's on his rides, and is Neil his brother the well known 6 hour rider?

[jellywrestler]

I knew it was Doug that raced the sidecars as I said to White trash and so did Chivo's sponsor the outfit because I always thought he had Chivo's on his rides, and is Neil his brother the well known 6 hour rider?

yip it his, think he died a couple of years ago thought