Annual Australia Day Rally
January 25th-27th, 2008
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Even before it began, this year’s Rally was shaping up to be another resounding success. Entries were up about 7%, weather was forecast as mid to high 20s and we had a new twist for the Sunday Run. Of course, this was all supported by our ‘tried and true’ formulae of basing most Rally activities and ‘campers’ at the Rally Site, EPIC.
Campers started arriving on Thursday afternoon. The ‘set-up’ crew commenced their task on the Friday morning and by about 1700 the Rally was predominantly ‘ready to run’. The ‘Registration Desk’ opened at about 1700 to ease the Saturday morning rush. The Club BBQ trailer was on-site and the drinks were put on ice, albeit an hour or two late for some. Sorry chaps, we’ll try to do better next time. Friday night’s entertainment was again our Club Crooner, Charley Davey and I understand a good night was had by all.
Saturday morning dawned with a lovely forecast of 26°C ‘Fine and Beaut’! By about 0830 the Rally Director was getting nervous as the daily running sheet had bikes departing at 0900, but not many bikes were in sight. Ah, but then the deliberate (??) error was spotted. The Program Sheets in the Rally Packs did indeed indicate that the run was departing at 0900. Unfortunately, this was in error and was copied from last year’s sheets where in fact the Friday was a public holiday which allowed the Saturday run to depart earlier than normal. Of course, I was reminded by many that the 2008 Rally Entry Form correctly had the run starting at 1000. So, a ‘hurry up and wait’ call was bellowed by yours truly. The traditional Welcome and Riders brief was conducted at about 0945 by a somewhat red-faced Rally Director. But not to worry, the ride to Gunderoo was delightful as usual. On the way there were several ‘bike mishaps’ with a couple of entrants availing themselves of the back-up trailer service. Rob Condie’s Indian had some electrical problems and Jim Steed’s Military Matchless had some water in the carby. But the main concern surrounded a ‘tribe of Indians’ spotted doing some sort of a war dance near the Murrumbateman turnoff about 5kms short of Gundaroo. It turned out to be a problem with Nick Harris’s (actually his dad’s) 1922 Indian, that had ‘spat’ its fuel tap boss on the bottom of the copper tank (a worthy Hard Luck Award winner!). I personally counted over 180 bikes in the main street of Gundaroo and it was a sight to behold.
On return to EPIC the bikes were parked in their respective age categories for judging. Our feature marque ‘Café Racers’ took pride of place and were indeed an impressive sight. This category attracted 24 entrants, the most we have ever had in a feature marque in recent years. All of the bikes were worthy winners, as were the seven entrants in the ‘Personal Restoration by a VVC Member’. All seven were indeed 1st Place quality, but we only had one trophy! By about 1:00 pm the voting had been completed and everyone tucked into their sandwich lunch.
At about 2:00 pm Mike Gilmour and Paul Madden ran the Motorkhana events. The slalom and slow ride attracted a small crowd and some keen competitors. Unfortunately, we did not have the ‘judgement sticks’, so that event was cancelled for this year. A special mention is due here for Trevor Shone who keenly contested the events on his villiers powered machines. However, his results could not be included as he had not entered the bikes in the Rally. The Motorkhana Rules clearly state that the bike must be entered in the Rally to be eligible. Never mind, Trevor received an ‘Horrible Mention’ at the presentation dinner for his stirling efforts. The afternoon began to fade into Bike talk and beer by about 3:30pm and so it was time to prepare for the evening's Presentation Dinner.
