Classic Sunshine at Phillip Island

The eleventh running of the Annual Island Classic at Phillip Island did not fail to impress the large crowd that lined the circuit to watch the racing machines of yesteryear roar around the 4.445 km circuit.

Northern Territorian, Kal Carrick Jnr set the scene for the day’s racing in the third event of the day. The youngster rode the wheels off the JAP Norton Special to be the first classic home but also third outright against Post Classic competition.

Rudee Skank on the Bob Martin Engineering Kawasaki H1 500cc gave Peter Guest (Bert Flood Imports Bultaco TSS 370) a few scares in the first 500cc Post Classic event of the day. Skank lead most of lap one and appeared onto the main straight ahead of Guest, fighting the mother of all tank-slappers as the Kawasaki tried to throw him off before Guest got the better of him for the win.

At the presentations, Skank thanked mentor and friend Bob Martin, who has recently been admitted to hospital and couldn’t assume his normal position with the BME recovery vehicles.

250cc and 350cc Post Classic lap record holder, Rob Hinton crashed spectacularly out of the lead of the up to 500cc Forgotten Era race on his 1980 Yamaha TZ 350 after looking in dominating form.

Geoff Taylor signalled a successful return to sidecar racing after a 22 year break to take second places in the Post Classic class with experienced passenger, Matty Johnston. The Post Classic sidecars was won by multiple champions Adam Treasure and Josh Hooper on the very fast Honda Dewith CB750.

The closest racing of the day was again in the 500cc Classic class, between Queenslander Mike Farrell on the 1962 Matchless McIntyre 650 and South Australia’s Murray Johnson on his 1962 Manx Norton 500. The swapped the lead many times each lap in their races, with Farrell winning their last encounter by only 0.040s over the finish line.

The large New Zealand contingent thanked the organisers for the invite and the ‘universal hospitality’ and suggested that a reciprocal agreement could be struck in future years to get more Aussie racers over to New Zealand.

The awarding of the Phil Irving perpetual trophy was left until the end of the presentations, and presenter Rob Dark kept the suspense as he counted down from fourth place to first.

4th place – Mike Farrell
3rd place – Clive Harrop
2nd place – Phil Paton
1st place – Peter Guest

Guest won the Phil Irving trophy for a second time by only a single point after nursing the Ken Lucas Vincent Norvin 1000 to seventh place on one cylinder in one race.

“Unreal! This is fantastic”, exclaimed Peter Guest on receiving the trophy. “It is even more special that I met Edith Irving at Wanneroo recently.

“Thanks to Ken Lucas. Ken has supported this sport for a long time. Thanks also to Bert Flood for the use of the Bultaco and also to Lionel Simpson.

“The Vinnie was going alright until a wire fell off but Phil had his own bad luck as well. Thanks again to Ken.”

Sponsor and friend, Ken Lucas was also asked to comment:

“What can I say? I’ve been trying to get this guy running for a number of years and we’ve won it again!” said a laughing Ken Lucas, the provider of the Norton Norvin 1000 amongst others.

The eleventh running of the annual Island Classic was held in conditions perfect for racing at one of the best race tracks in the world and the weekend turned out to be a great success.