TASMANIAN

MOTORCYCLE CLUB

SPOKESPOKENewsletter of the Tasmanian Motorcycle Club. November, 2018.

PRESIDENT'S REPORT

OUR last race meeting for the year was run on Sunday November 11with the conclusion of the Interclub Championships. This year, it was the TMCC’s turn to host the Interclub's final round with trophies awarded onthe day. The club championship trophies will be awarded at the Annual dinner on Saturday, November 24.

THE club has had a successful year so far with one Ride day still to come in December, our grass track meeting, at Symmons plains, on the October 21, was a roaring success with competitors asking when we are running the next one. We had a few small hiccups during the day but theywere sorted pretty quickly by our organisers. My thanks go to all who helped make the day a success .

HOPE to see you all at the dinner and at our last ride day.

Cary McMahon

Hon. President

INTRODUCING: MARK EAGLING

How long have you been in the club?

About three years, I think.

What was your first road bike?

.A 250 Suzuki GSXF Across

What was your first racing bike?Honds VFR 400

What would you consider your career highlight?

Being able to race my dad. I don't think I've ever

beaten him, but I did out qualify him once.

What would you still like to achieve in

racing?I'd love to clock under 71 seconds.

If money was no object,

what bike would you

like to race?

I wouldn't mind racing a Yamaha R6.

What's your job?

Panelbeater/spray painter, which helps

when I ceash.

AS was mentioned in last month's obituary for former TMCC member Peter

Douglas, Ken Young uncovered a wealth of information on Kawasaki while

researching the archives for the piece he wrote. Here is Ken's brief history of

Kawasaki in Tasmania.

The influence of KawasakiHOW important was Kawasaki to road and the race tracks especially in Australia during the

1970’s?

SOME Tasmanian connections were Mal Campbell, who started racing on a Kawasaki 350

Avenger, Robbie Scolyer, who moved from MX to Road Racing on a Kawasaki Z650, Mick

Damon, who won at his first race meeting, the 3 Hour, on a Z 900 and Scott Stephens, who made

his name on a Kawasaki Superbike. To narrow the focus and give some of you a history lesson and

some of you a reminder of great times past, here is a look at the time of the Kawasaki H1 and its

younger brothers the Kawasaki H2 and Z1.

ALL FIVE major Japanese manufacturers (Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki and

Bridgestone) started out manufacturing under 350cc bikes and were no threat to the British “big

twins”. That was until the Honda K 750 was released. Then in 1968 came a spectacular two stroke

from Kawasaki called the H1 500 Mack III.

Peter Douglas Kawasaki at the 5 Ways Launceston was to sell the first one, even before it arrived,

to ex-Scramble star Graham Turner. In a big article in the Examiner Turner was to say that the bike

was for road commuting and for the new direction the TMCC was taking in production bike racing.

The second bike was sold to Relbia man Bevan Pinner, seen here demonstrating why H1 riders

didn’t have to change front

tyres as they never wore out.

Another history lesson. The

intersection was Brisbane

and Charles St with Hatton

and Law, Chemist behind

him as he crosses over (into

what is now the Mall) to

Coles Corner with photo-

grapher Ken Young standing

outside Fitzgerald’s and

Cleavers on the other corner

The bike came in only one

colour, white with a dark

blue stripe, but it did look spectacular even standing still, as can be seen here.

THIS photo was taken in

what is now the Mall (opposite

Myer) outside Woolworths retail

shop with Monaghan’s Tatts Agency.

Routley’s Menswear and McKinlay's

in the back ground.

The bike was a hit even with the

twin-leading shoe DRUM brake on

the front.

WHEN the 750 version (called the

H2) was released about a year later it was

an even bigger hit, especially with a disc on

the front. It was available in two colours

including this still neat orange one seen

at Amaroo Park. Note the front number

plate bracket still on the mud guard. This

did cause some problems with high engine

temperatures when the plate was on a road

version.

THE other colour was this well-used

blue model seen at Hume Weir. You could

still run crash bars to protect the engine, a bit.

After production racing took off, improved

production racing was the next step. A

TMCC trip to a Calder meeting highlighted

the difference between the two classes.

HERE is of an up and coming GP rider

having a one-off ride in the production race

on a 750. His name is Gregg Hansford and

he was among the leaders in the production

race.

THE highlight though was another

“standard looking” pair of 750s entered by dealer

Peter Stevens for two brothers, John and Bill

Crawford. They were not only entered in

Unlimited GP races, one or other or both would

lead every race they entered from the push start.