We had about 183 diners for the dinner that turned out to be a great social event with fine food, some lubrication and a few bike yarns, interspersed with some official presentations by the yours truly officiating on the mike. There was a great display of special ‘Café Racer style’ machines supplied by Stew Ross, Peter Dunster, Craig Robertson and some others, as well as a picture display of relevant machines arranged by Ann Toet and Dick Holland. Of course, we had the usual backdrop of other rally bikes parked in the pavilion. Dick and a few helpers got about the task of selling Raffle tickets and this continued for an hour or two as we tucked into the Golden Roast fare. We ran a few draws of the raffle before Peter T and I ran the official Trophy presentation. A complete list of winners is contained later in the report. Well done one and all, they were certainly worthy winners. I say this every year, but it appears that the quality and quantity of bikes at our Rally is steadily increasing. Keep up the good work! I don’t want to offend anyone, but I should make a couple of special mentions. One is that it was great to see Harry Julian at the dinner. Harry is a long standing stalwart member of our club who generously donates the Best Junior and Best Lady trophies each year and he has had some significant health issues of late. It was great to see him ‘up and about’ enjoying our camaraderie. Another one worthy of mention is the winner of the Best Junior, 3rd Placed Vintage and Hard Luck Awards; Nick Harris. Nick was riding his dad’s 1922 Indian that ‘failed to proceed’ as mentioned earlier. He is an ‘L Plate’ rider and it was great to see one of our younger members on one of our older bikes. By the way the bike was repaired by fellow member Dean Davidson and was ready to ride on the Sunday. That’s what our club is about, fellowship and bikes. The evening drew to a close around 10:30pm with several guys ‘feeling no pain’.
Sunday morning began with the promise of lovely weather. At the rider’s brief we awarded trophies to winners who were not present at the dinner the night before. Our ride departed at about 9:30am and headed for the Bungendore Show via Majura Road, past the airport, Sutton Road, Norton Road and Bungendore Road. On the way Geoff Nicholas on the 1915 Rudge Multi had a couple of goes at getting up the Norton Rd hill, but alas it started to ‘nip up’ and discretion was the better part of valour (onto the back-up trailer). The Bungendore Showground was a bit dusty, but the array of bikes was an impressive sight right in front of the main area. The Show society had put on a terrific morning tea of cakes, sandwiches, scones and cream to accompany the tea and coffee. It was a bit of a squeeze (and queue) to get the fare, but well worth the wait. The Show Society had provided us all with free entry (waiving the $10 admission fee) and most of our riders took advantage of the couple of hours before lunch top check out the Riley Club display, sheep herding, dogs and other exhibits at the show. A little birdy told me that one of our Club members had even entered a painting in the art competition. He shall remain anonymous, but rides a 1928 Ariel!
The cold meat and salad lunch was served from 12:00 and those that partook were truly satisfied. Some entrants left early and sought other refreshments (I understand the Eaglehawk Pub did ok!). The remainder of the riders ‘upped stumps’ at about 1:30 and headed back to EPIC via Gundaroo Road and the Federal Highway. The remainder of Sunday was taken up with bike fettling and banter. Some campers had to pack up and head off to ‘other duties’.
Monday morning was a lazy affair and by about 9:30 there were some 25 or so bikes keen for the ‘Lookouts Run’. The run was not marshaled and Lorraine Litster acted as guide, mentor and marshal for the day. I stayed behind with a band of helpers to packup, cleanup and return the EPIC site to its normal glory. The ride took in Mt Ainslie lookout, Redhill Lookout, tried to get up Black Mountain, but in deference to the older bikes, decided to attempt the easier Mt Stromlo instead. I understand they had a great ride, albeit punctuated a little by the Canberra traffic lights and traffic. By about 11:00am I had to depart for Sydney on business and I left the rest of the crew to finalise the cleanup, wave in the riders and wish one and all a fond farewell.
From my perspective it was another terrific Rally. For the record we attracted 163 machines from 167 entrants and 52 family members. We provided 117 Saturday lunches, 183 Saturday dinners, 111 Sunday lunches and 191 Rally badges. There were 23 Triumphs, 17 BSAs, 15 Hondas, 13 Harley Davidsons, 13 Yamahas, 10 BMWs, 10 Nortons, 7 Ducatis, 7 Indians, 6 AJSs, 6 Matchless, 5 Ariels, 4 Velocettes and sundry others. We are certainly blessed with a terrific hobby full of like minded friends who just enjoy doing what we do, restore and ride bikes ‘old and new’. The weather was very kind to us again and we look forward to seeing everyone next year for our 32nd Australia Day Rally. By the way, check out the photos here, at our unofficial website.
Before closing I must thanks our many sponsors and prize donators as detailed later in this report and the many helpers that make our Rally the continued success that it is. The Rally doesn’t just happen, it takes the generous support of sponsors and the willing assistance of the many people behind the scenes. Please accept my personal thanks for a job well done.
