Riders and organisers alike were delighted with the success of last weekend’s two day road race meeting at McNamara Park with the rebuilt corner sections giving no trouble whatever and bringing favourable comment from almost every one of the 150 competitors who took part in the big 35 race program.

With weather that could not have been more ideal, racing was keen and fast in almost every class and ran through with only one or two minor delays from falls, a good record with such a large number of events over the two days.

Following practice and qualifying runs 15 races were run on Saturday and the remaining 20 with an earlier start on Sunday. Included in the number of riders from many parts and as far as Queensland there were many who had not raced at McNamara Park previously and of those who attended
the trophy presentation after the racing all expressed their liking of the track and of the conduct of the meeting and said they would come again whenever possible.

While there was a total of 35 races these included some classes which ran over two, three or even four legs to obtain an overall result while in other events there were concurrent categories with separate awards.

Looking at the racing, one of the largest fields and definitely the class with riders from most States and with the greatest variety of machines was the round of the national BEARS championship which ran over four legs and also provided Ducati riders with the chance to add to their points for the Ducati Owners Club championships.

Two legs were run on each day and in Saturday’s first race Craig Blesing from Adelaide led the eight laps from start to finish.

John Lyons from New South Wales was certainly the unlucky one, holding second into the final lap only to fall and hand the placing to Philip Gray of the BEARS club with his club mate Peter Brown third ahead of Mike Casey from New South Wales and local club member Shane Zakelj.

Saturday’s second leg saw the major positions reversed with Gray holding sway over Blesing throughout the six lap event while Brown was again third. Gray repeated the dose in Sunday’s first race, again keeping Blesing at bay on every lap with the two drawing well clear of third man Brown followed by Mat Childs and Mark Sandford from Adelaide and Zakelj in the big field of 28.

There were few non-starters for the fourth leg on Sunday afternoon but Blesing was one of them allowing Gray to score comfortably from Brown, Childs, Sandford, Zakelj and Andrew Gallagher who had been in the top six or seven in every leg.

The other classes to have four legs were the division one and two brackets. In division one the main players in the actual races were Darren Trotter and Graeme McLaren, both Mount Gambier club members, and James Wills and John Kraws from the Adelaide Cafe Racers club.

Trotter seemed set to take the flag in the first leg, leading for five laps only to have victory snatched from his grasp at the last moment by McLaren while Wills was third ahead of Kraws with Aaron McClement some way back in fifth just ahead of Paul Tse and Rob Punter.

Leg two saw Trotter in command throughout in a race that was stopped after four laps because of a fall, beating Wills, McLaren, Tse and Michael Hughes. Both Sunday’s races ran without incident, the first going to McLaren from Trotter, Kraws, David Cornish, Mark Stone and Wills and the second again producing a last lap change with Trotter closing in on McLaren and taking over before the flag. Wills was third followed in by Kraws, Stone and Greg Suter.

In division two brackets Robert Hartvigsen dominated on Saturday, winning the first leg from Jason Dobie, Mark Boag, Les Lamshed, Adam Fisher and Rob Siedel and the second leg from Dobie, Boag, Siedel, Fusher and Lamshed in a field of 15. Dobie seemed to find a little extra for Sunday’s two legs, leading from start to finish in the first race from Hartvigsen, Boag, Lamshed, Siedel and Fusher and then taking out the final leg in a repeat effort from Hartvigsen who just held off Lamshed and Boag in a blanket finish for the minor placings clear of Siedel and Fusher.

With the bracket awards somewhat complicated to check the successful riders from each group will be detailed in the official results next week.

Somewhat more exciting and definitely faster, the Formula one and two South Australian Championship rounds ran over two legs each and featured some top riders from Adelaide and interstate.

In the formula one races for machines classed as superstock and superbike Darren Willis from the Adelaide Cafe racers club led race one from flag to flag but only just managed to hold off Mount Gambier club member Karl Schmidt who came through from an early fourth to be right on Willis’ wheel at the finish and clear of Travis Baas from Victoria, Adelaide’s Tim Oliver, Craig Browne and Mount Gambier’s Bill Smith.

In the second leg on Sunday, Schmidt was not to be denied and was never headed, holding off Willis, Oliver, Baas, Billy McConnell and Browne.

The formula one for supersport and Thunderbike models brought even more speed to the track with Geelong’s Michael Clunie romping away in the first leg to beat Adelaide’s Michael Brenton by half the length of the straight, then coming South Australia’s David Anderson, Mat Childs, Ben Parrish and Neil Macartney.

In Sunday’s second leg Clunie soon set up another big lead but the race had to be stopped after two laps when two riders came off on the S-bends, fortunately without any serious injuries. In the restart over the full six laps, Clunie again showed his mastery, defying all challenges from the very well performed Brenton with both well ahead of Parrish, Anderson, Michael Ellis and Andrew Ord from Ararat.

The formula three championship round was for 125cc grand prix and 250cc production bikes and while not as fast as the bigger machines still produced some keen racing.