They took a lot of running down and not many

could do it

THE H2 was also among some very

talented riders like 12 Laurie O’Shea (500 Gibbons

Suzuki) 5 Ginger Malloy (750 Kawasaki) 43 Bill

Crawford and 50 Brian Hindle (Yamaha TZ350).

These giant killers were a real talking point of the

meeting.

MEANWHILE in Sydney another young

up and comer, named Warren Willing, was doing

quite well on a production 750. The Castrol 6 Hour

was a major selling place for the production 750

but the go-ahead club wanted more. Big money

was being splashed about especially by the “cough

stick” people. Oran Park had the Rothmans series

for GP bikes, so Chesterfield stumped up substantial

prize money for a series for Amaroo Park. They had

the Castrol 6 Hour for production bikes and wanted

to be different from Oran Park. They decided to

have a series for improved production bikes. So the

clever reader of rules worked out the best way to

win the cash .... take a Yamaha RD 350 road

bike and tip in all the good bits from your TZ GP

bike…… Winner. The paying public generally

didn’t like it because it looked like a crash

damaged GP bike with the fairing removed.

NEXT rule change was to make it

for 750 and above by calling it an Unlimited

class. ”A” grade riders like Len Atlee put a

set of pipes on an H2 to do quite well. Seen

here rounding the famous Honda Corner

where so many riders left helmet paint on

the inside concrete wall. Forget line

markings and ripple strips, a concrete wall

will stop them cutting the corner.

It was another “A” grade rider in Garry

Thomas who built the best “mouse trap”

LATE in 1972 Kawasaki released a jaw-

dropping new model called the Z900. One was

entered for the 6 Hour but the H2 750 still beat it,

so ......

.... for 1973 they put Ken Blake on a Z

with no co-rider. He was to win the race, showing

the Z had arrived.

THE Chesterfield Improved Production Bike series was hotting up with the two stroke vs

four stroke battles. 85 Warren Willing against 63 Ron Toombes for the newly formed Kawasaki

Dealer Team. Guess which is the two stroke. (Your clue is the two stroke could still JUST out-drag

a four stroke off the line). For some rounds like this the fields were a bit thin but it was something

special and the prize money was great.

THE big 900, with a four-into-one and a bazooka pipe and developing engine mods was

loud, VERY loud. The crowds were starting to

take notice and Ron Toombes was now compet-

itive. The next step for the class was for a less

complicated name for these super quick improved

production bikes……… SUPERBIKES and let’s

restrict them to four stroke motors.

The class was born with major imput from the

Kawasaki’s range of bikes.

THE strong two-stroke motor had found

other uses too, in sidecars. The H2 750 motor was

used by Les Swallow when he came for the ARRC

round and used Barry Lack as his passenger.

A few years later he retuned ....

.... with a Z900 motor in a radical

centre-hub-steering outfit for the ARRC round

and finished 3rd with Ken Young as the passenger.

Ken Young

TASMANIAN INTERCLUB SERIES RESULTS

LITES

1st JEREMY HUDDLESTONE, 335 points,set up his win in the Lites championship withthree rounds of consistently high finishes. Hishaul of 72 points in the final round atSymmons Plains earlier this month wasenough to keep him comfortably ahead of therest of the field.

2nd TARAN OCEAN, 285 points, dominatedthe first round, with three wins and a second,but falling at Baskerville and a lack of tracktime at Symmons and cost him dearly on thepoints table in the two middle rounds and helined up for the final round in second place.After finishing behind Nathan Greene in thefirst three races, the pair went into the lastrace level pegging, the faster of the twoclaiming second.

3rd NATHAN GREENE, 282 points.Consistency was the name of the game forNathan, scoring in the 70s in all but oneround. His highest haul of 77 points, atSymmons Plains this month, saw him falljust three points short of second after an epicbattle with Taran in the final race.

FORMULA 3

1st JULIAN WINSLOW, 273 points, and hissit-up-and-beg Honda CR500 took out theFormula3 championship. His differing pointstallies at Baskerville and Symmons Plainsshowed the disadvantage the Honda faced atthe northern track's long straights. Julianearned 90 and 82 points at the two Baskervillerounds, but could only manage 54 and 47points at the faster Symmons track. Oneconstant at both tracks, though, was Julian’spenchant for popping wheelies whereverpossible.