I trust that everyone enjoyed the Rally and if you get a chance please provide us with feedback (positive or negative) as we strive to continually improve the rally for the benefit of our entrants.
We hope to see you all back again next year.
In the meantime - "Safe riding"
Bill Lewis, Rally Director
30th Annual Australia Day Rally 2008 - Trophy Winners
| Best Veteran Motorcycle (to end of 1918) | |
| First Place: | GEOFF NICHOLAS's 1915 RUDGE VETERAN |
| Second Place: | STEVEN DAVEY's 1918 HARLEY DAVIDSON F |
| Third Place: | GRAHAM FROUD's 1909 TRIUMPH TOURER |
| Best Vintage Motorcycle (1919 to 1930) | |
| First Place: | WILF RATH's 1923 DOUGLAS B23 |
| Second Place: | RICHARD STUBBS's 1928 ARIEL C |
| Third Place: | NICK HARRIS's 1922 INDIAN CHIEF |
| Best Pre-War Classic Motorcycle (1931 to 1945) | |
| First Place: | RICHARD CORBET's 1933 BSA BLUE STAR |
| Second Place: | KEVIN SPACKMAN's 1936 NORTON INTERNATIONAL |
| Third Place: | DON LIDDLE's 1938 HARLEY DAVIDSON EL |
| Best Post-War Classic I Motorcycle (1946 to 1961) | |
| First Place: | ERNIE SEARY's 1958 TRIUMPH TIGER 110 |
| Second Place: | JOHN SEVER's 1957 AJS 18S |
| Third Place: | PETER DAVEY's 1948 DOUGLAS MK3 SPORT |
| Best Post-War Classic II Motorcycle (1962 to 1977) | |
| First Place: | KERRYN DARDERI's 1962 BSA RGS |
| Second Place: | STEVE GEOGHEGAN's 1975 NORTON COMMANDO |
| Third Place: | VINCE DARDERI's 1971 HONDA CB500 |
| Best Modern Motorcycle (1978 onwards) | |
| First Place: | ANGUS LABURN's 1980 TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE |
| Second Place: | GEOFF FROST's 1982 HONDA CX SPORTS |
| Third Place: | ROBERT KELLY's 1985 TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE |
| Best Outfit Motorcycle | |
| First Place: | ROB WOOLLEY's 1917 HARLEY DAVIDSON J |
| Second Place: | MARK FITZGERALD's 1928 HARLEY DAVIDSON J |
| Third Place: | DENIS TOBLER's 1934 ROYAL ENFIELD KX |
| Best Military Motorcycle | |
| First Place: | PAUL MADDEN's 1944 BSA WM20 |
| Second Place: | JIM CARMODY's 1940 BSA WM20 |
| Third Place: | ANTHONY MEANY's 1942 HARLEY DAVIDSON WLA |
| Slalom Event | |
| JIM STEED 1941 MATCHLESS G3L MILITARY | |
| Slow Ride | |
| MAC WEST 1961 TRIUMPH T21/3TA | |
| Best AJS/Matchless | |
| MATHEW SPACKMAN’S 1950 AJS SCRAMBLER | |
| Best BSA | |
| MARTY VAN SEBILLE’S 1968 BSA ROCKET III | |
| Best European | |
| DEAN DAVIDSON’S 1975 DUCATI 750 SUPER SPORT | |
| Best Indian | |
| ROB CONDIE’S 1936 INDIAN SCOUT | |
| Best Japanese | |
| ALAN MUNDAY’S 1966 SUZUKI T20 | |
| Best Norton | |
| STEVE GEOGHEGAN’S 1975 NORTON COMMANDO | |
| Best Triumph | |
| JOHN ASTRIDGE’S 1970 TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE | |
| Myles Gilmour Award for the Best Triumph Twin | |
| JOHN ASTRIDGE’S 1970 TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE | |
| Best Junior Participant | |
| NICK HARRIS ON THE 1922 INDIAN CHIEF | |
| Best Lady Participant | |
| LISA MILL ON THE 1973 YAMAHA RD350 | |
| Best Café Racer | |
| BERNIE MEDWAY’S 1978 SEELY HONDA 750/4 | |
| Hard Luck Trophy (Light up with Lucas) | |
| NICK HARRIS ON THE 1922 INDIAN CHIEF | |
| Best Personal Restoration by a VVCMCC Member | |
