2003 Club Rally
King of the Rally 2003
Ross Campbell with his 1939 Velocette Mac 350
26TH ANNUAL VVC MCC AUSTRALIA DAY RALLY 2003
Another Rally has now come and gone. This one will remain in many
people’s memory for several reasons: the tragedy and devastation of the previous
week’s bushfires; the suspected uncertainty of whether the Rally could even
be run; the need for some regulars to miss the Rally to ‘stand by their homes’
with the fire threat still a real and present danger; the high temperatures
and low humidity on Saturday and Sunday. It will also be remembered as another
great Rally, with regulars and newcomers alike enjoying excellent motorbiking,
camaraderie, socializing, food, drink and ‘bike talk’ (just ask anyone who attended).
We will be producing a Rally Special Edition of Bike Torque for each attendee,
but in the interim this report will give you a quick SITREP on how the Rally
went.
The Rally again began on the Friday with many out-of-town entrants
arriving from lunch-time on and jockeying for position on the camping front.
Roy and Gwen Jury had even camped at EPIC the night before and took ‘pride of
place’ in the camping stakes (under a big shade tree in ‘pole position’). John
Broad, Ross Everett and many other helpers (a completish list will be in the
Special Edition of Bike Torque) had gathered to set up the site with all of
the needed equipment, tea, coffee, drinks, urns, tables, signs, motorkhana equipment,
computer system, etc, etc. A flurry of activity saw everything set up in readiness
for the Rally to begin in earnest on Saturday. Rally registration started at
9 o’clock and when it closed at the final official statistics were 145 machines
entered by 149 entrants and 65 family members. We had 133 Saturday Lunches booked,
as well as 165 Presentation Dinners and 120 Sunday lunches. The Motorkhana events
started at about 9:15 with the Harris crew (ala ‘indian chief’ outfit fame)
manning the cones, stopwatch and tape measure. The slalom was conducted first,
followed by the slow ride and the judgement ride. Howard Kneebone from Goulburn
again blitzed the field in the slalom on his Suzuki at 16 seconds, 2 seconds
clear of the nearest rival. The slow ride at 20 seconds was a dead heat between
Jon Gough on his Triumph Thunderbird and Rod Greschke on the ‘noddy’ Velocette.
The judgement ride was won by Warwick Nicholson on his Velo Venom at 25mm. Well
done guys.
The hot roast spud lunch was served at about 12:00 by Bob, Julie
and Emma from Rustlers Spit Roast. A sumptuous feast was had by all. I have
received plenty of positive feedback on quality and quantity! With bellies full
it was time to fill the bikes’ fuel tanks and head for Gundaroo for a drink
stop at the ‘Wine Bar’. In 35º heat several bikes had a struggle making the
31 km distance. Notables were: Yours truly’s Sloper refused to start until I
treated her to a new spark plug, Geoff Nicholas on the 1905 Peugeot (mechanical
pin failure), Edith Ussher’s A7 Beesa’s reconditioned engine ‘tightening up’,
plus a couple of other ‘failed to proceeds’. The back-up trailers were kept
fairly busy. At Gundaroo most of the parched bikers partook of the Wine Bar’s
liquid refreshments in the sweltering heat.
The return trip to EPIC was via Bywong, Bundendore Road and Macs
Reef Road for a change. A nice ride, although my trusty Sloper again refused
to play until I produced the magical new spark plug (the old one had only done
31km!). On return to EPIC the machines were lined up in their various categories
for machine judging, with the Velocettes taking pride of place in front. Category
winners are shown at the end of this report. Well done one and all for the excellent
array of quality machines.
At about 4 o’clock we ran the exhaust note competition under very
strict rules. Bikes were only allowed to run in first gear over a short distance.
Over-running the mark and wheelstands guaranteed disqualification. The winner
was Nils Lantzke on his Beesa Firebird scrambler. It sounds great without the
mufflers!! At about 5:30 I tried to kick life into the Sloper so that I could
get home for a shower and change of clothes, but the old beast again refused
to co-operate, even with a new plug! I parked the poor old girl and zapped home
on Gwen Jury’s little ZZR 250 (alias the “club” bike). I think it is time to
do a bit of work on the Sloper!
Everyone arrived at the Presentation Dinner between 6:30 and 7:00
after a well earned rest and freshen up. Dinner was another one of Rustler Spit
Roast’s culinary fares (choice of roast meat, spud, salads, etc, etc). After
main course we drew the raffle with many satisfied customers, although the failing
PA system meant that most had to rely on lipreading to find out what was going
on. Sorry about that folks. The final raffle prize was an autographed Andrew
Pitt Kawasaki Supersport shirt and hat courtesy of the Primmer’s (Patrick Primmer
is Pitts suspension mechanic; thanks guys). The winner was Dick Holland. The
formal presentations of category winners were conducted after dessert with yours
truly and President Bob officiating. The full list is at the end of this report.