2nd JEREMY ARCHER, 270 points, showedthat consistency is a key ingredient forsuccess. Jeremy scored in the mid-to-high-60sat each round to fall just three points short ofJulian.

3rd LARRY EATON, 226 points, finished thirdwith another sit-up-and-beg bike, his 250ccKTM EXC, despite not racing at the thirdround, at Baskerville because the roundclashed with his long-standing traditional visitto his dad's to watch Bathurst.

HISTORIC: UP TO 500

1st CRAIG JOHNSTON, 380 points,dominated the class, winning all but four racesand coming second to Grant Boxhall’s TZ inthose.

2nd JOHN KRANZ, 239 points, finishedsecond on his ZXR Kawasaki, the nimble250's handling off setting some of its powerdeficiency at Baskerville. A feat it wasunable to match at Symmons Plains.

3rd GARTH NEWTON's 196 points camemostly through the 160 he collected to the twoBaskerville rounds. Garth didn't race in roundtwo, but his 36 points, from the Novemberround, allowed him to leap frog third-placedTony Dykes who didn't race at the final round.

HISTORIC: OVER 500

1st JAMES RYAN, 400 points, went throughthe series undefeated to score the maximumpossible.

2nd PETER BELLCHAMBERS, scored his156 points, from two rounds. Peter missed thefirst round because he was competing at theBarry Sheene Memorial, in Sydney, and theNovember round because he was competingat the Nationals, at Broadford.

3rd TREVOR RILEY’s 138 points also camefrom two rounds. Trevor was also at the BarrySheene for the first round. He missed the nextround because he was not able to identify andfix the machine problems that surfaced inSydney in time.

PRE-MODERN: UP TO 500

1st JULIAN WINSLOW, 344 points, added thepre-modern, up-to 500 champion to hisFormula 3 title. Julian again performed betterat Baskerville ( eight wins from eight starts) butscored well enough at the Symmons’ rounds tohold Matthew Long off for the win.

2nd MATTHEW LONG, 314 points, improved ateach successive meeting scoring 60, 74 and80 points at the first three rounds beforeclaiming the maximum 100 points in November.

MARK EAGLING collected the third-highestpoints score, but was ineligible for a trophybecause he only contested the SymmonsPlains rounds.

PRE-MODERN: OVER 500

1st MARTIN LONG, 301 points, was anotherwhose consistent riding earned him thetrophy. Martin scored less than 70 points atjust one round to hold off second-placedStuart Bugg by 16 points.

2nd STUART BUGG, 286 points, scored amaximum 100 points at Symmons Plains inNovember, but that was not enough to makeup for his first round score of 38 at Baskerville,having crashed at the SRCT club event theweek before. His budget ran to fixing the bike,but not a set of wets, so he missed qualifyingand the first two races and started the finaltwo races (on a now-dry track) from the backof the grid.

3rd JAMES GIBSONN, earned his 200 points,at the middle two rounds, where he scored amaximum 100 points at Symmons Plains andBaskerville. James was out of the state forthe first round and missed the Novemberround because of a high side exiting the busstop at the Saturday ride day that left hisshoulder battered and bruised.

TAS SUPERBIKE

1st BRETT SIMMONDS, 395 points,dominated the class, winning all but one ofhis races in the Interclub series.

2nd KURT SUSCHAMES, 306 points, wasthe only other rider to crack 300 points in theTas SUPERBIKE class.

3rd CODY TRAVERS, 212 points, scored acome-from-behind third place when he out-scored Mark Delanty at the final round by19 points to claim the bronze trophy with amargin of just seven points. Cody scored nopoints at the first round, at Baskerville, afterbeing taken out on the left-hander at thebottom of the hill..

TAS SUPERSPORT

1st JASON SPENCER, 381 points, was thedominant rider, top-scoring each round,including the maximum 100 points at thefinal two rounds.

2nd MARCUS DELANEY, finished on 277points and was never seriously challengedfor second place after gaining a 58-pointjump on Mitchell Hawksley at the first round..

3rd MITCHELL HAWKSLEY, 200 points,missed out on points in the first roundbecause he crashed out at Sucker's Corneron the second lap of the first race and tookno further part in proceedings.

Pic by Paul Chisholm

RESULTS from the TMCC championship will be announced, and trophies presented, at the club's annual dinner, at The Tailrace Centre, Riverside, on Saturday, November 24.