| JOHN ASTRIDGE’S 1970 TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE | |
| King of the Rally | |
| ROB WOOLLEY ON THE 1917 HARLEY DAVIDSON J MODEL OUTFIT | |
Rally Helpers
| Bill Lewis | Co-ordinator, MC, Vote tallying, Trophy certificate printing, Category sign update, Organiser for: Badges, Trophies, Catering, Kennards Hire, EPIC, etc, etc, etc |
| Col Hill | Treasurer, funds, floats, cheques, registration, ice, drinks manager, CMC Mitchell co-ordinator, backup trailer provider, fuel, compressor, back-up trailer drinks, sunblock, insect repellant, etc, etc, etc |
| Steve Butcher | Rally database, printing, mailout, packing night, registration desk, etc, etc, etc |
| Peter & Ann Toet | Property (fridges, coffee, tea, urns, utensils, signs, etc), truck deliveries, cleanup, etc, etc, etc |
| John Broad | Property (everything), ute delivery, setup and cleanup, Orana Bar support, etc, etc, etc |
| Pole Bland | Grand Marshall |
| Dick Holland | Deputy Grand Marshall, marshal ‘sweeper’, Raffle Organiser and ticket sales manager, etc, etc, etc |
| Marshals | Everyone involved |
| Lorraine Litster | Monday Ride ‘Guide’ |
| John Sever | Beer purchase and delivery |
| Lyn Meredith | Registration desk, set up |
| Mike Gilmour | Motorkhana events |
| Paul Madden | Motorkhana events |
| Steve Keough | Photography, web site |
| Bill Tarplee | Backup trailer |
| Deb Lewis | Backup trailer |
| Ollie Walker | Backup trailer |
| Caroline Meany | Backup trailer |
| Charlie Davey | Entertainment |
| Geoff Duddy | Orana Bar support, Master key management, clean up |
| Lyn Scott | Saturday afternoon tea |
| Arki Jaatinen | Vote tallying |
| Sunday Cleanup | Stew Ross, John Jaatinen, Robert Kelly, ‘The Toets’, Col Hill, John Broad, Steve Butcher. |
| Special Category judges: | Bill Lewis, Peter Dunster, Peter Toet |
| Bob & Louise Courtney | Rally Packing Night venue and refreshments |
| Ann Toet, Dick Holland | Café Racer poster display |
| Marty Van Sebille | Quokka Pavilion Fridge |
Sponsors:
| Major Sponsors: | NRMA Classic Insurance |
| Grand Prix Carting | |
| Shannons | |
| TJ’s Tyres & Accessories | |
| King of the Rally: | TJ’s Tyres & Accessories |
| Best Café Racer: | Shannons |
| Best Junior Participant: | Harry Julian |
| Best Lady Participant: | Harry Julian |
| Best AJS/Matchless: | Grand-Prix Karting |
| Best BSA: | Grand-Prix Karting |
| Best Indian: | Jim Parker Motorcycles |
| Best Norton: | Grand-Prix Karting |
| Best Triumph (Bike/Rider portrait): | Eurotune Motorcycles |
| Best Outfit: | TJ’s Tyres & Accessories |
| Best Military: | TJ’s Tyres & Accessories |
Donations:
| Deus Exmachina | T Shirts |
| Mick Gentleman | Raffle prizes to the value $60 |
| Joes Motorcycles: | Rivet Jacket |
| Gecko Motorcycles | $50 gift voucher |
| Canberra M/C Centre, Fyshwick: | $100 Gift Voucher |
| Canberra M/C Centre, Mitchell: | $100 Gift Voucher, Gloves |
| Robbos Motorcycles | Motorbike cover |
| Dahlitz Motorcycles: | Chain Lube and tyre treatments |
| TJ’s Tyres & Access. | Cleaning Products, Oils, fuel additives |
| The Battery Factory: | 6V & 12V Battery Minders |
| Loctite Pty Ltd | Loctite Minikits, Shirts, Golf packs |