Well done to all of the winners. A special well done to Ross Campbell for winning
King of the Rally on his beautifully prepared little Velo Mac. Barbi Osborn
also awarded the winners of the children’s colouring competition (a real favourite
with the kids) and the Best Exhaust Note. Rod Greshke judged the colouring competition
and got some real good ideas on how to paint ‘noddy’! The evening drew to a
close at about 10 o’clock.
Sunday dawned with an ominous forecast of 38º! I rode my Beesa
Super Rocket as the Sloper was proving reluctant. The traditional route through
the Cotter to Lanyon was changed earlier in the week because of the tragic fires
in that area. Instead, this year we went east to Tarago via Federal Highway,
Macs Reef Road, Smith’s Gap and Bungendore. Harry and Ruth at The Loaded Dog
Pub had opened early for our 10 o’clock arrival and the ever supportive Barges’
(Peter and Nerida), augmented with Lynn Scott’s baked delights, had set up a
morning tea and ice-cold drink station that was a real treat. I counted 82 bikes
at the stop. After we had depleted the food and drink stocks we headed back
to EPIC via Kings Highway, Bungendore, Queanbeyan and Majura Road. The only
casualty on the run was the little 2 stroke DKW ‘failing to proceed’. On return
we were again spoiled with Rustler’s Spit Roast fare of hot roast beef or lamb
rolls: yum!
As the temperature was steadily rising, everyone was given the
afternoon off, with many choosing to cool their heels by the fridges in the
Quokka Pavillion. Some even departed for home interstate. I put another new
plug in the Sloper and gave it a firm prod on the starter. It burst into life!
Obviously it just needed a rest. I quickly jumped on and snuck home for a quick
swim, but I understand there were many stories told in the Quokka and, judging
by the sore heads the next morning, much lubrication was taken! Monday morning
saw the promise of cooler weather and 15 bikers were keen for a run around the
lookouts. We headed for Telstra Tower on Black Mountain at about 9:30 and as
we headed out it began to sprinkle with rain; a welcome relief after the sweltering
conditions on the previous two days. A visit to the viewing platforms of the
tower gave us all a good panoramic view of Canberra, including some of the burnt
out areas. A coffee stop at Red Hill lookout was next, followed by the obligatory
photo stop at Mt Ainslie lookout.
We got back to EPIC at about 12:15, where our final few visitors
packed up and departed with the normal site cleanup following. Julie Orgill
from the Shoalhaven Club gave us a hand with the cleanup, as well as a few others.
The job was finished by about 2:15. We had come through the sweltering heat
well, but although we had a great Rally yet again, our thoughts were continually
with our mates standing-by on bushfire alerts. In the end, the alerts did not
lead to evacuations and a safe weekend was had by all. Another great VVCMCC
ACT Rally had been run, despite trying circumstances and conditions. Thanks
again to all of the stalwart helpers throughout the lead-up, conduct and washup.
A complete list of these important people will be included in the special Bike
Toque Rally Issue. A special thanks also to our many trophy and prize sponsors.
Without their help the Rally would be almost unviable. A complete list of sponsors
will also be detailed in the Special Rally edition of Bike Torque. I look forward
to seeing you all again at next year’s Rally.
In the meantime, Safe riding,
Bill Lewis Rally Director
2003 RALLY WINNERS
Best Veteran Graham Froud’s 1911 Triumph 500
Best Vintage Peter Bland’s 1930 BSA Sloper 500
Best Pre-war Classic Peter Davey’s 1939 Brough Superior SS80 1000
Best Post-war Classic I Floyd Primmer’s 1952 Motto Guzzi Falcone Sport 498
Best Post-war Classic II Vince Darderi’s 1970 Honda CB750/4 K1 750
Best Modern James Primmer’s 1974 Ducati Desmo 248
Best Outfit Robert Harris’s 1944 Indian Chief 1200
Best Military Jim Carmody’s 1942 BSA WM20 500
Best BSA Dave Betts’ 1970 BSA Lightning 650
Best Norton Bernie Medway’s 1932 Norton 500
Best AJS/Matchless Dick Holland’s 1961 AJS Model 31 650
Best Triumph John Broad’s Triumph Thunderbird 650
Best Harley Davidson Phil (Rod) Greschke’s 1944 Harley Davidson WL
Best Velocette Ross Campbell’s 1939 Velocette Mac 350
Best American Machine Ross Holt’s ??? Harley Davidson ???
Best New Restoration Peter Bland’s 1930 BSA Sloper 500
Slalom Howard Kneebone/Suzuki T350
Slow Ride Jon Gough/1966 Triumph Thunderbird Rod Greschke/1952 Velocette LE
Judgement Warwick Nicholson/1962 Velocette Venom
Exhaust Note Nils Lanizke/1966 BSA Firebird
King of the Rally Ross Campbell on his 1939 Velocette Mac 350