PICS FROM THE FINAL INTERCLUBROUND AT SYMMONS PLAINS

AROUND THE TRACKS

TMCC members Peter Bellchambers, Toby Honeychurch, Courtney McMahon and Jeremy Rockliffe made the trip to Broadford for the Australian Historic Road Racing Championships with mixed results. Here is a brief account of their trips.

THE real loser at Broadford though, wasLegana legend Kenny Kawasaki, who sneaked CJ's250 onto the track where he was more than asecond faster than John Hazeldene's TZ Yamaha.(It is understood that CJ's crash actually cameafter trying to match Kenny's lap times and refusingto accept that she was not as fast as a greenstuffed bear).

After setting the 250 time, Kenny borrowed PeterBellchambers' GSXR to break the outright laprecord.

BUT there was to be no green glory, asauthoritarian MA officials declared Kenny's lap timesnull and void. In an official statement, the chief MAhonkey said that Kenny was inelligable to ride at thenationals because he had not applied for a road racinglicence after being expressly told that his entrywould be invalid unless he upgraded his JuniorMotocross Pee Wee 50 licence and have theapplication endorsed by his legal guardian.

CJ qualified 10th in Friday's qualifying and declared herself happy with that, optimistic that she could pick up a couple seconds on the Saturday. CJ said that if she would be happy at the end of the weekend if she finished midfield in the top ten.CJ took 1.9 seconds off her qualifying time in her first race, to finish 8th in her class.

SHE took another 0.7 of a second off her first race best lap, butgot smothered off the start then baulked at "crash corner," losing about 30 metres. That saw her finish in 9th place, but still optimistic of a mid-top-10 finish.

SCOTT Honeychurch and Peter Bellchambers both entered Suzuki GSXRs in the Period 6 750 and Unlimited championships.They finished both classes equal on points, but Scott finished ahead of Peter in both courtesy of his higher finish in each of class's the final races. Scott was third in the fourth 750 race, and Peter fourth, their respective positions in the championship, with each climbing one position in the Unlimited class to claim second and third, respectively..

SCOTT was up against it from the start when he was handed a 10-second penalty for a jumped start in the first 750 race, dropping him to eighth in that race.

(This publication can not vouch for which of these versions of events is true and

PETER Bellchambers Peter originally had no intention of competing at the nationals, but was talked into entering by Scott after the pair's trip to Broadford for the Masters, where Peter finished 3rd in his age group and the Period 6 750, and the final round of the Victorian Road Racing Championships, where he won four heats to claim 3rd in the Period 6 Formula 1 championship. Scott was so impressed with Peter's performance, he convinced him to enter for the nationals.

PETER said that he was wraped to finish equal on points in both the Period 6 750 and the Period 6 Unlimited, and was even more delighted when his wife Deb turned up at the track unexpectedly after flying over.

supported/pit crewed by Luke's father, Jeremy (aka team el president), his father inlaw, Gerald Olding, brother Jesse and good friend/boss and sponsorship man (Mph builders) Mick Hernyk.

INITIALLY intending to go to thenationals to support/pit crew for Tim, whowas racing his 1962 meth powered Norton750 outfit, after a last minute phone call,he was convinced to race. Uncle Jameswasn’t available so Tim’s wife, Michelle, avery experienced rider and racer herself,would be my ‘swinger’ for the weekend.I returned by boat to Tas from the South-ern Classic on Tuesday morning and flewback on The Wednesday to help Timprepare the bike.A successful qualifying session saw Luke in 4th position, in second row on the grid.The bike ran beautifully (having gone

including a 1200 Harley, 850 BSA and 750 Norton. He said that he was delighted after hoping finish in the top 6 or 7.

LUKE'S next events will be the Geelong Revival sprints this coming weekend, followed by the Victorian Historic road race championship in April, Historic Winton inMay and the Southern Classic again, in November.

FOR SALE & WANTEDThis service is available free to members. Just email your advert to tmccmag@gmail.com (with a

photo if you have one) and it will appear in the next available issue of Spoke.

FOR SALE:

Dymag magnesium wheels, in superb condition.Front: 18x2.25

Rear: 18x4

These wheels look as if they’ve had a tyres mounted, but haven’t been fitted to a bike. Selling as we have got a narrower set that suits theFlying Dragon better.

These are rare (it took over four years to track these down) and new ones will set you back about $4500 + freight + duties + gst. (Plus, I'llbe honest, I need to get my money back).

Asking $2500

Phone Peter on 0400 038 229