Mount Gambier club member Tim Inkster dominated both legs on his 125cc bike, winning the first comfortably when his main challenger Mark Sandford fell on the last lap but was able to restart and came in 11th to gain what proved to be a valuable few points.

In leg two on Sunday, Inkster again led from go to whoa with Sandford staying put this time for a good second ahead of Brett Metcalf and the Hartwell club’s Craig Nicholson.

Although a little sore after falling from a sidecar in practice, Mount Gambier’s Daniel Cutting finished both legs on his 125gaining enough points for a trophy.

A single leg class, the unlimited South Australian Solo Championship round on Saturday brought out a select field of 15 of the top contenders but again demolished by Clunie and Brenton who cleared away for first and second from the start with Clunie well clear at the finish.

David Anderson was a very creditable third ahead of Karl Schmidt, Ben Parrish and Michael Ellis while there was plenty of action further back in the field with many keen duels as riders chased the best points possible.

The remaining modern machine championship round was the sidecar over two legs. Out to give it his best shot, Mount Gambier’s John (Reg.) Francis with passenger Rowan Biram led the first leg on Saturday for two laps but recent Mallala winner Neville Lush was too strong and took over at half distance to go on and win.

Francis was always close enough to take advantage of any possible error by the.leader but there were none and the local team had to settle for second ahead of Mount Gambier’s younger contender Stephen Cutting followed by his father David on a formula two 600cc outfit.

In Sunday’s second leg Lush led from the start with Francis never far away but unable to bridge the gap, well clear of Stephen Jones.

The SuperLights (buckets) had three legs and ran concurrently with the historic 125cc classes. Once again Tim Inkster had the events at his command. In leg one Victorian Ron Mathews led narrowly for three laps but Inkster had something in reserve and moved ahead on the last lap to score from Matthews, Allan Wettenhall from Victoria, Mount Gambier club member James Doddrell, Wayne Jolly, Trevor Henderson and Vicky Burnett.

Leg two saw Inkster to the fore throughout and although he allowed Jolly to draw very close with a lap to go soon moved away to win from Jolly, Wettenhall and Doddrell with Mathews dropping out after a lap in second.

Mathews was back in action for the third leg and led for a lap before being relegated to second behind Inkster, then dropping to fourth with a bike ailment before regaining speed to finish third behind Inkster and Mike Wooster who was well back in the previous leg.

There were two classes for historic machine South Australian championships, up to 500cc and period three, four and five combined, both run over three legs.

Expected to figure prominently in the up to 500cc events, local hopes were dashed when Robert Day was unable to start after injuring a finger in a practice fall. This left the way open for Murray Johnson to convincingly win all three legs with Victorian David Gazley his main challenger and finishing second each time.

Richard Metcalf, Tony Tildesley, Les Toohey, Ken Lucas and Cherryl Tildesley were next best in leg one, Tony Tildesley, Metcalf, Toohey and Cherryl Tildesley in leg two and Metcalf, Toohey and Cherryl Tildesley in leg three where Tony Tildesley had bike trouble on the first lap.

In the combined period three, four and five events, the first went to Shane Zakelj in a bold front running ride on his Ducati, holding off Graeme Fisher, Scott Elliott and Jeff Britton making a welcome return to racing.

Run on Sunday, the next two legs brought the appearance of the Adelaide Phoenix club’s Mat Childs and he made no bones about winning each time, beating Zakelj, Fisher, Britton, and Elliot in leg two and Zakelj, Elliot, Fisher and Britton in leg three.

With a big field of over 20 there was plenty of spirited racing further back with riders obviously enjoying their renewed acquaintance with the Mac Park track.

Apart from the special Les Diener Memorial race for early classic machines and won by arch enthusiast Ken Lucas from the Hartwell Club on a 1000cc Vincent after a good duel with his club mate David Gazley on a 500cc BSA, the remainder of the program was devoted to the Easter Cup events.

The main solo Easter Cup for modern bikes brought a strong field of 18 to the line and once more safely in the keeping of Michael Clunie from the Geelong club, drawing away to win clearly from Darren Trotter who displaced David Anderson with only two of the eight laps to go after Michael Brenton dropped out with bike problems after holding third for five laps.

Karl Schmidt was fourth followed by Darren Willis and Michael Ellis. The sidecar Easter Cup brought another victory for Neville Lush with John Francis trying hard but gradually losing ground although not too far away at the flag.  Stephen Jones was third some way back, equally ahead of father David with fifth man Tony Shanks from Adelaide well behind.

Named after one of the originators of McNamara park, the Laurie Fox Easter Cup for classic bikes gave Murray Johnson another win over David Gazley and Richard Metcalf and Tony Tildesley while the final event of the two days, the Post-Classic and Forgotten Era Easter Cup, brought another stunning win by Mat Childs on his 1130 Macintosh, beating Shane Zakelj and Jeff Britton.